The Lofoten Islands are full of beautiful landscapes and charming villages. It doesn’t really matter where you go or look; the scenery is always stunning! For us, each transition takes a while, even if the distance isn’t long, because we often stop to admire the views. As they say, the journey is more important than the destination, and we weren’t in a hurry!
Here are the villages that we think are worth visiting in the Lofoten Islands. We toured these on different days, and they are spread across the Lofoten Islands, so pick the most interesting ones for yourself and add them to your travel itinerary.
Hennigsvaer
Henningsvær, also known as the Venice of Lofoten, definitely belongs on the list of villages worth visiting in the Lofoten Islands. The village is located in stunning archipelago scenery and is very cozy. We’ve already written a bit more about Henningsvær in a previous post, and you can read more about it here ➛
Å i Lofoten
Å i Lofoten, often considered the endpoint of the Lofoten Islands, is the last village at the very tip of the archipelago. Beyond here, you can only continue by hiking or by boat. The village, adorned with red cottages, is very beautiful and looks like a postcard. Å has a cozy harbor and old harbor buildings, as well as a few different museums. Large parking areas also serve as trailheads for various hiking routes around the village.
Reine
Reine is one of the most well-known villages in the Lofoten Islands, and like Å, the scenery around the village looks like a postcard. The fjord landscape surrounding Reine is perhaps one of the most iconic views in the Lofoten Islands. One of the most popular attractions in Reine is the summit of Reinebringen, right next to the village. From here, you get incredible views that combine mountain peaks, the fjord, small islands, and the bridges connecting them along the main road of the Lofoten Islands. You can read more about conquering Reinebringen in its dedicated post.
Hamnøy
Hamnøy is a small island village right next to Reine, but it deserves a mention on this list because of its beautiful scenery. This tiny, charming village with its small white and red cottages and boats nestled in the mountains is a stunning sight.
Nusfjord
The road leading to Nusfjord is stunning and is known as the Batman Road because a bat-shaped mountain faces you at the beginning of the road. We visited here on our previous trip as well, and the place is so beautiful that we had to come again. The road is lined with towering mountains and a lake until the delightful fishing village with red, white, and yellow buildings is revealed from the fjord’s embrace. Such a beautiful combination of the road and the village. Nusfjord is a historical fishing village open-air museum.
Eggum
Eggum itself is not particularly remarkable, but on the edge of the village, there are beautiful beaches, nice walking trails, and a small old German-built fortress, Borga Eggum, which also has a café, art shop, and restrooms. We started walking from the fortress along the coastline towards the Head statue. The route was beautiful, with the path winding through gently undulating meadow-like terrain, the sea on one side and the mountains on the other.
We had the impression that there was a large statue here; we didn’t know where we got this idea (perhaps from the first image on Google Maps), but upon arriving at the statue, we couldn’t help but laugh when we saw that the statue was actually very small, almost missing it at first. 😆 This didn’t bother us, though; we had fun, and the scenery along the walk was very beautiful. There are also a lot of sheep here, really a lot, and it was wonderful. Nearby, there was a picnic table that the sheep had taken over, and it was lovely just to watch their antics in this beautiful setting. You can also camp here, either in a tent or in a car.
After Eggum, we headed towards Ryten, where we planned to hike to the summit of Ryten, but we’ll continue that in the next post.
