Sights in Lofoten
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Norwegian Telecommunications Museum
Alongside the E10 in Sørvågen and south of Moskenes, the Norwegian Telecommunications Museum presents itself as a study in ‘cod and communications’. Granted, it’s not an immediately winning combination but in fact this small museum commemorates a huge advance in fishing techniques. In 1906, what was Norway’s second wireless telephone station was established in this tiny hamlet. From that day on, weather warnings could be speedily passed on and fishing vessels could communicate with each other, pass on news about where the shoals were moving and call up the bait boats.
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Norwegian Fishing Village Museum
Fourteen of Å’s 19th-century boathouses, storehouses, fishing cottages, farmhouses and commercial buildings constitute the Norwegian Fishing Village Museum. Highlights (pick up a pamphlet in English at reception) are Europe’s oldest cod-liver oil factory, where you’ll be treated to a taste of the wares and can pick up a bottle (Nkr40) to stave off those winter sniffles; the smithy, who still makes cod-liver oil lamps; the still-functioning bakery, established in 1844; the old rorbuer with period furnishings; and a couple of traditional Lofoten fishing boats.
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Fishery Museum
This fishery museum lies 3km south of the bridge linking Flakstadøy and Moskenesøy. In one dim shack, there’s an astounding clutter of boats, ropes and floats while within another is an unlabelled yet fascinating jumble of pots, pans, skis, old valve radios and the like. All this to the throb and fumes curling from the collection of permanently beached ships’ diesel engines. Tor-Vegard Mørkved, the young resident blacksmith, bashes out cormorants in iron (the cheapest, around Nkr300 but Nkr1700 for something you’d be proud to have on your mantelpiece).
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Lofoten Stockfish Museum
At the Lofoten Stockfish Museum, in a former fish warehouse, you’ll be bowled over by Steinar Larsen, its enthusiastic, polyglot owner, who meets and greets every visitor. This personal collection, a passionate hobby of his, illustrates well Lofoten’s traditional mainstay: the catching and drying of cod for export, particularly to Italy. Displays, artefacts and a DVD programme take you through the process, from hauling the fish out of the sea through drying, grading and sorting to despatch.
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Magic Ice
Housed, appropriately, in what was once a fish-freezing plant, Magic Ice is the ultimate place to chill out, perhaps with something to warm the spirit from the 7.5m-long bar. The 500-sq-metre space is filled with huge ice sculptures, illustrating Lofoten life. If you can’t come back to northern Norway in winter, here’s a great, if brief, approximation.
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Lofoten Nature
Lofoten Nature displays, on two floors above the tourist office, the striking images of Lofoten wildlife photographer John Stenersen. The thoughtful, accessible text with its powerful ecological message is a stimulating condensed introduction to the ecosystems of the islands and their land-based and offshore wildlife. Warmly recommended.
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Flakstad Kirke
Set back from Flakstad beach and bypassed these days by the E10, the red onion-domed Flakstad Kirke was built in 1780 but has been extensively restored over the years. Most of the original wood was ripped out of the ground by the Arctic-bound rivers of Siberia and washed up here as driftwood.
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Lofoten Theme Gallery
The Lofoten Theme Gallery is very much the creation of one man, Geir Nøtnes, a keen photographer from a long fishing background. One room is devoted to cod fishing, another to whaling and there’s a 20-minute DVD about Lofoten through the seasons.
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North Norwegian Art Centre
The North Norwegian Art Centre hosts changing exhibitions of paintings, sculpture, ceramics and more by artists from northern Norway. There’s also a permanent exhibition of the works of the 19th-century Lofoten painter Gunnar Berg.
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Museum of Dolls & Toys
In Sakrisøy, Dagmar Gylseth has collected more than 2500 dolls, antique teddy bears and historic toys over 20 years for her Museum of Dolls & Toys. There’s also an affiliated antique shop upstairs.
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Lofoten War Memorial Museum
Lofoten War Memorial Museum, privately and passionately run, is a fascinating place. Models in original military uniforms gaze down and there are plenty of artefacts and evocative, largely unpublished WWII-era photos.
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Gallery
You can make a 4km side trip to Vikten to visit the gallery of glassblower Åsvar Tangrand, designer of the Lofoten Rune, the region’s seven-pronged logo, which evokes a longboat.
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