Norway and the Northern Lights
// photo gallery
Journey to the top of the world
I’ve been incredibly lucky in my life to have seen the Northern Lights. Twice. This trip took us to the top of the world and the incredible natural beauty of Norway.
This was the second leg of our big trip to Scotland, Norway and Amsterdam and we had already been spoilt with snow and cold nights, warm wintery dinners and incredible sights. But flying into Oslo, it was like another world – snow absolutely everywhere.
After a short flight further north, we landed in Tromso which is an historic city with old wooden buildings but a modern city centre including the famous Arctic Cathedral.
We ventured for a day trip to a few other islands in the area, seeing traditional fishing villages and reindeer out in the wild.
On our first full night in Tromso, we decided to go on a Northern Lights chase. Our driver took us what seemed hundreds of kilometres deep into the Norwegian countryside to chase the lights. It was cloudy and the weather wasn’t being kind so the chase kept going and going, down long windy snowy roads and stopping at parking bays along the way.
We did a get a glimpse of the lights.
But then on our second night, we opened the door to our Air BNB. And yep, there they were. Right on our doorstep. And they continued every night we were there.
From Tromso it was a midnight departure to the Lofoten Islands on a ferry, navigating the dark water overnight.
We awoke to an incredible sight through our small window from our cabin. Beautiful snowy mountains and red fishing huts dotted along the water’s edge.
The day of cruising was spectacular – you just had to pull up a chair and put your feet up to watch the world go by.
Our short ferry trip ended in the village of Svolvaer where we stayed at the waterfront before picking up our hire car in the morning to start exploring the Lofoten Islands. Lofoten is the picture perfect postcard shot of Norway that you would be familiar with.
We were very fortunate to stay at the incredible Hattvika Lodge, which is a series of old fishing cabins and newly built wooden huts overlooking the harbour and an imposing mountain with scattered snow.
Having been spoilt with the northern lights already, we were hopeful but conscious we may be stretching our luck. However the forecast apps looked promising.
On our first night, we opened the door of our room right on the harbour and were absolutely blown away.
The light show continued every night we were there.
We drove around the islands during the day seeing all the beautiful fishing villages and natural scenery, while by night we would venture to cold and windy beaches (often with only a handful of people, at other times with cruise ship passengers who turned up in a fleet of buses).
Each night it seemed the show just got better and better.
This was one of the most incredible places I’ve been to. If you ever have the opportunity to get to Norway, go. It is naturally beautiful, relatively quiet but expensive.
This was a chance of a lifetime holiday and one we’ll never forget.