Leknes, Lofoten Islands Help

HI,

We are going a cruise at the end of the month to the Fjords. One of our ports of call is Leknes in the Lofoten Islands. Having read the boards the suggestion was to go on one of the ships trips but unfortunately these are fully booked. We are going with MSC and I called to see if any more trips would be available on board but they said no.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what we could do.

Thank you.

We were in the Lofoten Islands a few years ago with our family. We rented a car and toured around. It is very easy to drive there. We were based in one of the larger towns (Svolvaer), but I would just check to see if there are any rental agencies in the town where your cruise docks.

Thanks NanciEA,

Glad to hear that easy driving - will look into car rental. :)

Hi greywarden.

Which sailing are you on?

HI Papax

We'll be on the MSC Opera from Southampton on 29/6. From your signature looks like we'll be on the same cruise. Really looking forward to it. :D

Have started planning our stops mostly happy to wander round but Lofoten has me a bit stumped - you got any plans?

Cheers

Thanks NanciEA, Glad to hear that easy driving - will look into car rental.

Yes, great suggestion on getting a rental car there. That's what we did. AND, there are several items of "good news" to share.

1. There is basically just one highway running up and down these islands. Not hard or confusing. Traffic is not heavy and roads/bridges are in good condition.

2. Below are some of my visuals and ideas for stops and options in traveling in this area. Getting out to see these great sights, up close and personal, is so super wonderful.

3. With your own car, you can stop where and when you desire.

BACKGROUND: This 70-miles long island archipelago has natural surroundings regarded to be among the most stunning in Norway, with mountains, peaks, cliffs and white sandy beaches. The remote southern islands of Vaeroy and Rost are rated as world-class bird sanctuaries having nesting places for millions of seabirds along its cliffs. There are 35,000 people living on all of the islands and they are 886 miles northeast of Bergen. In November 2007, National Geographic Traveler rated the Lofoten Islands of northern Norway the third most appealing islands in the world. The Gulf Stream contributes to its seasonal fishing success. In Leknes, the sun (midnight sun) is above the horizon from May 26 to July 17 and in winter the sun does not rise from December 9 to January 4.

Svolvær offers the atmosphere of a harbor, small town and art community simultaneously. The town has become something of an artists’ colony, attracted by its great “light”. It has picturesque cabins on stilts and weathered wooden racks with drying cod. Considered as the capital of the Lofoten Islands, it is on the south coast of Austvågøy, facing the open sea to the south with mountains immediately to the north. The most famous mountain, Svolværgeita, was first climbed in 1910 and has its goat-like horns. It is 1,867 feet high. The town population is 4,400. The rugged and bleak countryside around Svolvær has attracted both tourists and artists, one of whom is Karl Erik Harr, whose paintings feature scenes of the area. His most famous painting, "The Battle of Trollfjord" and can be seen in the County Hall. The towering island mountains of the Lofoten Wall stretch for more than a hundred miles along Norway's coast. Sheltered by the mountains to the north and west, the Svolvær area has less fog and experiences somewhat higher daytime temperatures in summer than the western part of Lofoten, but the same mountains also create more precipitation on rainy days. Its cod fishing season is between January and April. These age-old, sea-going traditions are preserved along with some of the fishing wharf buildings. Latitude: 68.2333°

See more details and ideas for other stops on my full live/blog from this spectacular part of the world.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 145,934 views. Nice to be hitting this high of a level for viewership. Appreciate the interest!!

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

An historic seaport and cod fishing center is Nusfjord a few miles east of the main south-bound road in the Lofoten Islands. It is one of Norway’s oldest and best preserved fishing villages (fiskevaer). Here is one of its buildings and its harbor. There is also a cod processing building with various visuals to see for that historic era. The old Fish Oil Mill is used for exhibiting items from the Fish Buying Station or fiskemottak. They show a film called “The people and the fish”. The mill was built around 1910. Here fish oil was produced from fish liver. The fish was retrieved from the Buying Station then, transported by rowboat to the mill. Cod liver oil was a very attractive export product, used in industrial production and for medicinal purpose. We also got some great pictures of its birds perched on a large rock, etc. You can see more details from this website:

http://www.nusfjord.no/EN/nusfjord/index_new_eng.html:

We went to the end of the road in the Lofoten Islands along the scenic Norway Coast. This is a charming village called “Å”. In their alphabet, this “A” has a small “o” above the letter. Simple name for a charming fishing town! We had box lunches from the ship and dined on a picnic table on the wooden dock. This was our view with the busy and noisy birds. From Gravdal to the SW end of the E10 highway, it is about 38 miles. Not a long, long distance. Very good and interesting road conditions, bridges, tunnels, options for stopping, scenic drama, etc. Parts of this highway is known as King Olav's Road. Until the 1990's, Å was mainly a small fishing village, but recently tourism has become the main economic focus.:

Here is an example of the soaring rocks/mountains and dramatic scenery in the Lofoten Islands when we did our DIY drive south and then back on the Lofoten Islands. Nice? This includes one of the curved beaches about a mile and a half east of Ramberg.:

Here are some of the many wooden racks for fish drying on these islands that we checked out during our drive south in the Lofoten Islands.:

Near the main E10 roadway in the southern part of the Lofoten Island is this historic Flakstad Kirke church that was built in 1780. It has a Russian design/look as certain of its materials were donated by those from that country.:

As we departed Svolvaer in the Lofoten Islands of Norway on a perfect, sunny day, these are two of the green, tree-covered mountains rising up from the sea that we saw with the small out-islands in the foreground.:

HI Papax

 

 

 

We'll be on the MSC Opera from Southampton on 29/6. From your signature looks like we'll be on the same cruise. Really looking forward to it. :D

 

 

 

Have started planning our stops mostly happy to wander round but Lofoten has me a bit stumped - you got any plans?

