Norway Van Trip

Two weeks, a van and the wild north of Norway: we explored the area, climbed a few mountains – and thoroughly tested what our rain gear can do.

How we planned the trip

We’d both wanted to go to northern Norway for a long time – the nature (at least in photos and videos) simply blew us away. In September 2022 the time had come: a two-week van tour across Senja and the Lofoten Islands.

We rented our van in Tromsø from WeCamp Norway . It won’t win a beauty prize, but it did its job perfectly and we enjoyed van life enormously.

We didn’t have a fixed route, just a few places we really wanted to see. We always looked for overnight spots spontaneously – which is great in Norway, because you’re allowed to stay overnight almost anywhere.

Our route

Tromsø – Fjordgård – Skaland – Bøstad – Lofoten Beach Camp – Reine – Vikten – Henningsvær – Selfjord – Å – Bodø

Fjordgård: Hesten & Barden

Our first hike took us from Fjordgård up Hesten (556 m). The trails suggest it’s usually really busy here – in the off-season, in rain and fog, we had it almost to ourselves. The next day we also climbed Barden (659 m) with an incredibly beautiful view over the fjords.

Skaland: Husfjellet at sunrise

Skaland should only have been 20 minutes away – unfortunately the road was closed and we had to make a detour of almost 2 hours . Yaaay. But because the area is so indescribably beautiful, it wasn’t so bad. And on the beach we got a dreamy sunset.

The next morning we did the only sunrise hike of our trip, up Husfjellet (632 m). A great place for a proposal, by the way – the girl said YES! 💍 Afterwards we took a dip in the sea (calling it swimming would be an exaggeration – let’s call it 20 seconds of shock therapy).

Bøstad: Lofotr Viking Museum

We spent this day almost entirely in the van, with a few stops to cook and stretch our legs. Because the weather was better further north, we drove straight down. In Bøstad we visited the Lofotr Viking Museum – super interesting and worth a stop! By the way, it smelled of the best soup ever … unfortunately we hadn’t booked a soup tour, haha.

Lofoten Beach Camp

The Lofoten Beach Camp became our base: for filling up water, showering or just for a coffee.

This is also exactly where we met David and Tarah . We already “knew” each other from Instagram, but had never met in person – even though we live less than an hour apart in Tyrol. The plan was one coffee. It turned into the whole rest of the holiday: vans parked side by side, cooking, laughing and hiking. A dream! Thank you for your time and all the laughs. ♥️

Reine & Reinebringen

About 40 minutes from the Beach Camp lies Reine, the little village with the famous red houses. In the middle of the village there’s a super lovely café where we kept ending up. In peak season it’s surely packed here – for us it was pleasantly quiet.

The famous Reinebringen (442 m)starts right in Reine: an awesome hike and a great glute workout, as you climb almost entirely on stairs. Because the weather was rather poor, we just blasted up.

Vikten: Hustinden

From Vikten we hiked up Hustinden (691 m). At first the weather was rather bad again – but at the summit the clouds broke up and we got magnificent views of the fjords and the open sea. David wanted to take the easy way down, but the wind said: NO. So hike & hike. Also awesome.

Henningsvær: my favourite place

Henningsvær was my favourite place on this trip – with really nice cafés and restaurants. We ate at Klatrekafeen : super cosy and good food.

For a coffee, a few emails, a book or tasty (and super expensive) cake, Trevarefabrikken is perfect. In peak season there are also events and after-work parties.

A great hike up Festvågtinden (541 m)also starts here. We thought the sunset was a washout – and when we were on the way down, the clouds suddenly vanished and the mountain glowed. So: a tough sprint back up, around 150 metres of climbing. So worth it!

Kayak trip

An absolute highlight was our kayak tour into a quiet bay. We’re only used to our calm mountain lakes – paddling on the open sea was a whole new experience.

Kitinden – the perfect finale

Our last hike took us up Kitinden (757 m) – and we were rewarded with an incredible sunset and a huge horizontal rainbow. The perfect finale! The next morning we took the ferry to Bodø and flew home from there.

Van life

This was our first trip where we lived exclusively in the van for almost two weeks. We actually thought we’d spend the odd night in a hotel – but no: we enjoyed van life so much that we didn’t miss a hotel for a second.

• Kitchen: 2 gas burners, pots, pans, salt, pepper and oil were already on board.
• Sleeping: Sheets and duvets were included, and we had loads of space.
• Fridge, sink & water: brushing teeth and washing up were totally easy.
• Showers: for that we went to campsites – worked really well.
• Food: shopping every few days and cooking ourselves – we only ate out 3 times. Partly because everything is just insanely expensive, haha.

Good to know

• Prices: In Norway almost everything is twice as expensive as in Austria – in restaurants as well as in supermarkets.
• Alcohol: Supermarkets only sell beer and cider, and on weekdays only until 8 pm. For anything stronger you have to go to a liquor store.
• Cash: We didn’t need any at all – even public toilets are paid by card.
• Traffic: Stick to the speed limits, fines are very high. Wrong parking is expensive too – it cost us €100.
• Eating vegetarian: If you don’t eat much fish and meat, the menus don’t make it easy. But there are burgers everywhere.

That’s it! I hope I could give you a good overview of our trip to northern Norway. If you have any questions, feel free to write to me.

Love
Anna