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When I think of my bucket list, Norway has always been near the top. Why? Wilderness, beauty, sure – but, even more, my Grandmother always spoke about her Norwegian Sami heritage. At 91 years old, it was well past time for me to go to the country and town (Mosjøen) she always remembered her mother speaking about.

Even without the draw of heritage, this was a trip to remember. This was easily the most Off the Beaten Path I’ve ever done – we found very little by way of international tourism in this particular area of Norway. (There was literally one blog that provided endless useful info, huge thanks to Heart my Backpack for info and inspo!) And after coming back I can say – don’t sleep on Norway. There is beauty around every corner.

Day 1 – Landing in Bodø

If you want to explore the Nordland, Bodø (pronounced more like “Buddah”) is a prime spot to start. It’s an easy two hour flight from Oslo, where almost all your international flights will transfer. I was coming straight from Chicago and unfortunately delays caused me to miss my final flight (sob) but there are multiple daily flights on Norwegian and SAS up to Bodø so I was only slightly delayed.

Marjorie met me at the little airport where we were able to literally walk to our hotel (Radisson Blu) on the cutest little walking path. The sun was glorious and even though it was getting late in the day, we traveled in late June which meant we had the endless sun.

We dropped my bags and immediately went to explore. Bodø is a treat. Lovely walking areas with lots of shops. We chose pizza for our first night and went to Bjørk. Not a bad stop at all, especially if it’s nice and you can take advantage of the outdoor upstairs patio.

After we grabbed ice cream at a cart – when you get ice cream in Norway do not miss the chocolate topping powder. It’s magic.

We then walked the long pier to take pictures of the sailboats. A friendly Norwegian told us what looked like weird hunks of concrete with holes in them all along the pier was actually art. It was designed to make haunting, beautiful noises on windy days. This started us on a path of breaking all the stoic/slightly rude Norwegian stereotypes. We had lovely interactions throughout the trip.

Day 2 – Travel to Mosjøen

When most people land in Bodø, their next move is go northwest to visit the Lofoten Islands. We chose, instead, to go off the beaten path. So we went south, hopping the almost 4 hour train to Mosjøen.

But first – breakfast at the hotel. And let me tell you, one of my most surprising cultural realizations about Norway is that they do not mess around when it comes to a hotel breakfast. They start early compared to the US and they are very well stocked. Given that it was almost impossible to find open breakfast restaurants/coffee shops (more to come on that later) the over-the-top hotel breakfasts are something that you should definitely take advantage of.

We then high tailed it out of there because it started to rain. This will be a common statement, unfortunately. We would end up having significant rain for 9 days out of the 11 we had on the ground in this fabulous country. This was definitely a bummer for a lot of our trip but we did the best we could.

And for this first day, it wasn’t too bad because a train in the rain allows for a special kind of beauty. We boarded and spend our first hours watching out the windows of what is known to be the most scenic train ride in northern Norway. It did not disappoint. We even were stopped for a while and they made the tea and coffee machines free due to the wait. We didn’t realize that at first and Friendly Norwegian #2 on our trip made sure to interrupt our jabbering to let us know we should take advantage of the treat.

We pulled into Mosjøen with a bit of a dilemma. Our hotel was a mile walk from the train station but the pouring rain made that option much less appealing. Google told us the bus stop was at the same station and, sure enough, we saw a coach bus idling. This is where we met Friendly (friendliest!) Norwegian #3 – also known as the world’s cutest bus driver. He didn’t know English but it wasn’t hard to show him our destination (the hotel in Mosjøen). He proceeded to exit the public bus, store our luggage, and drive us right to the front door of the hotel, all while refusing payment. It was adorable and unbelievably helpful.

We spent the day wandering the small and sleepy town – easily done in a single day. We popped into a great coffee shop with good food, Umami, and, later, had dinner at Tippen Gastro.

Thoroughly full, we walked across the river and hiked up about 280 steps of the 3000+ that would have gotten us to the top of the mountain. Honestly, our view at 280 was perfectly fine for us and a great way to finish out our first day in Mosjøen.

Day 3 – Road Trip! First stop: Lovund

After another epic hotel breakfast, we walked 20 minutes in the pouring rain to the nearby Avis to pick up our rental car. Friendly Norwegian #4 was so nice and we became proud temporary owners of a little hatchback wagon by Skoda. And we were off!