 

 

 

Cheers

Hi greywarden.

Come and join the roll call, there's only 3 groups up to now.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1872768

We've also planned the ports of call but Leknes has us stumped as well. There are supposedly RIB boat tours from the cruise port, but the company hasn't replied to my emails. Leknes itself is a bit of a walk away from the tender spot and I'm not sure there's much to see there anyway! MSC's excursions are sold out.

Hiring a car may be the way to go!

Hi Terri,

Apologies for the slow reply - been away from the laptop. Your photos are superb,:D looking forward to going even more now and determined to do something to at least see a little of the islands - they look amazing. Feel a bit more confident at the prospect of driving after your comments - will speak with hubby and son to see if they are up for it.

You obviously did your homework - helps put things in context. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience. :)

Thanks T

Hi Terri,

 

 

 

Apologies for the slow reply - been away from the laptop. Your photos are superb,:D looking forward to going even more now and determined to do something to at least see a little of the islands - they look amazing. Feel a bit more confident at the prospect of driving after your comments - will speak with hubby and son to see if they are up for it.

 

 

 

You obviously did your homework - helps put things in context. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience. :)

 

 

 

Thanks T

Greywarden

Why so shy?

Come and say hello on the roll call.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1872768

Hi Papax

I will head over to Roll Call.

Looking at Terri's photos would be a real shame to end up stuck in Leknes. Will speak to family about hiring a car. In your experience is it likely that MSC will put on another excursion bookable on board? Did you make any plans for our day in Leknes?

Cheers T

Hi Papax

 

 

 

I will head over to Roll Call.

 

 

 

Looking at Terri's photos would be a real shame to end up stuck in Leknes. Will speak to family about hiring a car. In your experience is it likely that MSC will put on another excursion bookable on board? Did you make any plans for our day in Leknes?

 

 

 

Cheers T

No plans for Leknes yet. I'm still hoping there'll be a RIB boat available from the cruise terminal. If not I may hire a car.

MSC excursions, I've not paid much attention since we DIYed or last 2 cruises but it would appear there's a market to make more money so who knows?

Hi Terri, Apologies for the slow reply - been away from the laptop. Your photos are superb, looking forward to going even more now and determined to do something to at least see a little of the islands - they look amazing. Feel a bit more confident at the prospect of driving after your comments - will speak with hubby and son to see if they are up for it. You obviously did your homework - helps put things in context. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience. Thanks T

Appreciate your kind comments and follow-up. Glad you and others liked the visuals. The "real thing" is much, much better to see and experience in person. Below are a few more samples as "eye-candy" to enjoy and build excitement for your upcoming adventures.

Don't wait too late to book a rental car there. It is not a big, big population zone. Limited number or providers and cars in this area. We got our rental car through Europcar. Not cheap on this island. Cost us $304.23 for a VW Golf size vehicle, but we ended up getting a Toyota Prius with a hybrid engine, back-up camera. Kind of cool and fun driving. We picked it up through the rental company’s affiliate, the Toyota dealership Nordvik AS, Verksveien 12. That was closer to our ship docking area. Took a cab over there and then the nice people from the dealership took us back to the ship. It was a distance of three miles. The airport might be another mile or two farther to drive.

Check out my live/blog for added visuals and info for this area and many other key part of this spectacular western Norway coastal area. Feel free ask any added questions.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Back from doing a 14-day Celebrity Solstice, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure on this ship and getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for much more information and lots of wonderful pictures on these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 62,610 views for this fun posting.

Here is one of our first Lofoten Islands views from a stop early during our trip driving south as we headed towards "Å".

Here are two views in the Lofoten Islands when traveling to and back from “A”. First, the combination of water, boats, village houses and the dramatic mountains. Second, the streaks of the sun upon the mountains, etc.

This is a sampling of the boats in the harbor at Svolvaer.:

Framed by two building in main Svolvaer, here is a viewing of a major peak overlooking this key town in the Lofoten Islands.:

Apparently prices have gone down to our advantage. I just booked through Travelocity but is Europcar and the price was $156.00 which includes the $11.00 insurance charge. It was so helpful for you to tell to pick up at Verksveien12. I appreciate the help Terry--you have helped me in more than one port. Now on to Tromso. lol. Thanks!!

