Lofoten Islands, Norway

January 2026

Hamnoy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

When deciding where to go in January of 2026 after our original trip for this time had to be postponed, we explored several options.  Typically we try to escape our midwest winters on our winter trip in search of warmer climates, however, this year instead we decided to go further north.  North of the arctic circle to the Lofoten Islands of Norway to be exact.  The Lofoten Islands are an archipelago on the northwestern coast of Norway.  They are known for their beauty in the summer, but they are also an amazing backdrop for Northern Lights in the winter.  The Lofoten Islands are known for their deep ocean fjords, mountain peaks rising out of the ocean and iconic scattered small fishing villages with red rorbu (Norwegian fishing huts) resting along the shores.

We came here in the winter primarily for the Northern Lights, but it was great to explore the small fishing villages along the Lofoten Islands without the crowds visiting in the summer months.   As there are fewer tourists in the winter, there are also fewer restaurants open.   So if you want to visit in the winter we recommend choosing accommodations with some type of cooking facilities.  The southern end of the Lofoten Islands has scattered small fishing villages like Reine, Hamnoy, and A built right at the waters edge. 

Village of A, the village in the south Lofoten Islands 

Classic red rorbus in the village of A

Village of A

Hamnoy

Video taken with the GoPro of the southern Lofoten Islands (see above).

Sakrisoya, Norway

    

Sakrisoya

Anita's Seafood is a local staple serving lunch in the southern Lofoten Islands

Workers are hanging fish to dry on wooden racks.

Stockfish is a common sight all along this area.

All throughout our exploration of the Lofoten Islands we noted large wooden drying racks.  At first we weren't sure what these were for, but we quickly learned that this region has a unique climate and local fish, typically cod, are caught then hung from these racks to dry and are called stockfish.  The unique climate with cool dry air of Norway is a good form of preservation method.  This method does not use salt to cure, and is very high in protein.  The fish can be rehydrated by soaking in water for a period of 1-2 days and then the fish can be boiled, baked, grilled or fried.  

Reine, Norway

Reine

Sunset in Lofoten in mid-January

As the Lofoten Islands are so far to the north, in the summer they have the midnight sun where the sun never sets below the horizon.  The converse of this is in the winter, they have the polar nights where the sun never rises above the horizon.  We went in mid-January so the sun did rise above the horizon, but never got very high in the sky.  Therefore, we had what photographers call the golden hour pretty much the entire time the sun was above the horizon.  When we first arrived, the sun came up at 10:33 am and set at 1:30 pm.  It was a bit of an adjustment to have darkness at 3:00 in the afternoon.

Sunset on Reinefjord

Hamnoy

There is a bridge in Hamnoy that has become an iconic instagram photo spot showing the classic red rorbu cabins with the mountain rising in the background.  

Hamnoy

 

Hamnoy in the golden hour light.

I took a short video of our little portion of Reinefjord outside our resort Reinefjord Sjohus (see above).

Ramberg Beach

We came for Northern Lights, did we see them or was it too cloudy... 

OH YES we saw them.

Coming in January was a risk as it is typically the cloudiest month.  We hoped we were increasing our odds by coming for 2 weeks.  I had read many photography sites and travel blogs where people came in hopes of seeing northern lights, but never got to see them.  Not only were we lucky to see them once, but we were rewarded with very strong Aurora in the sky at least 5 nights of the 12 nights we were in Lofoten.  Some nights were partly cloudy, but the Aurora could still be seen in the sky.

Reine

Hamnoy

The southern end of the Lofoten Islands definitely had the most photogenic backdrops for the Northern Lights in our opinion.  But after spending the first week in the southern Lofoten Islands, we moved north to the mid-Lofoten Islands.  We were in a developing community that is currently under construction which was 20 minutes south of the largest city in Lofoten, Svolvaer.  We were also about 15 minutes from Henningsvaer, which is known for the most beautiful location for the local soccer pitch (football pitch to the rest of the world).   We did not get the iconic picture of the soccer pitch as it was covered in snow while we visited, but we plan to return in t he summer months to see it better.

Henningsvaer

Henningsvaer where workers are hanging stock fish to dry on wooden racks

Henningsvaer Light House

Henningsvaer

Henningsvaer

Gimsoy Beach

Even though the mid-Lofoten was not a picturesque as the southern islands, we still got some amazing northern lights in this location.  There was an incredible coronal mass ejection that happened while we were there and got the most amazing northern lights we have ever seen.

The second week there was a large coronal mass ejection that took place on the sun which gave us two nights of absolutely stunning Aurora.  The first night the sky was lit with yellow and red lights.  It was so bright and intense that the sky was just a kaleidoscope of colors rather than the ribbons that we saw across the sky.  These are the colors that were captured by John's camera.

More northern light time lapses with the GoPro.

There were times when the northern lights were just overhead sending beams of light in all directions.

On our second to last night I was able to get more northern light time lapse video with the GoPro.

Needless to say our gamble to fly to Norways Lofoten Islands in January paid off and we saw some of the most spectacular northern lights displays. We will likely never see a display like this again, but if you want  to see Northern Lights we would highly recommend visiting the Lofoten Islands in the winter months.  We definitely want to come back to see them in the summer sometime soon.

Coming Soon:

Buenos Aires, Argentina and Iguazu Falls.

Antarctica

South Georgia and Falkland Islands

Chilean Fjords and Patagonia