The 2.5 hour absolutely beautiful drive to Stokkvagen was very easy. Mo i Rana was a perfect midway pit stop for coffee as well.

The ferry at Stokkvagon was a trip. It was still early in the season for tourists and we were only one of two cars on the giant ferry. Taking the ferry was a breeze – we just got in line and drove on. The lack of directions at the location worried us but we just followed along and it was seamless. Honestly, I have no idea if we paid anything. If we did, it was via a toll on our license plate, or it was free. Whatever the cost, it was an absolutely lovely 1.5 hour trip to our island stop.

Despite the crummy weather (yes, still raining), Lovund was exceptional. We stayed at the iconic Lovund Hotell in a fisherman’s cabin. I was instantly in love. It absolutely could not have been cozier or cuter.

For dinner we took advantage of the fine dining at the hotel and had a three course dinner that took us out of our comfort zone but was definitely the most unique and “authentic” food we had all trip (smoked salmon, sirloin, and rhubarb soup for dessert, complete with wine pairings).

Day 4 – Exploring Lovund

Lovund is a island that needs no car, so we left out little Skoda parked and walked everywhere. While still dreary, it wasn’t quite a truly rainy today so we took advantage and went for a nice walk. We thought we were following a path but… we couldn’t find it. Pretty sure we just walked through random, sometimes boggy, fields. So it didn’t last long, but it was a nice little exploration nonetheless.

We made it over to The Coast Coffee when they opened… which was 11am. We found their hours truly flabbergasting given it is the only coffee shop on the island. It was cute and worth a stop despite the wonky hours. We also had dinner at Emaus – a little pub with bar food that was quite decent for, again, because really the only restaurant on the island outside of our hotel.

It was then, finally, late enough in the day where we could see what we came here for – the puffins! We were given the advice to wait until the early evening as that is when the puffins come back to their nests. Given the endless sun, we didn’t have to worry about hiking in the dark.

So here’s the thing – ultimately, it was an incredibly cool experience. We hiked up to the base of a rocky cliffside and the puffins were circling above us. Puffins filled the air – they would eventually swoop down and head into their little nests in the rocks. It was pretty amazing to see and listen to their fluttering and squawking. We did overestimate how close they would be as we had seen some really amazing pictures but, of course, realized those had to have been taken with very impressive cameras. So we didn’t get any kind of really good picture or even amazing live visual because, for protection of their nests, we couldn’t get very close.

But when we had set off on the fairly well marked path (we got turned around just a bit) we had been blissfully unaware we had neglected one key item. We were, unfortunately, not given the advice to bring bug spray.

And there were the midges.

I have never, in my LIFE, endured the torture that was those microscopic bugs. It was horrible – we had as much of our bodies and faces protected as possible and it was still impossible. But we had come to Lovund for THIS, dang it, so we endured the misery – never standing still and swatting, swatting, swatting. I forget how long we stayed – somewhere between 1 or 2 hours. But when we finally left and got back to the cabin we were COVERED in bites and little midges that had died in our clothes.

So – tl;dr – if you go, take bug spray and it’ll be perfect.

Day 5 – Road Trip! Lovund -> Nesna

Our last morning in Lovund was a delight as the clouds parted and we had glorious sun. We were able to take advantage of another epic breakfast and spent time hanging out on the rooftop of the Lovund Hotell, enjoying the sunshine and truly endless beauty.

It was this day that sealed the deal for me – Norway is the most beautiful place I’ve seen, and may ever see.

We left on the afternoon ferry back the way we came and then drove an hour or so down the coast to end in an itty bitty town calls Nesna. We opted to stay the night there because the next step was a ferry and we didn’t want to worry about timing.

Nesna can barely be called a town, with just one or two restaurants and a couple shops/grocery stores. We originally had what looked like a lovely airbnb, but they cancelled on us and, literally, our only other option was to stay at TopCamp Havblikk an RV/campground that had cabins.

We were worried but it overall wasn’t bad – there were some cons (apparently they don’t have a restaurant anymore? That would have been helpful to know in advance) and despite having our own cabin, it didn’t have water/bath so we had to use the community facilities which were fairly clean. The pro? This view:

We had an afternoon fighting hunger as when we walked to the only restaurant in town, Smak Og Behag they had a note on the door saying they would open later than usual. So we wandered a bit to another place we thought was a restaurant (it was actually a cafeteria style spot in their only grocery) where I was able to pick up $11 bug spray. We went back to Smak Og Behag and still waited a long time for food (we later realized they had a massive group reserved and their kitchen was just not up to the task). I don’t remember much about the food, but it did the job and their little outdoor space overlooking the water wasn’t a bad spot to hang out.

