Sailing Lofoten

Lofoten is better explored by boat because the road runs along only one side of the archipelago. This thin chain of islands, roughly 160 kilometres long with mountains up to 1,160 metres rising directly from sea level, keeps its north-facing bays, outer islets and untracked beaches reachable only by water.

In summer the villages on the road are busy. The anchorages a few nautical miles away are not. Arriving by boat is the difference between visiting Lofoten and having it to yourself in the evening.

Lofoten's walks start at the tide line, on peaks that are steep and short. A summit that takes three hours from the water gives a view over both the Vestfjord and the open Atlantic. Groups usually walk in the morning, sail in the afternoon, and anchor somewhere new.

Because the boat carries everything, a walking week here needs no logistics at all — no hire car, no accommodation chain, no fixed schedule to keep.

The stops worth building a week around are Svolvær, Henningsvær, Reine, Nusfjord and, if the sea allows, the outer islands of Røst and Værøy. Svolvær is the practical hub, with the twin horns of Svolværgeita above the town and a well-equipped harbour.

Henningsvær is built across small islands linked by bridges, with 500 residents, the Kaviarfactory gallery and the football pitch on a rocky outcrop that appears in every photograph of Lofoten. Reine sits below the jagged peaks of Moskenesøya and looks better from the water than in any picture of it. Nusfjord is a protected nineteenth-century fishing village entered between vertical cliffs.

Røst and Værøy, at the south-western tip of the chain, hold the largest seabird colonies in Scandinavia — puffins in their hundreds of thousands, with razorbills, guillemots and gannets. It is most of a day's sail from Svolvær and depends on the sea state, which is exactly why so few visitors get there.

A classic week works through the archipelago rather than around it: Stamsund, Henningsvær, Svolvær, Kabelvåg, Skrova and the Trollfjord, a two-kilometre cleft with vertical rock on both sides. Distances between stops are short, so most days hold a passage and a walk.

The named peaks — Reinebringen, Munkebu, Svolværgeita — are steep and quick, and the boat can anchor below the trailhead so a summit fits into an afternoon. In spring the same terrain is skied from the summit back down to the water.

Cod, halibut and saithe are caught from the boat through the season, and king crab in its months. A good number of guests eat what they catch, which is part of why the galley plan here stays loose.

Sea eagles are common along the coastline, puffins nest on the outer islands, and from autumn into winter orca and humpback whales follow the herring into the Vestfjord.

Yes. Unlike Lyngen, Lofoten sits on the exposed coast, and the Vestfjord crossing and the western side of the chain feel like ocean sailing, with swell and stronger wind. For guests who want to sail rather than motor between fjords, this is the ground for it.

It also means the weather has more say. Routes here are planned with alternatives, and the skipper will change the plan rather than push into a bad forecast.

Snow on the peaks with the sea below and rapidly lengthening days. Steep, short descents that end at the water.

Weather is more Atlantic than in Lyngen, so ski weeks here depend more on the forecast.

The sun does not set from roughly 26 May to 17 July. Long walking days, warm rock and quiet anchorages once the day visitors have left.

Air temperatures of 10 to 18°C. The best sailing conditions of the year.

Darkness returns, and with it the first aurora of the season over the peaks. Fewer visitors ashore.

More wind and rain than midsummer, but good visibility between systems and excellent light for photography.

Short days or none at all, hard weather on the outer coast, and the winter cod fishery under way in the Vestfjord.

We sail Lofoten in this period only on longer charters with experienced groups.