The Lofoten Islands in Norway are a spectacular part of the world to visit. They are a fairly remote archipelago in northern Norway, higher up than the Arctic Circle so an excellent place to experience the Northern Lights or the Midnight Sun, depending on the time of year you visit. The islands are incredibly picturesque, especially the red fishing cabins. We were lucky enough to be staying in a converted fishing cabin with views out over the sea.
As the Lofoten Islands are quite remote, and relatively unheard of, we’re sharing our 8-day itinerary about our Nordic adventure. Hopefully this will help you plan a trip to this most beautiful part of the world.
To start our trip, we stayed overnight at the Hotel Renaissance near T4/T5 of Heathrow Airport. This was an excellent 4-star hotel, which provided us with close access to the airport for our early morning flight, and we were also able to park the car at the hotel for the duration of our trip.
We were given adjoining rooms which was very convenient for us. Both rooms were excellent, clean and well appointed. We’d stayed at this hotel last year and the staff were very attentive on our arrival and seemed to remember us from our previous stay! We had some lunch and drinks overlooking the runway after we checked in. There is also a petrol station nearby, just across the road from the hotel, serving the essentials. This was handy just to get some snacks for the room while we chilled out for the night.
We also recommend you check out the old pub/restaurant The Three Magpies on Bath Road. It’s a five minute walk from the hotel. Dating back to the 16th century, it is the last surviving building of the hamlet of Heathrow! Originally it was called The Three Pigeons until 1765. It’s now also known as the Highways Man Pub at Heathrow. It’s an old wood-beamed nostalgic place, serving fantastic food options, drinks and a warm welcome.
The cost for two rooms plus eight day’s parking wasn’t significantly more than eight days parking on its own. And this covered two superior rooms and our parking included 48 hour late return insurance. It was also much more convenient for our early morning flight, so worth it in our opinion. The Hotel Hoppa shuttle bus starts running at 4.24am, meaning it serves all the flights in the day. The price was £6.80 per person, but we decided to book a taxi which was £18. A little bit more expensive but the taxi driver did all the lifting and was quicker getting us to the terminal.
We were flying with Scandinavian Airlines so I downloaded the app, where you can check in up to 30 hours before. So we got that done and sorted but then 8pm comes with a text saying our flight had been cancelled!
However we were prepared with the emergency contact details and all paperwork. Baltic Travel answered straight away on the emergency number and sorted us out and we checked in again on the app. Even our agent who we originally booked with emailed me to check we were okay. This did mean new connecting flights too but all this was sorted.
The bag drop area inside Heathrow is very small and there’s not a lot of space to add luggage tags between the self service kiosks. Boarding passes could also be printed if needed at this point too.
Once through security, we had a nice iced latte and mint lemonade at Jones the Grocers. Their breakfast looked really nice as well but our now later flight meant we had time to eat breakfast at the hotel. That mint lemonade though… hit the spot!
We landed in Oslo where we had to go through passport control as we had another domestic flight. Per the new Schengen measures, our fingerprints and photos were taken. You also go through a boarding pass scan twice and have to select the picture of your luggage on the screen as it asks you to confirm its continued journey. This confused us initially but it is an actual picture of the suitcase from bag drop!
Our onward flight to Bodo went really well, we had the opportunity to do a toast at altitude to Amy of course (cheers to you angel).
Once we landed in Bodo, we were staying at Radissan Blu. This was only a 4-5 min drive, but the taxi cost roughly 10GBP, so be aware that Norway is quite an expensive country. The hotel was beautifully positioned on the harbour and we could see the ferry port we needed to get to the next day.
We chose Ohma Asian Restaurant for food, which was right on the harbour. A beautiful place and amazing food, however we didn’t have the best experience. The food and drink prices are equivalent to London prices (expensive!). Wine in particularly is costly. And the service was very poor and ultimately we ended up receiving a discount.
To end the evening, we headed to the rooftop bar, called Top 13, at the hotel, where there are stunning panoramic views over the harbour.
We only spent one night in Bodo to break up the flights, and it gave us a bit of a chance to experience and explore another Norwegian city. After a really nice breakfast, we left our luggage at reception. I would bear in mind that no tickets for luggage were given but room was secured, it just always gives me anxiety when you don’t get a ticket!
We went to the local mall and had coffee and walked around the harbour. We found a really nice cafe bar called the Nyt Bar. It was perfect. It overlooked the ferry port, plus they have a direct inside walkway to the ticket desk! I kept seeing people going through this door and not back out. The staff were great and got our luggage there from hotel. Other people were waiting too, chilling with coffee and food. I had the pesto baked cod, it was very nice.
If you have more time in Bodo, there are a lot of harbour tours that you can go on. It’s recommended to book these in advance.
We started boarding the ferry around 5:15 p.m. for a 6:00 p.m. depart. The ferry was massive! It was spacious, comfy and had an onboard cafe. Be aware of motion sickness! This caught me out. This isn’t a slow ferry, this was a catarmaran and was speedy, and it went side to side and I mean side to side!! I had to take two motion sickness pills that fortunately someone gifted me (saved me literally). The port of Bodo to Svolvær was 3.5 hours but after the sickness medicine I was fine and slept! It was on time and there were screens all over giving location updates. The staff were fantastic and came over to check on me with special sick bags (the shame!)
The port of Svolvær at night does look remote and empty so make sure a taxi is arranged or your hotel is close. There is no taxi rank. We had to call our taxi number from the paperwork as they unfortunately were delayed. Being stood in snow fall at -3C at 8:25 p.m. isn’t the one. But we got sorted.
The taxi ride was short to the Rorbuer in Svolvær. These are converted fisherman’s cottages all dotted around one particular area off the main bridge. It is a self-catering cottage. The main “hotel” has a restaurant and reception. This does close at 8:00 p.m. but late arrivals go to the bar area at the side where a key is waiting for you!
There isn’t anything local. Walking to the main square is 20-25 mins and this is through snow, and some up and down plus the bridge walk. From my personal perspective, this particular cabin destination at Svolvær Rorbjwy wouldn’t be suitable for anyone with disabilities or who finds walking difficult. So bear this in mind.
