Once you’re in the town, there’s a supermarket in the mall which is easy to find. There is not much else in the area, and it’s worth being aware that supermarkets don’t sell higher strength alcohol. This has to be purchased from a wine vendor, we found the wine vendor in a same mall as the supermarket but they close at 5pm everyday. The country is trying to reduce alcohol consumption but the wine at the vendor is considerably cheaper than a restaurant. Be expected to pay £60 a bottle of Prosecco in a restaurant versus £12 in the vine vendor!
The hotel has an attached restaurant, Bistren. This is where we had our hotel breakfast. It’s a buffet service with very typical Norwegian breakfast food, this includes: mackerel, pate, pickled foods, bacon, eggs, pastries, waffles, various cheese, breads, jams, fish cakes, cereal and smoked salmon plus various condiments. We ate there again at night. The wine was particularly costly, but the restaurant had five cellars and an excellent and extensive wine list! The food menu was much more limited, but it was amazing. I had the catch of the day, which turned out to be halibut every time we dined there!
We also tried a placed called Bacalao in the main town area. This was a 25 minute walk from the hotel. Bacalao has a lot more variation and the fish soup was incredible, as was the moose burger! There are vegetarian options in most places we went too, but bear in mind the choice is limited, the menus are quite fish heavy.
We visited a lot of beautiful scenic places. There a lot of tours on offer. These were full day tours in a small van. There were very limited accessible options. The public toilets dotted around were closed a lot of the time which also wasn’t ideal. It was often a case of making a spot for yourself! Take wipes and sanitiser!
We chose to do three full days of tours as there was a lot to be seen on these tours. There is a lot of driving but a lot of stops and decent lunch breaks throughout, so it didn’t feel too much like being stuck in a van all day.
On the North Lofoten tour, we visited Henningsvær, a beautiful little fishing village with stunning mountain views, as well as Rørvik Beach and Haukland Beach. Both are white sand beaches with crystal clear arctic water. Haukland Beach is known as one of the best beaches in Europe and is considered a crown jewel of Norway.
On the South Island tour, we had the chance to see Ramberg Beach, Hamnøy and Reine. The bridge into the tiny village of Hamnøy provides simply amazing views and is a great place for some beautiful pictures. Reine is a slightly bigger village but equally picturesque with its rows of red fishermen’s cottages
The Middle Island tour took us to the Torvdalshalsen viewpoint, a rest stop on top of a hill (mountain really!) that gives great views over Vestvågøy island. This was a really good opportunity to get sweeping views from high up without having an arduous climb to get there! We also visited Flakstad Church, a red timber church that is the second oldest in Lofoten, as well as Nusfjord and Eggum on this tour.
We also did a snowshoeing tour which was absolutely amazing. It was a nice paced 4 hour hike in the wilderness. We also got up close (although not too close!) to a wild moose – no pictures though as they are tricky to photograph with all the trees in the way. But just seeing one chilling in the snow was an amazing experience.
I’ve been very lucky to have had the opportunity to snowshoe a lot, one tip I have is don’t wear snow/moon boots as the snowshoes will not stay on. One unfortunate person’s footwear was missed by the guide and their snowshoes fell off around 20 times which set us back time wise! A proper hiking boot that has a proper sole, as any flexibility in the sole will cause you issues, is the way to go.
Another experience that we had included in our package was an eagle safari tour. All I can say is Wow! This was an experience!! The tour speedboat we went on was incredibly fast. One thing I will mention is to check the height requirements before you book, as the seating is part standing with a metal bar in front to hold. I’m 4ft10 and could just about touch the boat floor! You really need to be able to be comfortably planted in that seat as it goes fast!!
All the kit is provided so make sure you arrive early to get kitted up – googles, hat, gloves, full-on all-in-one snow suit, plus a life jacket is provided. Also definitely wrap up warm. I’d recommend neck scarves and a balaclava as it gets cold. The temperature drops fast when you’re in the sea in the middle of nowhere! Another tip is to tuck your hat and scarf into the edges of the googles otherwise they’ll blow straight off.
There were plenty of opportunities to take photos, they throw fish into the water to get the eagles close.
Some important notes we think will help with your trip:
As mentioned in this and the previous post, unfortunately this sort of trip is not very accessible. The lodges are dotted all around with snow and gravel tracks that are largely uneven with some lodges up small hills. The cabin doors are also very narrow.
There is a lot of walking, there is only one restaurant in the hotel main building. The reception is there too. As well as the walking, there’s the time and effort spent doffing and donning all the cold weather gear. The lodge we stayed in was a 5-10 minute walk from the main building, so even just going for breakfast you need to “kit up”.
There are no phones in the lodges so you’d need a phone with calling ability. I also definitely recommend having a phone that has data for maps etc. There is no local shop. The closest is a 25 minute walk across the main bridge, often ice and snow covered. If you’re going in the summer, things would be easier but bear in mind the location and a lot of walking still required.
Also worth noting is if you suffer with colds take cold and flu meds with you, as you can’t buy them there! Anything with decongestants does not exist!
The flight back was a lot more condensed than our flight out, in that we did all three flights in a row. I personally don’t recommend this, especially if you’re suffering from the lack of decongestants available in Lofoten! The first flight was the smallest plane ever! It was only 20 minutes, but doing three in a row was a bit of an ordeal! They all went smoothly for us, but my ears certainly felt it!
We made sure that when we were at the highest altitude on our way back we did a final cheers to our angel Amy.
