Senja Island Norway
Norway
40
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
HX Expeditions (35 Cruises)
MS Spitsbergen
35 Cruises
Lindblad Expeditions (5 Cruises)
National Geographic Endurance
5 Cruises
Frequently Asked Questions
Because everything coexists there in an Arctic pocket handkerchief: walls plunging into the ocean, beaches of sand so pale people speak of the Caribbean of the North, forests of century-old pines, and fishing villages clinging to the fjord edges. It is the country's second largest island, south of Tromso.
At Finnsnes on the mainland, directly opposite the island. The coastal express calls there twice a day, and the Gisund bridge crosses the strait to Silsand, the first settlement on the island.
Not much: the town lives off its services, practical and with no touristic pretension. The call comes into its own as soon as you drive west, where the mountains stand up against the open sea.
A national tourist road whose built viewpoints — wooden walkways set among the rocks — let you stop facing the sheer drops without leaving the coach for long. On the ocean side, the summits follow one another like raised blades.
A former trading post and fishing village turned small coastal resort, about fifty minutes' drive from Finnsnes. Its quays among the islets make up one of the most photographed scenes on the island.
Only in colour. Coves of pale sand edge clear water whose tropical quality stops at the hue: this is north of the Arctic Circle, and the water temperature leaves no doubt about it.
134 square kilometres of mountains and coastal pine forest spared from logging, in the south-centre of the island; some trees there have been growing for more than six hundred years. Easy trails let you taste the Arctic silence in summer.
White-tailed eagles, seals and cormorant colonies frequent the coast: keep an eye on the sky and the shoreline as you go. Wildlife safaris by boat are offered depending on the season.
More than the map suggests. Road distances are deceptive: the winding roads take time, and it is better to overestimate journeys than to miss the ship.
No, and that still holds today. Long in the shadow of neighbouring Lofoten, the island keeps quiet roads and villages without souvenir shops. Those who visit now feel they are arriving ahead of the crowd.
