Coastal Norway & the Arctic Circle

Norway is a land steeped in myth, where irascible gods armed with frost and lightning once inspired Viking clans to plunder foreign lands. These days, genteel customs imported from mainland Europe have softened the country’s hard edges, but traces of an unruly past still abound. The exceptional museums dotting the Bygdøy Peninsula hold some of the city’s foremost attractions, including a thousand-year-old longship that was preserved in mud and the 12th-century Gol Stave Church, an exemplar of Norway’s distinctive wood sanctuaries. No less fascinating is a visit to the 1892 Fram, a legendary ship revered for her vital role in early polar explorations. To witness the evolution of Oslo’s soul, contrast battle-hardened Akershus Fortress, a ruggedly elegant citadel wrapped in nearly impregnable ramparts, with the neoclassical Royal Palace, whose formal exterior encloses sumptuously appointed rooms. You might wish to view Edvard Munch’s iconic The Scream, which hangs in the outstanding Norwegian National Gallery amid priceless European and Scandinavian masterworks. In expansive Frogner Park, wander among Gustav Vigeland’s thought-provoking sculptures, and if you’ve worked up an appetite, choose among the many restaurants and cafés lining the charming waterfront district of Aker Brygge.

Skagen sits at the northernmost point of Denmark, tucked in a peninsula where the North Sea meets the Baltic Sea. This remote coastal town, settled in 1400s as a fishing village, provides stunning landscapes of white-sand beaches, unwavering grassland, and verdant forest. Notable is its Old Church, which since 1775 has been buried in sand, and the Skagen Museum, holding the impressionist works of the Skagen Painters, who drew inspiration from the area’s abundant natural light. To the south lies Råbjerg Mile, Northern Europe’s most prominent migrating sand dunes.

Southern Norway's largest town gathers around a sandy town beach that feels almost Mediterranean on a good summer's day, and a well-preserved old quarter of small white wooden houses, Posebyen, that survived the fires that leveled so much of the rest. A skerry-studded archipelago opens up just offshore for sailing and swimming, while several golf courses take advantage of some of the country's mildest weather. A relaxed, sun-catching counterpoint to the fjords further north.

Oslo is capital, but Bergen is the quintessential Norwegian city. A UNESCO World Heritage site, Bryggen (“the docks”) is filled with carefully preserved wooden buildings. Restored as shops, cafés, and museums, the attractive district looks as though it was lifted from another century. Stroll across Fisketorget, the open-air fish market and allow your senses to take it all in (and be sure to sample some fresh shrimp or smoked peppered mackerel). Ride the funicular to the top of Mount Fløien and admire the sweeping view before heading off to visit composer Edvard Grieg’s birth home.

One of Norway's most photographed fjord villages sits where the Aurlandsfjord meets a valley so steep the railway built to climb it remains one of the world's most dramatic, a switchback ascent past waterfalls to the Stegastein viewpoint high above. The Naeroyfjord beyond, the narrowest fjord in Europe and UNESCO-listed for it, closes in to barely two hundred and fifty meters wide in places. A handful of restaurants serve the valley's own smoked salmon and cured meats. Barely a few hundred people call it home, and the scenery does all the talking.

Located at the mouth of the Oldeelva River at the northern end of the Oldedalen Valley on the southern shore of the Nordfjorden, sits the charming village of Olden. Surrounded by steep mountains, blue glaciers, and bubbling waterfalls, Olden presents abundant kayaking, hiking, and biking opportunities. Olden is your gateway to the Jostedal Glacier, Europe’s largest mainland glacier, part of Jostedal Glacier National Park. Jostedal separates two of the longest fjords in the world, the Sognefjord and the Nordfjord.

The Geirangerfjord is the fjord of the postcards, sheer rock walls streaked by waterfalls with names like the Seven Sisters and the Bridal Veil, abandoned farms still clinging to impossible ledges above the water. A tiny village of a few hundred residents sits at its head, dwarfed by the scenery on every side, with a handful of restaurants serving reindeer and Arctic char to match the view. UNESCO listed the fjord for good reason, few landscapes anywhere compress this much drama into so short a sail.

Norway's medieval capital is anchored by the Nidaros Cathedral, the country's great Gothic pilgrimage church and coronation site for its kings for nearly a thousand years. Below it, the crooked, colorful wooden warehouses of Bakklandet line the Nidelva river, now filled with cafes and small restaurants rather than fish. Beaches and swimming spots dot the fjord just beyond town on a fine summer's day. A quieter, more historic counterpoint to Bergen and Oslo.

Norway’s celebrated archipelago of islands is heralded for its dramatic scenery, with peaks like the Svolvaergeita pinnacle jutting up into the sky. This is where majestic mountains meet brilliantly white sandy beaches, fishing villages dot the coastlines, and hiking trails crisscross their way through some of the most breathtaking landscapes in Norway. Reine, an authentic fishing village in Lofoten renowned for its scenic location by the majestic Lofoten peaks, is your gateway to the Lofoten Islands.

Norway’s celebrated archipelago of islands is heralded for its dramatic scenery, with peaks like the Svolværgeita pinnacle jutting up into the sky. This is where majestic mountains meet brilliantly white sandy beaches, fishing villages dot the coastlines, and hiking trails crisscross their way through some of the most breathtaking landscapes in Norway. Against the backdrop of the midnight sun and small villages, SeaDream overnights in Lofoten.

Nowhere are there fjords to match the grandeur of those in Norway, where the clear water reflects the mountains like a mirror. Sail between soaring granite cliffs and spy mountainside farms, charming villages, and an array of wildlife along this stunning coastline.

If you’re seeking a northern Eden, it doesn’t get much closer than Tromsø, an unhurried city cradled by spectacular fjords and titanic mountains. Among nature’s most magnificent displays, marvel at the nightless days of the midnight sun. Wind along the glasslike waters of the Balsfjorden, Kaldfjorden, Ullsfjorden and Malangen fjords, watching achingly beautiful panoramas unfold as you keep a sharp eye out for seals, eagles and reindeer. In Tromsø, delight in the angular forms of the Arctic Cathedral, which evokes a steep, snow-coated mountain or slabs of ice jutting into the sky. A short distance away, ride a cable car to nearly 1,400 feet above sea level for sweeping views of the town and the intense blues, greens and whites of the surrounding scenery. Examine a unique array of cold-climate plants at the Arctic-Alpine Botanical Garden, which showcases specimens from far-flung lands such as Tibet, and unwind with a cold one at celebrated Macks Ølbryggeri, a local institution that is proud to be “the world’s northernmost brewery.”