To this question I would simply answer, “Because you find everything hikers dream of concentrated in a limited area!”

It is often said that the Lofoten Islands are a miniature Norway, which is true because all the landscapes you find in mainland Norway are within easy reach.

Outstanding landscapes and light.
Here you will find immense white-sand beaches, small ports with brightly coloured houses nestling deep in tiny fjords, narrow valleys with a few isolated farms dotted here and there, green or flowery plateaus, mountain lakes, tumultuous waterfalls, breath-taking snow-capped mountains, all bathed in the northern light of which photographers are so fond. The wide range of landscapes, the ever-present sea and mountains as well as the purity of the light are unique in the world.

Fabulous, wide-open nature. Here the only barrier to unrestricted travel is the mountains. As everywhere in Norway, the few, generally quiet inhabitants here are not sticklers about private property. Many hiking trails pass through farms or alongside isolated houses and if you happen to meet someone they are sure to wish you good day and a good trip in Norwegian. The few sheep fences you encounter always have a ladder or gate nearby which you should always close behind you. This total freedom must not make you forget that the natural environment you are passing through is fragile and unused to large mammals like us.

Lofoten floraMuch of the islands is covered with peat that grows slowly at a rate of 1 mm a year! This fragile biotope means you have to be particularly careful and try to  walk on the existing paths wherever possible. Sheep – which are the main inhabitants of the wildest parts of the islands – have created a certain number of tracks but beware, they won’t always take you where you want to go.

Endless summer days. The latitude here (68° N) means that the sun does not set between mid-May and mid-July and you can see the sun shining brightly high in the sky at midnight! This special effect, as well as the magnificent light it creates, means you can enjoy nature at any time of the day or night.

Absolute quiet. No tourist frenzy here, just a few buses carrying cruise passengers from the north to the south of the islands stopping at the three souvenir shops in the archipelago. As soon as you leave the main road (E10) you only meet the occasional hiker, absorbed like you in contemplating nature.

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Our tips

Where to sleep, eat, drink and more in the Lofoten Islands

As we are not a tourist office, we will only publish recommandations for places we think are hikers and backpackers friendly and that we have tested AND appreciated. This section will get more stuff as we go along.

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 Visitor statistics

161,424 users, 24,000 subscribers and over 1,500,000 pages viewed in 2018!

To find out more about all the Rando-Lofoten visitor statistics with accurate data from Google Analytics, click here

 Increasingly accurate maps!

The Day Walks section has been improved thanks to the work of Frank Ingermann and the fantastic vector map background of Norgeskart.no (Norwegian Mapping Authority - Karverket). Hiking-Lofoten offers hiking guides that are getting ever more accurate and professional. Come and find out about them!

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Download the official Lofoten Islands maps

Lofoten Islands maps, scale 1:50 000 (UMT33)  download them for free on hiking-lofoten!Maps from the Norwegian National Institute of Cartography (Kartverket) are available in high definition (Tiff) on a set of ten maps.  Essential to prepare your hikes in the Lofoten Islands...

Lofoten maps

Northern lights forecast

Discover aurora forecast for Lofoten islands, thanks to NOAA POES satelitte from the "National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration"

GPS routes

  • The GPS hiking routes are finally available as free downloads from the Hikes section!
  • Discover eight new routes in the Lofoten Islands with detailed Topos from Rando-Lofoten.

Day Length in the Lofoten

The Lofoten archipelago is located above the Arctic Circle, the result of this situation is a period of permanent days in summer and at the opposite a period of permanent night in winter (polar night).

To organize properly your trips and expedition in this region, it is important to take this phenomenon into account due to the high latitude. Discover our sunset/sunrise calendar

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