Itinerary for 1 week in Lofoten & Vesterålen!

Et voilá, here’s the itinerary for our most recent trip. Lofoten and Vesterålen seem to be made for a great road trip. Streets are in a great condition and navigation is quite simple: follow the E 10 from the mainland to the very end of the Lofoten islands. Here and there, there are side roads to secluded beaches or villages and that’s it. It’s similar in Vesterålen.

Go slow!

Distances are seldom great in the area. But still, you will need some time to travel, because the roads are winding and countless bridges and tunnels will be on your way. Furthermore, there is a general speed limit of 90 km/h in Norway. But to be frank, it didn’t bother at all, because the landscape is so amazing, I enjoyed going slow.

Especially in Vesterålen, there are road signs everywhere, warning you against moose. After an accident with one of them (they can become as large as 2 meters) your card would be a write-off. Well. we went slow but also didn’t see one single elk.

September – best time to travel for us

When doing research, you might seldom find September as a recommendation for the best time to go to Northern Norway. And, of course, it depends on what you want to see. You won’t see snowy winter landscapes before December and the midnight sun is only visible in June and July.

But for us September was just perfect: we had a couple of days of great late summer weather, with temperatures of 18°C. As sunset is between 8 and 9 pm, it was dark enough to see Northern Lights by 11pm the latest. And it wasn’t too cold in the nights, too. Furthermore, we saw lots of whales and dolphins in Andenes.

Accommodation in Lofoten & Vesterålen

Hereafter, our itinerary and our accommodation. In general, Norway is one of the most expensive countries to travel in. But in low season in September, lots of places were surprisingly affordable.

Only Moskenes was still really expensive. We used booking.com and Airbnb and liked all of our places a lot. We had self-catering possibilities everywhere. This is important if you don’t want to return as poor fellows.

Data by OpenStreetMap.

1. und 5.: Evenes Airport Harstad-Narvik

As our flight arrived lated and departed early, we booked an accommodation close to the airport each time. We chose Yellow House and Blue House. Both were great rooms with very nice hosts.

2. Moskenes

We chose Sakrisøy Hostel & Guesthouse here. It’s close to Reine with a terrific scenery and we had one of the deluxe rooms in the lower floor. it was amazing! And as everything in the area is expensive it seemed ok to us. We spent two nights here.

3. Vestvågøy

Close to Ballstad, we booked a room for three nights in Villa Ballstad. It’s a great white house with views over Ballstad and the nearby mountains. It’s close to Haukland Beach and perfect for a hike on Offersøykammen.

4. Andøya

We spent one night in Nord Fish Appartment. Large rooms with en-suite bathroom and very affordable for Norway. Bleik and Andenes (for the whale watching) are just around the corner. As the area is sparsely populated, it’s perfect to enjoy the Northern Lights. We would have loved to stay longer here.

What are your experiences? Did you choose a different itinerary? If you have any questions, just ask us!

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