Why the Lofoten Islands?

by Aurelian / Norway / 22 sept. 2013

„Questi di detti scogli sono uomini purissimi e di bello aspetto, e cosí le donne sue, e tanta è la loro semplicità che non curano di chiuder alcuna sua roba…” Pietro Querini

I’ve always been dreaming about Norway and there’ve been nights when I was just sitting down and before my eyes there appeared an imaginary white board where I was simply placing all the little details of my great plan on Norway. I am pretty sure that all those who love to travel understand what I’m trying to say. It’s like an obsession that drives you forward and you want to discover as much as possible, sharing an impression that after every corner you may discover something new and great.

Since the Lofoten Islands covered the perfect conditions for me: mountains, sea, island (isolation), not a very touristic area (except for the months of July and August) and a relative wilderness, my mind was immediately drawn to this location and I promised myself that I will visit it one day.

I had to choose in my mind if I should go in the summertime, when the touristic season is „high”, that is July-August, when the temperature reaches 20 degrees Celsius, or in the winter, when there are no tourists and you have the chance to catch a glimpse of the aurora borealis. I chose winter, for the aurora and to have the islands for myself.

But, to be fair, you should know that everyone recommends going there in the summer, to ride the bike and go kayaking, Lofoten being one of the best places in the world for these two activities. If you want to see the whales, go in November. Don’t go in December because the sun doesn’t rise until the beginning of January. If you want to have sunny days, go in June and July; until July 17 sun doesn’t set.

Besides the aurora borealis and the lack of other tourists (which always gets me), I have chosen Lofoten also for its fjords, its ridiculously beautiful landscapes and the impression of a fairy tale magical land. In the end, all these elements got my attention: the fact that it’s in the north, it is cold and it has a long winter, the mountains, the waters and the lack of people.

Some of you may already be in a state of shock about the cold. Actually, this is the great part about it: it is not cold at all because the Lofoten Islands are under the influence of the Gulf Stream, which creates an anomaly at this latitude. Basically, all the year the average temperature doesn’t drop under 0 degrees Celcius. So, if you would be at the same latitude in Alaska or Siberia, you may need to face -20 degrees Celcius or worse.

Therefore, Lofoten is the place where you can go in the night, look at the sky for a few hours and hunt the aurora borealis without getting frozen, because in the winter months (November-April) the temperature stays around 0 degrees Celcius, usually going up during the day to almost 5 degrees.