Norwegian Scenic Route Varanger

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Varangerbotn

   Varangerbotn lies at the innermost point of the Varangerfjord in Finnmark, and it is a small place with a large role as the capital of the Sami culture of the east. The fjord is wide and cold, opening into the Barents Sea, and the landscape around is open tundra, low hills and scattered birch. The village has a Sami museum, the Várjjat Sámi Musea, which tells the story of the Sea Sami, who lived by fishing on the coast. Services are modest, and Kirkenes, to the east, and Vadsø, to the north, are the larger towns in the region.

   Read the complete Varangerbotn write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Varangerbotn is where the day begins. Next is Vadso.

2. 2. Vadso

   Vadsø is the main town of the Varanger peninsula, and it feels like it knows it is on the edge of things. About five thousand people live here, on a low, treeless shore facing a fjord that opens straight into the Barents Sea, and the light off that water in summer is flat, silvery and long. It is the administrative centre of Finnmark, which explains the solid public buildings, and it has a harbour, a main street, a church and the sort of supermarket you start to appreciate when you have been riding the empty tundra for a day or two.

   Read the complete Vadso write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Vadso comes up about 50 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ekkeroy.

3. 3. Ekkerøy

   Ekkerøy is a small peninsula sticking out into the Varangerfjord, joined to the mainland by a narrow causeway, and it is one of the best places in the Arctic to watch seabirds from the road. Thousands of kittiwakes nest on the cliffs in summer, packed on every ledge, and the noise and smell are overwhelming in the best way. The birds wheel and shriek and drop off the cliff in clouds, and on a calm day you can sit with a sandwich and watch for as long as you like. Eider ducks, shags and gulls share the shore, and out on the water you may see more.

   Read the complete Ekkeroy write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 66 km into the recorded legs you reach Ekkeroy. Next is Vardo.

4. 4. Vardo

   Vardø is the easternmost town in Norway, on a small island in the Barents Sea, and it is reached by an undersea tunnel, the Vardø tunnel, built in the 1980s. The town has about two thousand people, wooden houses painted in soft colours, a harbour and a fortress. The Vardøhus Fortress, finished in 1738, is the northernmost fortress in the world, and it stands guard over the entrance to the Arctic. The town has been a fishing port for centuries, and in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it was the site of a terrible witch hunt, in which about ninety people, mostly women, were burned at the stake. A memorial by the artist Louise Bourgeois and the architect Peter Zumthor, called the Steilneset Memorial, stands on the shore, with a long wooden hall lit by one bulb for each victim.

   Read the complete Vardo write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Vardo closes the day.