My ten-day visit to Bergen in November 2021 had come to an end, but I wasn’t leaving Norway…
Times visited: 5
Cities visited: Bergen, Oslo, Tromsø, Narvik and Stavanger
Towns and villages visited: Svolvær, Leknes, Ballstad and Undheim
UNESCO sites visited: 1/8
My first visit to Norway was a road trip through the south with my family when I was just four years old – but my memories of it are vague at best. So when I set off on my journey through the Nordics in 2015, returning to Norway felt like a natural choice. I spent just over two weeks in the country, although about half of that time was in Svalbard, which I consider a separate country due to its unique status.
I split the rest of my time between Oslo and the stunning Lofoten Islands. I only had a single day in Oslo on my way to Svalbard, but it was enough for me to fall head over heels for the city. After my Arctic adventure, I flew to Tromsø for a brief stop before boarding an overnight ferry to Lofoten.
My original plan was to camp every night in Lofoten to save money – but that quickly fell apart when it started snowing on the first night. I was still very inexperienced at the time, so I gave up on the idea. Luckily, I met a kind hostel and restaurant owner in Ballstad who offered me a bed in exchange for helping out as a dishwasher in the evenings! One of my favourite memories was climbing a mountain behind the hostel with a group I’d met there – it was one of my very first hikes, and it felt like such an accomplishment. I didn’t want to leave Lofoten, but after a few wonderful days, the group disbanded and it was time to move on. I made my way to northern Sweden, stopping overnight in Narvik, where I managed to sleep inside a locked train station as part of my ongoing quest for free accommodation.
I returned to Oslo in March 2017 for a short but sweet two-day mini cruise with two friends. Even though it was brief, I loved being back in my favourite Nordic capital.
A longer trip was planned for April 2020 – three full weeks in Norway – but the pandemic had other plans. Thankfully, I finally made it back in November 2021 for a twelve-day visit. I sailed from Hirtshals in Denmark to Bergen, where I spent ten days with my best friend, who was doing her PhD there at the time. We hiked in the mountains above the city, visited a cozy open-air museum, and spent hours laughing, relaxing, and hanging out with her friends. When she was working – and when it wasn’t pouring rain – I explored the city solo, and went for runs around Svartediket. After Bergen, I took a bus to Stavanger to visit another friend who I had lived with in Greenland. We spent a relaxed afternoon strolling around Stavanger and went on a scenic roadtrip the next day through her hometown and the countryside of Jæren. In the evening, I caught a ferry back to Hirtshals.
In April 2023, I returned once more to Bergen to spend a week with my best friend. We both had a lot of university work to catch up on, so it was a quiet visit – but we still managed to squeeze in a stunning hike up Ulriken, and I explored a few new parts of the city.