Europe >> Scandinavia >> Norway >> Vesterålen

Vesterålen is a region located on islands in the northern part of Norway.

Regions

Vesterålen consists of the following municipalities:

  • Sortland
  • Andøy
  • Øksnes
  • Hadsel
  • Bø

and is located on the the following islands:

  • Andøya
  • Hinnøya (western part)
  • Langøya
  • Hadseløya
  • Austvågøya (northern part)

plus several smaller islands.

Towns

  • Andenes
  • Myre
  • Sortland
  • Stokmarknes
  • Melbu

Other destinations

Culture and History

Talk

Travel to Vesterålen - Visa Requirements

By air

Since Vesterålen is in northern Norway, far away from the largest cities in the southern parts of the country, you will probably need to travel by air if you want to get to Vesterålen quickly.

The largest airport in Vesterålen is the Stokmarknes Airport, Skagen. This airport has several daily direct flights by Widerøe to both Bodø and Tromsø, from where you can get to Oslo. The Skagen airport is classified as "regional", with only short regional flights, but is one of the largest "regional" airports in Norway (100000 passengers per year). There are plans to expand the airport and open up direct flights to Oslo and Trondheim, but for now, you will need to transfer in Bodø or Tromsø. Airport buses connect the town of Sortland with the airport.

A larger airport, about two hours east with bus or car from Sortland, is Evenes airport (primarily serving Harstad and Narvik). Both Norwegian and SAS have direct flights to Oslo. In addition, there are flights to Bodø, Tromsø and Trondheim. There are a few airport busses between Sortland from Evenes Airport as well.

By boat

The coastal steamer Hurtigruten [1] has three stops in Vesterålen, at Stokmarknes, Sortland and Risøyhamn. Ships run up and down the Norwegian coastline between Bergen and Kirkenes offering daily departures.

Buses to Vesterålen

Sortland has bus routes to several towns in Northern Norway, including Bodø in the south (7 hours). From Sortland, a number of bus routes spread out throughout Vesterålen.

Tours and Getting around Vesterålen

Vesterålen tourist attractions and sightseeing

Itineraries

Vesterålen city tours

Vesterålen Restaurants: cheap, moderate and expensive

Vesterålen nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs

Stay safe

Get out

This page was last edited by Ryan Holliday. Based on work by Eirik Stoltz, Wikitravel user(s) Tensaibuta and Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel. - Content on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0 license

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