A hike from Vinstad to Bunes
An eerily deserted village with just one permanent inhabitant and a few holiday homes, the settlement of Vinstad is the starting point for the ninety-minute hike over to Moskenesøya’s northwest coast. The first thirty minutes of the hike, along an old dirt trail, are not especially enjoyable, but things improve thereafter as you proceed along the west shore of the narrow and very steep Bunesfjord with jagged mountains rearing up in every direction. The dirt trail ends abruptly just past the cemetery and you have to make a sharp left, continuing up a steep grass path that takes you over a ridge between the mountains. An hour or so on from here, you’ll reach the sandy cove of Bunes, the epitome of isolation and a smashing place to watch the midnight sun. It isn’t a difficult hike, but given that this last section can get very slippery and the weather can change in minutes, you’ll need to be properly equipped.
To get to Vinstad from Reine, pick up one of the small passenger ferries that run up the Reinefjord to Vinstad (2–3 daily; 50kr each way; t99 49 18 05).
Stamsund
There is a certain laidback charm to STAMSUND, whose older buildings string along the rocky, fretted seashore in an amiable jumble of crusty port buildings, wooden houses and rorbuer. It’s also home to the modern art Galleri 2 (June–Aug Tues–Sun noon–4pm & 7–9.30pm; 20kr; wgalleri2.no), 100m from the Hurtigruten dock, which is worth a look for its small canvases and lithographs of local scenes, and textile and ceramic work.
Staying in a rorbu or sjøhus
All across Lofoten, rorbuer (fishermen’s shacks) are rented out to tourists for both overnight stays and longer periods. The name rorbu is derived from ror, “to row” and bu, literally “dwelling” – and some older islanders still ask “Will you row this winter?”, meaning “Will you go fishing this winter?” Rorbuer date back to the twelfth century, when King Øystein ordered the first of them to be built round the Lofoten coastline to provide shelter for visiting fishermen who had previously been obliged to sleep under their upturned boats. Traditionally, rorbuer were built on the shore, often on poles sticking out of the sea, and usually coloured with a red paint based on cod-liver oil. They consisted of two sections, a sleeping and eating room and a smaller storage area.
At the peak of the fisheries in the 1930s, some 30,000 men were accommodated in rorbuer, but during the 1960s fishing boats became more comfortable and since then many fishermen have preferred to sleep aboard. Most of the original rorbuer disappeared years ago, and, although a few have survived, visitors today are much more likely to stay in a modern version, mostly prefabricated units churned out by the dozen with the tourist trade in mind. At their best, they are comfortable and cosy seashore cabins, sometimes a well-planned conversion of an original rorbu with bunk beds and wood-fired stoves; at their worst, they are little better than prefabricated hutches in the middle of nowhere. Most have space for between four and six guests and the charge for a hut averages around 1000kr per night – though some can cost as little as 600kr, while others rise to around 2500kr. Similar rates are charged for the islands’ sjøhus (literally sea-houses), originally the large quayside halls where the catch was processed and the workers slept. Most of the original sjøhus have been cleverly converted into attractive apartments with self-catering facilities, a few into dormitory-style accommodation – and again, as with the rorbuer, the quality varies enormously. A full list of rorbuer and sjøhus is given in the Lofoten Info-Guide, a free pamphlet that you can pick up at any local tourist office and on
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lofoten.info.
Svolvær activities and excursions
Svolvær’s dramatic environs merit exploration, either by climbing one of the local peaks, or by taking a boat trip out to the surrounding fjordlands – though you’ll only really find the full range of excursions on offer in the summertime. Out of season, tours will go out once a week, at best.