Lofoten - Seeing is believing

Lofoten is an archipelago in Nordland County, and also one of the most famous and most popular tourist areas in Norway. The islands in Lofoten are Austvågøy, Vestvågøy, Flakstadøy, Moskenesøy, Værøy and Røst.

Beautiful coastal houses in almost unbelievable surroundings of nature. Take a look at one of the many beautiful beaches in the area.

Clusters of houses making the small communities that has defeated extreme weather conditions throughout centuries. Small, sheltering harbours with the typical, old fisher villages . You must see it to believe it!

This page will give you an overview of what to expect when travelling to Lofoten. In short terms, of course, because Lofoten is so much more, and you must experience it to really know what we mean.

I want to thank the www.lofoten.info that kindly has letting us use some of their information, and we strongly recommend you all to visit their most informative website.

The fisheries

For more than a thousand years, Lofoten has been known for it's rich winter fisheries, and the cod from Lofoten (in Norway known as Lofot-skrei) is known to have a unique quality, not to be found elsewhere.

In the early days, the cod was transported by boat to Bergen, where it was exported to many European countries. Stockfish has been exported from Lofoten for at least 1,000 years. To the left you can see stockfish hanging to dry in Reine.

Also agriculture has an important role in the Lofoten communities, as it has done for hundreds of years. Because of the Golf stream, the latitude of Lofoten does not give the temperature problems one would assume, and agriculture is the benefit of that.

West of the island Røst is the world's largest deep water coral reef.The highest mountain in the Lofoten region is the Higravstinden in Austvågøy.

The municipalities in Lofoten

The municipalities in Lofoten are

Vågan Kommune

Population 8.957

Website: www.vagan.kommune.no

Administrative centre is Svolvær

Vestvågøy Kommune

Population 10.702

Website: www.vestvagoy.kommune.no

Administrative centre is Leknes

Flakstad Kommune

Population 1.438

Website: www.flakstad.kommune.no

Administrative centre is Ramberg

Moskenes Kommune

Population 1.128

Website: www.moskenes.kommune.no

Administrative centre is Reine

Værøy Kommune

Population 758

Website: www.varoy.kommune.no

Administrative centre is Sørland

Røst Kommune

Population 618

Website: www.rost.kommune.no

Administrative centre is Røstlandet

You can read more about the municipalities and about Lofoten in the

"Lofotportalen"

and in the lofoten.info website

How to get to Lofoten

You can get to Lofoten by airplane, bus and boat.

Every day, year around, the Hurtigruten calls at Svolvær and Stamsund.

You can start your voyage in Bergen, or any harbour between Bergen and Kirkenes.

This is maybe the most interesting way, as you will also have other great experiences.

You can go by airplane from Oslo to Evenes (Harstad/Narvik Airport).

From Evenes there are daily buses to Lofoten (Svolvær) in less than 2,5 hours.

You can go by airplane from Oslo to Bodø. From Bodø there are ferries to Moskenes, Værøy and Røst.

North of Bodø there is a ferry between Skutvik and Svolvær.

There are also daily flights from Bodø to Leknes and Svolvær.

By train you can go from Oslo to Bodø, and of course, also Bergen-Oslo-Bodø, or Trondheim-Bodø.

If you come by own (or rented) car, you can take the ferry from Bodø to Moskenes, Værøy and Røst. Or you drive the E-6 to Bognes, and go by ferry to Lødingen in Vesterålen. From Vesterålen you reach Lofoten by road and bridges.

Source: lofoten.info

Read more:

The Churches

When in Lofoten, you should visist some of the many churches in the area.

One of them is the beautiful Vågan Church, also called "The Lofoten Cathedral".

The church is build in 1898, in neo-gothic style, and was designed by the architect Carl Bergstrøm. It has seats for 1200 persons.

Read more in the lofoten.info

Another is the Svolvær Church, beautifully situated in the centre of Svolvær.

The church was built in 1934 from funds donated by the population of the district.

It is built of concrete , which is quite rare in Norway.

Read more in the lofoten.info

Close to the ferry docks of Moskenes, you find the Moskenes Church. It is a traditional, wooden church, built in 1819.

There are of course a lot of churches in the area, and this was only a few of them.

If you would like to read more about the Lofoten churches, please go to
read more in the lofoten.info

Museums

The Lofoten area has many interesting museums, among them the Lofotr Viking Museum.

This is a large house, a reconstruction of a house supposed to have existed in the age of the Norwegian Vikings.

Also Visit the Lofoten Stockfish Museum in Moskenes, the Lofotmuseet in Vågan, and the Norwegian Fishing Village Museum in Å by Moskenes.

Read more about museums and galleries in the lofoten.info:

Restaurants

Love fish dishes?

Then know that in Lofoten you get the freshest and probably best fish money can buy, and many restaurants has a local chef that knows exactly how to prepare the food in the best possible way.

We personally visited the Skjærbrygga Restaurant in Stamsund, just 200 meters from the Hurtigruten dock.

Beautiful food in beautiful surroundings, both in and outside.

The oldest part of the building is from 1845, and the restaurant has seats for about 50 guests.The row of red fishermen's cabins presents a good standard accomodation, and the reception is to be found in the restaurant.

Read more about Restaurants in the lofoten.info

More information about Lofoten

Remember; This was just a taste of it.

The best way is to go there yourself. In the meantime you can read a lot more by visiting the lofoten.info website, where you will be able to download the Lofoten Info Guide 2011 for free.