Svolvær – gateway to the untamed Lofoten Islands

The largest town in the Lofoten Islands is the gateway to the archipelago’s towering peaks, crystal fjords, and enchanting fishing villages. Situated above the Arctic Circle, this is a prime place to catch those ethereal Northern Lights and experience the hazy Midnight Sun.

Svolvær town itself blends traditional charm with modern comforts for a warm welcome.

Just west of Svolvær lies a village called Kabelvåg. Originally named Vågar, this was the first major town to ever exist in northern Norway – a full 700 years before any others grew to a size worth recording.

It wasn’t until the 16th century that Svolvær entered the records. Its name was a blend of svalr meaning ‘chilly’ and vær meaning ‘fishing village’. Life here continued without much event until it appeared in major newspapers in 1890 thanks to a standoff between large fishing vessels and local fishermen over fishing rights in the fjord. Often referred to as the Svolvær Standoff, it inspired official moves to protect the rights of local fishermen.

During World War II, Germany seized several fisheries in Svolvær to steal stocks of fish oil to produce highly explosive nitroglycerin for bombs and shells. During Operation Claymore, a successful Norwegian/British raid carried out on 4 March 1941, code books and wheels for the Enigma machine – a cipher device the Germans used to encrypt top-secret messages – were discovered. From these, the Enigma code was finally deciphered at Bletchley Park in the UK. It marked a major turning point for the Allied war effort.

Still, the Gestapo kept their Lofoten headquarters in Svolvær. The town has the most surviving examples of German bunkers and tunnels in Norway.

Today, Svolvær is a vibrant, modern town with a blend of Arctic charm and contemporary comforts. It serves as the tourism hub from which to explore Lofoten, offering stunning mountain and sea views, outdoor adventures like whale watching and hiking, and a rich cultural scene with museums, galleries, and restaurants.

The world’s largest catches of skrei (a type of Arctic cod that migrates from the Barents Sea to spawn along the Norwegian coast) are made on the Lofoten banks between January and April every year. The town also hosts the annual World Cod Fishing Championships at the end of March.

With sheer mountains knifing into Arctic fjords, the Lofoten Islands can seem otherworldly. It’s easy to assume Svolvær might exist inside an eternal frozen snow globe. In fact, it’s often as mild as mainland Europe in winter thanks to the Gulf Stream.

From early December to early January, the sun packs up and heads south. Temperatures hover around freezing until March but never plummet to the toe-scrunching temperatures experienced on mainland northern Norway. The long Polar Night provides an ebony backdrop against which the Northern Lights can glow all the brighter.

“You know it’s winter in the Lofoten Islands,” says local resident Isabel Odden, “when the air is filled with the smell of dried fish. We say it ‘smells like money!’”

Thanks to its location north of the Arctic Circle, the sun stops setting here in late May and doesn’t dip below the horizon again until mid-July. “I feel the ideal time to explore Svolvær is in summer,” says Isabel. “You can embrace the endless days and kayak under the Midnight Sun, or go for a hike at 2am.”