That was kind of a sentimental trip. More than 20 years ago, just married we went to Norway in our yellow little Fiat 126. Spent more than 3 weeks sleeping in a tent and enjoying the Scandinavian “free man law”. In principle that meant we could spent a night everywhere unless that was explicitly forbidden. Quite an advantage when you are a couple of students.

Somewhere in spring time an idea to revisit Norway started to knock to our heads. Why not to experience the incredible white polar nights in June? First time we visited only southern part of Norway reaching the long Sognefjord as our most northern destination. This time we have decided to go above the Arctic Circle. Our choice was the Lofoten islands.

Being sentimental we decided to experience camping with our small tent. Moreover we agreed to seek places in wilderness thus avoiding any regular camping sites. At the end we booked 2 nights in hotels for practical reasons ( the 1st and the last night to facilitate flight arrangements).

I would not like to feedback on the day by day itinerary but rather to focus on the practical possibilities of the wilderness camping in this area. Indeed we have spent 5 nights (strange word if you imagine the daylight 24 hours!) in amazing places.  And this story is all about it…

Arrival: three planes, car and ferry

We arrived to Bodo airport with 1.5h flight from Oslo. This is quite a small airport but well organized. Without any problems we have rented a car from Avis and went directly to the ferry terminal. It’s essential to be at the ferry well in advance as this connection is very busy in summer time. Being more than an hour ahead we were standing already in the 3 line (out of six assigned for non-booked cars). Other 3 lines were reserved for those who had bought their tickets in advance.

Our destination was Moskenes on the Southeast part of the islands. The ferry takes 4 hours and costs 900NOK for a car with 2 people. It’s good to check the weather forecast as this is an open sea route. With high waves the trip may be at least uncomfortable especially if you have just had your lunch (or were seduced by a lovely hotdog -100NOK only- on the terminal). With strong wind the ferry my be canceled as well.

Moskenes is a small village with many lovely red rorbu huts. However, if you look for a place to pitch a tent you need to focus on area between A and Reine (Moskenes being in the middle). In most of the cases on the Moskensoy island the villages are located on the southern coast while hedged by mountains from the north. The eastern part offers enough green land which gradually climbs up the hill.

In A ( a village at the very end of the Lofoten) there is some camping area however, the terrain is rather wet even uphill. There are also a lot of friendly signs: ” no camping”. On top of that this is very popular place where every visitor goes to see the place “where everything ends”. Definitely, the road does…

We have headed towards Reine and found a nice place just before the bridge between Moskenes and Reine. On the right hand side there is a resting place (usually there will be plenty of Germans in their campers staying overnight). This is a good place to leave a car and walk on the other side of the road. There you will find a lovely downhill to the fjord with many flat spots to pitch a tent. The view on blue fjord surrounded by the mountains is priceless…

Next morning we went to the local “agglomeration” Reine. There is the only gas station in the area. And we expected to buy the camping gas cartridge there. We were lucky. The shop had several systems available (we were using the blue Campingaz C470 – price 200NOK).  Now we were more independent and ready for further challenges.

Romantic beaches

The famous Kvalvika beach on Moskensoy island is by far the most recommended wild camping site. The place is not reachable by car and completely isolated from any civilization. On the other hand this is very well known place which attracts a lot of hikers. By the way if you expect to be alone on the beach do not count on that! We shared the beach with 7 other tents. However, the place is really big enough to comfortably accommodate even much more campers and everybody will be at least 50 meters away from each other.

The beach is surrounded by two high mountain picks and a pass. One of them called Ryten is a sharp cliff which goes directly to the sea. Ryten is also a very attractive destination offering amazing views on the Kvalvika bay.

There is plenty of nice and flat plots on the dunes and finding the right camp site is not an issue. You wil also find many fire places set up by previous visitors. What is important there is water supply as well (2 springs).

As said there is no possibility to drive close to the beach. A car must be left on a small parking place some 3km from Fredvang (at the road along the fjord direction Krystad). For sure you will see many cars standing there. On the opposite side the track starts and is clearly marked. The trail goes up to the only nearby mountain pass which is the highest point (180masl). Climbing up is a quite easy job however, the descent to the beach is a bit tricky. It is relatively sharp and goes on the endless stones and rocks. When raining this may be a little unsafe due to slippery slope.  The trip one way takes 1 hour at least ( and of course you need to carry your camping gear).

By the way, there is a nice herd of sheeps living on Kvalvika. They will share a night with you.

The second beach we have chosen as our one night settlement was completely different. Unsted is the most famous surfing place – they call it Arctic Surf. Indeed the waves are strong and attracting a lot of surfers. This place is not at all wild and due to the fact that it is so frequently visited the community decided to charge you for camping there. The price for a tent is 50NOK however, does not give anything (no toilets, no water). Just a kind of a touristic local tax.

