If you’re lucky enough to find yourself on the northwestern coast of Norway you will find Lofoten, an archipelago filled with some of the most staggeringly beautiful mountains, bays, beaches, and open sea to be found anywhere in the world. One such lucky duck is Petter Foshaug whose stunning drone video proves why Lofoten is nothing short of a paradise for kayakers, skateboarders, surfers, and adventure seekers alike.
Watch below to get a small taste of the Norwegian magic that Petter captured, and if you’re sold on the idea of visiting Norway then you can read Nomadic Matt‘s excellent tips on how to maximize your trip. “The Norwegians are wonderful people,” he writes. “Everyone speaks fluent English, and the sheer beauty of this country is too compelling to ignore. There is nothing like sailing around the fjords in the north. You could make it part of stopover on a large trip to Sweden or some nearby countries and Norwegian Air offers cheap tickets to Oslo.” You can read Matt’s Norway guide by visiting NomadicMatt.com.
For you kayakers out there, you will definitely want to save your trip for the summer because that’s when the sun stays out at midnight and turns the reflected water into pure gold. “When the midnight sun peeks out, it is reflected in the crystal clear water — warm, golden light stretches across the surface,” explains Julie Nordby Egeland of VisitNorway.com. “‘You really do paddle directly into the sun,’ says Anne Maria Leune, a northern kayak instructor. ‘It´s like bathing in gold.'”
Lofoten also offers an incredible range of adventures for designers and artists. For example, street artist duo Pøbel and Dolk created Getto Spedalsk (“Ghetto Leper”) back in 2008, an urban art project aimed at bringing attention to the effects of depopulation in rural Norway. Dolk’s weather-beaten mural “Sleepwalker,” for example, can be seen in the photo below and is just one of the project’s many spots. The duo’s work was profiled in Conde Nast’s terrific 12-photo slideshow which gives you a wonderful set of design and art-related travel experiences you need to see and do while you’re there.
Conde Nast also points out that Artscape Nordland “is an international art project intended to make up for the lack of art museums in Nordland county (which includes Lofoten). When the project launched in 1992, Nordland’s residents had to travel long distances to see modern art, so one location-specific sculpture each was planned for 32 of the 45 municipalities. Lofoten is home to five of them, including Dan Graham’s Uten Titel (“Untitled”), which captures the light and landscape in its two-way mirror, placing the viewer in the environment and reflecting back the beauty that surrounds them. Find it 20 minutes west of Svolvær.”
And don’t miss the outdoor amphitheatre which also serves as an observatory for the midnight sun. You can see all of Conde Nast’s suggestions for local art sites and experiences in Lofoten by visiting CNtraveler.com. Be sure to also visit Lofoten’s official travel guide at Lofoten.info.
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(Photo of Kjerkfjorden, Lofoton; credit: Tomasz Furmanek/VisitNorway.com. Photo of Dolk’s “Sleepwalker” mural, and Dan Graham’s Uten Titel courtesy of Karen Gardiner. Outdoor amphitheatre and midnight sun observatory photo courtesy of Snøhetta. Pink sky mountain photo via Lofoten.info).