They also had ice cream which we, of course, grabbed for dessert before walking the pier and then heading back to our cabin for the night.

Day 6 – Road Trip! Nesna -> Dønna

There were two days on our Norway trip that really went sideways, and this was one of them. We woke to drizzle, and then rain, which wasn’t the end of the world because we planned to be back in the car for a day of roads and ferries to get to the island of Dønna, our final stop for the night.

Things though… were delayed. We quickly learned there would be no food or coffee to speak of as we packed up and got in line for the ferry. Literally nothing in the town was open. So we chilled out and chatted in the car, chit-chatting and waiting for the 8:10 ferry to pull up.

And waiting. And waiting.

8:10 came and went. Other cars filed in around and behind us. We saw people getting out and wandering, talking. We learned from Friendly Norwegian #5 that, apparently, the ferry wasn’t coming. Hopefully it would be there for the 9:20.

Nothing. Apparently there was mechanical issues. That this kind of thing never happened. We saw the gas station opened up so I walked over and grabbed a couple bags of chips, getting fairly drenched in the process. Far too rainy to meander along the beautiful pier, it was back to the car where we waited some more.

We finally got on the 10:30am ferry and then drove the 45 minutes on land to get in line for the next ferry. Thank goodness the ferry routes are necessary for locals with lots of options because, while we had to wait for it, we had no trouble getting on our final ferry out of Sandnessjøen that took us to Dønna. Those ferries were less picturesque though because they weren’t long enough to get out of the car.

The island of Dønna was, again, almost unbearably beautiful. Very narrow, but well kept, roads made driving in all the rain perfectly fine. We made it to our spot for the night, Brygga på Dønna which was… honestly, just okay. The space itself was beautiful and clearly recently redone (you could still smell that new construction smell). It was so new that it obviously hadn’t been restocked yet. But the view was incredible.

But there was absolutely nothing on the grounds. We either misunderstood or were just in that strange window of time before the season but we had anticipated, if not staff on site, some kind if guidance. Instead, while very nice, the owner basically told us that every option for food was 30+ minutes out and that was about all the guidance we had. Without knowing this in advance, it meant driving back the way we came though, again, heavy rain.

A bit disappointed, we did make the best of it and drove all the way to the sister island of Herøy. I’ll never forget that drive – the roads are all single land with little pop outs to pull over when another car is coming. That’s nerve wracking on its own, but there are multiple long one lane bridges where you have to rely on mirrors and prayers to get across without a head-on collision. I just remember white knuckling and screeching on this journey. Marjorie’s trust in me is truly unmatched.

No drive to Herøy should skip Etcetera – one of the most eclectic shops I’ve ever been in. Multiple levels, it’s part experience and part store. We didn’t find anything we thought was worth the cost and effort of shipping home, but it was close. Definitely a fun little stop.

We kept going and opted for dinner at Herøy Brygge – a hotel with attached restaurant. This was, easily, the worst meal we had on the trip. While the menu was as promising as we expected (for some reason Norweigan restaurants in these little areas were almost exclusively serving pizza, burgers, and Caesar salads. I’ve never had so many Caesar salads in my life as I did on this Norway trip). Unfortunately the quality was sub-par.

It ended up turning into something quite hilarious as our waiter was really into chatting with us and we had to just keep pretending that we enjoyed our food and our day after so many setbacks. He thought he was doing us a kindness and gifted us free desserts that were truly the worst tasting and driest cakes I’ve ever eaten. We choked down as much as we could, smiled to keep the manic tears at bay, and high tailed it out of there.

So – all in all – I can’t recommend Herøy and Dønna as a must stop. Don’t get me wrong, the views were incredible but we’d had a lot of those already. It wasn’t exceptionally different than before, was the most difficult to get to (and drive in while there) and that much more further isolated.

Day 7 – Road Trip! Dønna -> Mosjøen

Thoroughly ready to get back to a bit more population, we left early (still raining!) to catch the 8:20 ferry back to Sandnessjøen and then about a 2 hour drive to complete our circuit back to Mosjøen. This drive was really neat as it takes you through an exceptionally long tunnel (7 minutes to drive through!).