On the left side there is a long coast where tents are set. The beach is the stone one there. We however, have chosen to go to the right side directly to the dunes surrounding the sandy beach. High grass has protected us from the wind. The funny thing was that due to the polar days the surfers were having fun all the night around. Some of them had their tents on the dunes as well. Again do not be afraid of crowds – it is really big place and there is plenty of room to accommodate many tents allowing decent distance from each other.

Unsted is close (7km walk along the coast) from the famous Eggum where you can observe the midnight sun. However, less than 2 km walk on the other side of the northern hill will allow you to see the midnight “sunset” – no need to go to Eggum. Be aware that last 100m of the trail is rather challenging – there are safety chains and somebody feeling altitude respect may feel uncomfortable at least.

On our way to Unsted we have visited another nice beach – Utakleiv. We have not stayed there as it was too early but the place look very attractive as well (we have seen several tents there). Utakleiv is located in lovely bay, quite busy with visitors but as Unsted reachable directly by the car. And there is a toilet.

The last beach location for the night was after leaving a ferry from Lodingen to Bognes. This is not Lofoten islands anymore however, this is a nice option when heading south from there. And last chance to have a night on the beach exposed to the north ( which helps to observe a midnight sun).

Immediately when leaving a ferry port in Bognes go right on the first junction (direction Korsnes). This is indeed a gateway to the nice peninsula with pretty plenty of small sandy beaches on the norther coast. In Korsnes you will find a small road ( just after the church) to the left with a nice direction written on the wooden board: Tysnes. You need to follow this quasi forest road for a couple of kilometers. On your right hand side there will be many nice sandy beaches. We have chosen the one just after the hill which is named by the maps as “Stor Hestvika”. Plenty of spots on the low dunes to pitch the tent. By the way this is rather isolated area – you may be quite sure to be alone.

Apart from camping on beaches we have also had a nice place close to the main road from Svolvaer direction Narvik. As we were expecting to come back to Svolvaer the following day to take a fjord cruise (failed due to the weather unfortunately) we we looking for something acceptably close to the village. The spot was something like 14km ahead. This a a resting place / parking named by the maps as Austnesfjorden rasteplass. Nice place located in the middle of smaller and bigger fjords so you can feel like being on an island. There is a well organized view point with wooden trail and stars to the top of the hill. The area around is quite muddy. However, when you leave the wooden track and turn to the right you will see couple of other hills with a number of comfortable and dry places to pitch the tent. We have found a place between two small hills so we were protected from the wind and still enjoyed an amazing view. The strange issue with this place is that there is no toilet and water even despite the fact this is quite frequently visited resting place ( not seen any others along this road).  Again, we were not alone to spend a night there.

Some links and practical observations

The region is well covered by detailed maps. Various paper maps (25000-50000) for 200NOK. Online maps on www.ut.no. Also navigation in English but maps I Norwegian (as well as some route descriptions). Different versions ( topographic, paper-like, sea maps, satellite). Easy to define the region, easy to zoom. Recommended tracks with the elevation profile.

Weather to be checked on the local site www.yr.no. Detailed hourly forecast with radars etc.

I would like to thank also the guys behind the site www.68north.com. A lot of practical hiking information with all most popular hiking destinations. Before going for an adventure with the Lofoten this site is a must.

Midnight sun phenomenon. We were end of June so the sun was all day around. We were also lucky with the weather ( some showers but mostly sunny with above 20 degrees C. Even at 22 we able able to feel the warmth of the sun on our faces. At midnight the sun does not hide behind the horizon. Simply not having watch after few days you are lost – this can be observed when camping with other people. Everybody has his own phasing. You can imagine the guys surfing on the Unsted beach round the clock and waking up around 13.

Credit cards. No need to have cash. Everywhere cards are accepted even for petty cash. Usually gas stations are self service. You need to enter your card to activate the pump.

Supplies. Usually there is a small supermarket (Coop, rarely Rema 1000) in every bigger village. Price higher than Europe but acceptable. However, going out for eating is highly expensive. I would say not acceptable. The simplest meal ( for instance spaghetti) will be difficult to be find for less than 200N in the low-end restaurants. Coffe up to 40N and around 20N in simple places. But Norwegian coffee is not drinkable!!! If you ask for espresso or macchiato (which is called here “cortado ” like in Portugal) you wil get a cup (BIG) of coffee. Don’t even think to ask for Americano – the amount of liquid is enough to serve a family. Instead you can buy a stockfish snacks which are really good although a bit peculiar. A packet of 30g will cost around 35N but is worth it’s price.

Bon appetit et bon voyage!