Linda

From the Huffington Post last month, they had this headline: "Lofoten Just Might Be The World’s Most Beautiful Archipelago" with these highlights: "Once voted the third best-rated island in the world by National Geographic, Lofoten is a supremely picturesque fishing town found in Northern Norway. Made up of seven main islands, tourists can do everything from surfing to skiing in small, scattered fishing towns."

Lots of darling pictures are shown in connection with this profile. They also suggest: "For an authentic Lofoten experience, rent out a fisherman’s cabin for your stay and make sure to try some reindeer stew. And while you’re busy doing all of those cool Norwegian things, we’ll keep pinching ourselves that a place so beautiful actually really exists."

Full story at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/08/19/lofoton-island-norway_n_5166948.html?utm_hp_ref=international-destinations

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 203,136 views.

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

Thanks, Terry!

Sent from my iPad using Forums

We rented a car and it is so awesome!!! Piece of cake to rent it also.

Linda

trying to figure out how to upload photos. lol

My photo album can be seen here as I can't figure out on how to get the photos in here. lol

Linda

Thank you for posting the photos. Are the roads easy to navigate there? We were thinking of driving to A, Svlvaer, Nusfjordand Reinke possibly following Terry's route. Is the weather okay in July?

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Thank you for posting the photos. Are the roads easy to navigate there? We were thinking of driving to A, Svlvaer, Nusfjordand Reinke possibly following Terry's route. Is the weather okay in July?

linderbelle: My photo album can be seen here as I can't figure out on how to get the photos in here. lol Linda

Appreciate these nice comments and follow-ups. On weather in July for the Lofotens' date=' that is the best month to be visiting there. BUT, it is Norway!! Nothing is 100% or even 80% certain on weather. July, however, offers the best "odds" for sunny success.

[b']For driving[/b], it is fairly easy because there is basically only one route going up and down this group of islands. And, traffic is not that heavy, even at peak times. And, the roads are in generally very good condition.

For Linda, glad you shared your very nice pictures!!! Brings back great memories. Here is more on . . . .

POSTING LARGER PICTURES:

For posting larger photos to these boards, your FIRST STEP is pick an outside web source that will store or “host” your pictures to be posted. Cruise Critic does not have the space to do larger pictures on their site. You can check such places as photobucket.com, imageshack.com, photoshow.com, flickr.com, picasa.google.com etc. I’ve used photobucket.com and have been pleased with how they upload, etc. SECOND, you need to make an export of your picture in a size such as around 1000 pixel wide by about 700 to your desktop of your computer. That’s the approximate size that I use for this purpose. If you make your file too big for posting, then it slows the process and takes long to upload, etc. THIRD, you use this outside web host to which you upload these different pictures sitting on your desktop. FOURTH, after uploading each picture, you will make a copy of that imbedded address in your file for future posting purposes. It will have have the square parentheses or bracket symbols before and after the capital letter IMG at the start and end of this location on your photo storage site.

Then as you want to post each different picture, you would, FIFTH STEP, copy and paste that imbedded address file for each picture as a part of your message on the CC Boards. In my files, I also have brief written description of each picture and have them grouped by the different city or country locations. With this imbedded file address, the reader on these boards doesn’t have to check on anything or paste to their web browser. It just pops up showing the picture. Does this help? Let us know how it works out and/or any added questions. It will hopefully pop up as these couple of pictures do below. You can preview your post to see if it's working OK before doing the actual post to these CC boards.

Let me know any added questions, info needs, etc.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 156,822 views for this posting.

From the New York Times website this morning, they have this headline: "6,000 Miles North of Hawaii" with this subhead: "There’s a thriving surf scene in Norway’s Lofoten Islands, where the waves are cold and the air is colder."

Much of this story, with some great video and picture highlights, is about the Lofoten Masters surfing competition that is billed as the world’s northernmost surfing competition. This story notes: "Since the 1990s, and especially in the last decade, enhanced insulation in the suits has opened some of the most frigid reaches of the world to surfers seeking isolated adventures, craggy nature and uncrowded and unexplored waves. Residents of some remote locales have begun wrestling with the complicated balance of welcoming larger numbers of surfers while keeping pristine settings safe and unspoiled. Unstad, population 15, is among the Lofoten Islands, an archipelago that juts like an arthritic finger from Norway’s west coast into the Atlantic, more than 100 miles above the Arctic Circle."

This article brings back wonderfully nice memories from our visiting the amazing Lofoten Islands. The writer also notes: "In autumn in Unstad, when the valley flames with the gold of birch trees against the red of the houses, there are often more sheep than people on the beach. The waves rumble like subway cars, foaming on white sand and rounded rocks that, from a distance, resemble a colony of seals."

Full story at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/23/sports/surfing-unstad-norway-lofoten-masters.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=photo-spot-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

From our Jan. 25-Feb. 20, 2015, Amazon River-Caribbean combo sailing over 26 days that started in Barbados, here is the link below to that live/blog. Lots of great visuals from this amazing Brazil river and these various Caribbean Islands (Dutch ABC's, St. Barts, Dominica, Grenada, etc.) that we experienced. Check it out at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2157696

Now at 44,341 views for these postings.

Reine is the prettiest town in Lofoten

That's amazing. Where were you standing to get that picture - up somewhere? Looks beautiful.