We dropped the car and did a little more soggy exploration of Mosjøen – there’s a lot of cute stores to pop into, I bought such a cool red raincoat the first time around. A bit defeated by the last couple of days, we opted for comfort and had lovely coffee and meals at Umami and Tippen again. We also stayed in the same hotel where they even gave us the same room!

Day 8 – Travel to Bodø

Our originally scheduled train to and from Bodø had mechanical issues so, for the second time this trip, we had to get up exceptionally early and head over to the train station. Happy again for the 24 hour sun because making the mile walk in the light drizzle was fairly pleasant since it wasn’t dark.

Another beautiful ride did dump us in Bodø and into a conundrum. We were significantly earlier than we had planned with all our luggage, pouring rain, and an airbnb host who couldn’t get us into the space earlier than check in. So – we were stuck. Even if we didn’t have the luggage (which we did) it was pouring.

So we hopped to a little cafe to kill some time, and then to the very pretty library to kill even more time. Bodø is a small enough town that even if we had paid for someone to hold our bags, there just wasn’t much to do in that weather except wait it out and read some books.

Mid afternoon rolled around and we were fortunate enough to have the rain lighten to a drizzle so we could walk the mile-ish to what turned out to be a very charming airbnb space. We dried out a little and went back into town to get dinner at Hundholmen Brygghus, a super chic space with good beer and food. It rounded out our last night in town quite well.

Day 9 – Bodø –> Oslo

Our final morning in Bodø took us to Melkebaren for some tasty lattes and then back to the airport for our midday flight to Oslo.

Oslo was such a lovely change – first off, it was legitimately hot and beautifully sunny. After the rainy stretch we had, that alone would perk us up. But it wasn’t even just that – Oslo was such a lovely surprised. I had only heard very mixed reviews – but I immediately was in love. Very European architecture with big walking streets.

There were touristy areas but also these absolutely lovely pedestrian areas that were clearly being used by locals and tourists alike.

We grabbed dinner outdoors at Latter, sucked in by how incredibly gorgeous the street was. We didn’t even realize it was a comedy club – the food alone is absolutely worth a visit. That whole area was so lovely to walk and we circled around to the promenade area.

We grabbed strawberries covered in chocolate from a street vendor and they were easily a top ten dessert.

The walk back to the hotel was long but enjoyable with a hike around the fortress and then all thew ay over the the famous operate house for some epic shots of the city.

We stayed at First Hotel Millennium – I thought it was a great location and breakfast/accommodations were nice so no complaints there.

Day 10 – Oslo

Our final, and full, day in Oslo really sealed the deal for me on this being one of my favorite cities. It was another lovely day and we were able to do a ton of walking – almost 10 miles total!

After breakfast at the hotel, we hopped a tram to Vigelandsparken which is a big sculpture park – a really cool place to go to if you have the time.

We were there for a while and then huge amounts of tour groups started showing up – you might miss some of the info but highly recommend going on your own and before the crowds. It’s a bit outside of the city proper but easy to navigate public transportation.

We picked a couple neighborhoods and bopped around – Harald’s Vaffel was a fun stop, if more quirky than delicious, but was close to Damstredet which had historical buildings and we also walked through a fun street art area.

We went back to the hotel for a quick break and then were back at it, popping over to the architectural marvel of the public library, more views of the opera house, and then lastly to the Munch museum. We aren’t typically big museum people, but I’m a sucker for art museums featuring single artists and this one was really cool to see.

Dinner was at Freddy Fuego Burrito Bar which was set up like a Chipotle but about a thousand times better. We then hiked all the way back to the Aker Brygge Promenade for another cup of those incredible strawberries and spend the rest of our evening looking out over the water.

It was lovely and beautiful and an absolutely perfect way to end our tour of Norway.

Day 11 – Travel Home

The flights home were early and the train to the airport was easy – just remember to keep your ticket as you need it to exit! It wasn’t long before we were on our way and saying good-bye.

All in all, this was one of the most chaotic trips Marjorie and I have encountered. We ran into so many more obstacles than we are used to – between the storms that made it truly inconvenient to do what we needed to on most days to transportation issues on flights, trains, and ferries. It was also a trip unlike any we’ve ever done in that it was truly off the tourist grid. We went places that had one hotel and almost nothing by way of blogs.

Would I recommend our exact itinerary to someone else? Nope. But would I recommend something like what we did? Absolutely. There was so much to discover and so much endless beauty! Norway Helgeland and Oslo stole my heart.