Lofoten Islands: a hidden gem that has our heart

After staying in a cabin in the secluded parts of Tromsø, our next destination was the Lofoten Islands. An archipelago in the land of the fjords. This was the last leg of our travel. We chose to stay at Manor House, Hamnøy.

Norway is divided into 11 administrative regions called counties. This is further sub divided into 356 municipalities. Hamnøy or Hamnøya is a small fishing village in Lofoten Islands. Which comes under the Moskenes Municipality in Nordland county.

As mentioned in our earlier blogs, Norway’s weather is highly unpredictable. If you notice bad weather, don’t cancel your plans for the day altogether. Wait for 10-20mins, you’ll notice the weather change. Whether for better or worse, only time can tell. Either way you needn’t worry, as that’ll change soon as well. Tricky isn’t it? Which is why dressing in layers is your next best option to come prepared for it.

Lofoten islands, was where the unpredictability in weather had seemed to have reached its peak during our travel to Norway. Getting a poncho and dressing up in layers definitely helped us be better prepared for the weather.

Lufthavn means Airport in Norwegian. When we first arrived at Leknes Lufthavn, we noticed how small the airport looked, compared to the rest of the airports we’ve been to. The tiny little airport looked like a portal into a whole new world. We arrived in Lofoten from Bodø. It was the shortest flight and the smallest aircraft we’d taken to date. There were around 20 passengers in it.

Polar nights was just three weeks away by the time we reached Lofoten Islands. And signs of the coming Polar nights had already started to show up. It looked like we’d entered a zone of bluish light. Turns out this happens weeks before the Polar nights, as the Sun remains below the horizon. The bluish daylight showed up by around 10 am. It remained that way throughout the day. Ever since we’d arrived in Norway, we noticed autumn change into winter. Signs that showed that Earth was slowly preparing itself for the coming Polar nights. Each day we saw the Sun set an hour or so early. By the time we’d reached Hamnøy, Lofoten, it started getting dark again by around 3-4pm.

Staying in Manor House at Hamnøy for 5 days was an experience in itself. It felt like we both had run off to a quiet place in the far north, away from the crowd to live in a quiet island amidst the fjords and the mountains. We stayed in an old Manor House built in 1890. There were 4 rooms, two balconies, two bathrooms and a shared kitchen. Each room is available for rental separately. During peak season assuming different families rented each room, i guess it might feel more like a hostel. If you want the whole house to yourselves, you can do so as well. Since we had gone for our stay in November (off season), we were the only ones around. So we got the whole Manor House to ourselves for the first three days before two other girls joined in later.

During our stay at Hamnøy, we noticed something. The slower the pace of our travel more in depth we tend to imbibe the whole vibe of the place. We went for long walks, took buses to travel the entire stretch of Lofoten. Enjoyed the scenic view of the roads and the beautiful string of islands that formed Lofoten. It’s amazing how we remember so much detail about our stay when we actually take time to slow down and observe everything around. Sure photographs helped us capture the memories but what surprised us most was how simply observing everything around us, captured way more details in our memories. I guess it’s true, how aware are we of our current experiences determines how we’ll remember our lives later. We also had so much fun getting groceries and cooking our own food.

View From the Balcony of Manor House:

Memories from our stay at the Manor House:

We spent daytime exploring different places in Lofoten. Nights were exclusively kept aside for the northern lights to appear. We’d sit in the balcony with a cup of hot cocoa and wait. Tell each other stories and take breaks to go back into our rooms when it gets too cold. On the night of day 3 at the Manor House we had a surprise visit from lady Aurora herself.

We went hiking Reinebringan on day 5. We didn’t know back then that it was rated one of the most scenic yet dangerous hikes of Lofoten. After attempting the hike we now know why it’s considered dangerous. The winds were so strong that it almost felt like the wind was trying to push us off the mountain. Or may be my fear of heights (It isn’t exactly a phobia in my case, but yeah heights do scare me at times) made it look more scarier than it seemed. Not sure but anyway, Unni told me we could go up the mountain as long as we felt okay and come back if it made me too anxious.

Once that was decided it felt great as there wasn’t a pressure to complete the hike. We went up almost 60% before we decided to head back to the ground. The wind only grew stronger beyond that point. We experienced the raw essence of nature, travelling to Norway. We are now convinced that nature can be both nurturing and ruthless at the same time. A reminder humans don’t stand a chance against Nature’s fury. Perhaps why it’s important to see how our actions affect nature.

Our itinerary at Lofoten was as follows.

Day 1 : We walked and explored Hamnøy, Sakrisøy and Reine. On the way back we got groceries from Coop Prix.

Day 2: Took the bus and covered the entire stretch of the island. Visited Svolvær and Svinøya fishing village, enjoyed a meal of Norwegian Salmon.

Day 3: We went to Å- it’s a fishing village at the southernmost end of Lofoten. This village in Norway has the world’s shortest name and it was such a pretty little village.

Day 4: Since our room faced the ocean and the mountains. We wanted to enjoy a day in the Manor House as well. Hence decided to stay in and take in the view as much as we could and enjoy a delicious homecooked meal. This turned out to be an amazing day filled with laughter and joy. We danced in the living room, watched a movie and played games.

Day 5: Hike to Reinebringan.

You can check out our previous blog to know all about the apps we used for the public buses.

The only public transport available in the islands of Lofoten are the public buses. The buses run to and fro covering the entire stretch of archipelago, stopping by most islands. So even if you don’t hire a car, you could travel to most places like we did by taking these buses. Please note: During off seasons the frequency with which the buses come and go may be limited compared to other times. That said it’s still not difficult to plan your travel keeping this in mind.

Until next time,
Aswathi & Unni
(Couple Travel Tales)