Lofoten Favorite Tips by call_me_rhia Top 5 Page for this destination

An artist's palette of blue and green

Favorite thing: The Lofoten are a group of islands in Northen Norway. Their economy is based on tourism in summer and on cod (stockfish) in winter. From December to April cods leave the cold waters of the Barents Sea in millions to come to the Lofoten Islands more temperate shores to spawn: at the same time fishermen from all over Norway move temporarily here to fish them. What about summer? I believe it‘s the dramatic way the sea meets the mountains that attracts visitors here. The peaks are high, rugged and rocky, steep, barren, grey: little grows on them, other than saxyphrage and the occasional patch of green grass. They are like solitary sentinels looking out towards the sea. Where the mountains finish, the sea starts abruptly unexpected. The waters are crystal clear and painted in all possible hues of blue and green, interrupted only by the occasional deserted beaches or coves, of immaculate white sand. Beaches like one would not expect to see here... beaches that would look appropriate in the tropics only. In between mountains and sea human kind struggled to conquer a place to live on and to inhabit. Often people could find no appropriate ground and had to settle for the rocky shores, building their red Rorbus on precarious stilts, like the racks where they used to hang their cods to dry before selling them as stockfish.

Fondest memory: Many - Stamsund with his great hiking opportunities - A i Lofoten for the general charm and the excellent outdoor museum - Steine for great scenery and food, Kabelvag for more amazing landscapes and museums - Ramberg for its perfect crescent beach... and all the wonderful locations in between and around. There's perfect beauty in the Lfotoen islands