The island of Senja in Norway, Part 1: What you should know about!

It’s been already quite some time now, but as mentioned in our Tromsø post, our main reason for this year’s Norway trip was the island of Senja. Not surprising at all. At least for us.

Throughout the previous years, we fell in love with the Northern Lights and by last year we already knew, we would come back this year. Again in September. Again a good idea.

It was not cold at all. The Northern Lights were doing their best and the streets were still passable.

We spent three nights in Senja including a buffer for rainy days.

Where is Senja?

Senja is located around 350km north of the Arctic Circle. Depending on the time of the year, either the best place to see the Midnight Sun or the Northern Lights.

How civilized is Senja?

Yes, exactly. With this question, we want to advise you to get your supplies in Finnsnes at the latest, before you’re heading in the direction of nature. Every so often there are a few small shops, but they’re expensive and more for emergencies.

There are a few places with a few houses. Senja is so sparsely populated, we assume everyone knows everyone in Senja. Other than that, there’s a lot of nature, fresh air and tranquillity. And probably one of the best places to see the Northern Lights explode.

For all future campers among you: The best stopping place is at the Ersfjord beach. At the Golden ‘Shithouse’ (restroom for the more decent speakers). What a luxury place to do some business regarding the 300.000€ this little house cost. ‘Shithouse’-game to tha next level.

You could also spend the night at Tungeneset. But as beautiful as it was, the people staying here were really weird. Which of course doesn’t have to be the case when you’re there.

Why Senja?

As much as we loved Lofoten and Vesterålen last year, we wanted to discover a new corner of Norway which of course gets along with our Northern Lights spleen.

We stumbled upon Senja by accident reading a post online and soon saw an offer by the holiday pirates. At first, we thought: Okay, if they spotted Senja already, this is definitely not a secret place anymore or maybe even crowded.

This was not the case at all. You’ll definitely meet other travellers. At least, Senja was one of the Instagram spots this year (in our filter bubble) which of course, attracts many hipsters (no offence, but they’re just so obvious). Nevertheless, it’s really calm and there are only a couple of accommodations to find. Those which can be found are really expensive. Tourism is still in its infancy. Maybe this will change the next couple of years.

It didn’t matter to us. We had our Volkswagen Camper, which we booked on Airbnb before the trip. In the middle of our trip, we spoiled ourselves with one night in the most beautiful hotel of the island, in Hamn i Senja. But more about that later.