Best Tips on How to Get to the Lofoten Islands, Norway (2024) (2024)

The Lofoten islands have two smaller domestic airports: Svolvær and Leknes that are served by Widerøe airlines. However, flying there can be expensive, therefore some people land on one of the two larger airports located on the mainland; Bodø airport or Evenes airport.

Svolvær airport is located approximately 5 km outside of Svolvær city. The airport does not have any bus connections so you either have to rent a car at the airport, take a taxi, hitchhike or walk.

Leknes airport is located approximately 1.5 km outside of Leknes city. The airport does not have any bus connections so you either have to rent a car at the airport, take a taxi, hitchhike or walk.

Evenes airport is located about 1.5 hours drive east of Lofoten. You can either rent a car at the airport or take the bus.Route 300 is included in the Travel Pass Nordland from the airport and to Lofoten. The bus is going to both Svolvær and Leknes and from Leknes you can change bus to take you all the way to Å. 300 departs only twice a day from Evenes, at 11 am and 5 pm.

You need to take a 3-hour-long car ferry to Moskenes in western Lofoten (car ferry, operated all year round) or a speedboat to Svolvær (passenger only, operated all year round). The speedboat is covered by the Travel Pass Nordland.

You should schedule at least two hours between landing and take off when you arrive at Bodø airport.

If you come from the north or the east, you can travel from the mainland onto E10 and enter Lofoten without using any ferry. However, if you arrive from the south you will need to choose one out of three ferry connections to get you and your car over to Lofoten.

From Oslo you could follow the E6 northbound towards Trondheim. This is actually the more scenic route since you pass Dovre National Park. A slightly faster route is to follow the E3 past Elverum going north towards Trondheim. From Trondheim you can continue to Bodø by following E6 most of the way, or you can do the scenic route along Helgelandskysten. Its approximately 1200 km and 16 hours of driving from Oslo to Bodø along the fastest route. From Bodø you can take the car ferry over to Lofoten.

You can book the Bodø – Moskenes ferry in advance. In the high season we recommend to book the ferry since the ferry can be full and it depart only four times a day. You can book your ferry here!
Note that there is no need to book the ferry as a pedestrian. This is just an unnessesary expense since the ferry is free for pedestrians and you will always find a seat, even without paying the 200 NOK for reservation.

Lofoten in the summer is for many Norwegians synonomus with long ferry ques. Luckily most people only take a ferry when they enter and exit Lofoten. And its usually not so bad. Some of the worst lines can happen when there is a forecasted storm in the middle of July. Then everybody wants to leave Lofoten at the same time and all the ferry departures struggle to deal with the sudden rush of cars. In general it’s a good idea to show up early for your ferry, especially in July.

No

First of all, there is no train going all the way to Lofoten. The train stops just south of Lofoten, in Bodø, and from there most people take a ferry or catch a plane to get over to the Lofoten islands. You can order your train tickets here.The first stretch is from Oslo to Trondheim, where you have to change train before continuing towards Bodø. The total time spent on the rails from Oslo to Bodø is around 20 h. You can order sleeping compartments on some departures, but they are very expensive, so we recommend you bring a pillow or two as well as lots of food, drinks and offline entertainment, to make your journey easier. The trains have WIFI on board, but this is often unstable and slow. It’s also worth mentioning that it can often be more expensive to travel by train than plane, so if you have a limited amount of time in Norway, we recommend flying to Bodø or Evenes.

From Bodø train station there is a 800 meter walk to the Bodø ferry station. From here you can catch the large car ferry towards Moskenes. or the passenger-only express ferry towardsSvolvær.The express ferry only departs once a day, at 18.00. The Svolvær express ferry is covered by the Travel Pass Nordland. It’s recommended to book your seaton the express ferry in the high season. Even with the Travel Pass Nordland you are recommended to reserve a seat. You dont pay anything extra when you have the Travel Pass.

From Stockholm you can catch a train going to the Norwegian city of Narvik, located a couple of hours east of Lofoten. Some departures require no transfer and it takes approx 19 – 20 h. From Narvik you can either rent a car or take bus route #300 all the way to Svolvær or Leknes. The bus journey is covered by Travel Pass Nordland. Book your train tickethere. Check your bus schedule here.

From Narvik train station you walk 4 minutes to Bromsgård bus station. From here you catch buss number 300 towards Svolvær and Lofoten. Find scheduleshere.

From Bergen to Stamsund, which is the first harbour in Lofoten, it takes approximately 3 days of sailing. Then you will have seen the whole coastline of western Norway, Helgelandskysten as well as parts of Lofoten.

From Tromsø to Svolvær, which is the first harbour in Lofoten, it takes approximately 16,5 h of sailing. This lets you see parts of Senja, Vesterålen as well as Lofoten.

Traveling from Bergen to Stamsund can be as expensive as 14.000 NOK per person in July. But in the shoulder seasons you can get fairly cheap tickets on the shorter stretches. You can find tickets from Tromsø – Svolvær as cheap as 500 NOK per person. That´s competing with a normal bus ticket. It all depends on when you want to travel, how far, if you want a cabin or not, and if you bring a car.Book your ticket here.

Yes, you can bring your car on Hurtigruten for as long stretch as you would like. Caravans and RVs are not allowed though.