a short cruise on hurtigruten’s ms vesterålen: bergen to lofoten, norway

These posts cover our slow trip through the Scandinavian/Nordic countries from August 4 to October 30, 2026. I will be posting one long post about each area where we stay. I like to write one post about a particular place so that I can revisit our travels in one spot on my blog, according to location. I can also refer others to the post if they plan to travel to the destination and want ideas. I welcome you to read the entire post, read parts of the posts that interest you, simply look at the pictures, or not to read it at all. All who would like to come along are welcome.

You can find our itinerary here: anticipation & preparation: a slow motion journey through scandinavia.

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Thursday, September 17- Sunday, September 20: We boarded the Hurtigruten cruise ship MS Vesterålen on Thursday afternoon, September 17. We sailed 4 days (3 nights) up to Svolvær and the Lofoten Islands in the Arctic Circle, with stops in Ålesund and Trondheim. This was the first cruise we had ever taken.

All aboard the MS Vesterålen in Bergen

Thursday, September 17: Thursday afternoon in Bergen, we boarded the MS Vesterålen, a passenger vessel operated by the Norwegian-based Hurtigruten. The vessel was built in Harstad, Norway in 1983. She was refitted in Bremerhaven, Germany in 1989 to increase passenger capacity, and then later in 1995. As of 2010, the ship operates cruises primarily along the coast of Norway without venturing into international waters.

Freshly refurbished in 2025, MS Vesterålen is Hurtigruten’s classic coastal ship offering passengers a more intimate way to sail Norway’s historic route, with space for just 274 guests.

Our first night, after moving into our #205 berth, we attended safety meetings and then enjoyed a buffet dinner on board. We met the delightful Susan from Melbourne, Australia, a lively and fun-loving lady who loves the color orange; she was traveling further north on the cruise than we were. She would get off in Tromsø on Monday, whereas we would disembark in Svolvær late Sunday night. We also met Max and Liv from Melbourne; the young couple was traveling with Liv’s family; her mother is originally from Norway.

Sailing down the Hjørundfjord

Friday, September 18: Friday morning, we woke to some blue skies. After eating breakfast we had time to relax and do some things on our computers. The ship set sail down the Hjørundfjord, surrounded by the Sunnmørsalpene mountain range; it has mountain peaks reaching 1,700 metres (5,600 ft) straight up from the fjord, including Skårasalen and Skopphorn. Both sides of the fjord are heavily wooded due to frequent rainfall.

Port stop in Urke

Urke is a village locaed on the Råna peninsula by the Norangsfjord, an arm of the Hjørundfjord. It has between 30-40 permanent residents but other people have cabins and holiday homes there. At Urke general store you can buy groceries, fuel and medicine all year round. The general store also runs a campsite that is open during the summer months.

We disembarked from the anchored ship and took a tender to shore in Urke, where we strolled around the bucolic village for a couple of hours.

Urke to Ålesund

After leaving Urke, the ship cruised back out of the fjord and headed north to Ålesund, a historically important fishing harbor and gateway to iconic fjords such as Geirangerfjord and Hjørundfjord. After the city’s 850 wooden houses were destroyed by a devastating fire in a single night in January 1904, leaving 10,000 residents homeless, young visionary Norwegian architects, heavily inspired by Europe’s Art Nouveau movement, rebuilt the city in 3 years. This Art Nouveau (Jugendstil) architecture defines the city today. That and its dramatic landscape spread across several coastal islands in a fishhook-shaped archipelago reaching out into the Norwegian Sea/Atlantic Ocean make the city a picturesque destination. Ålesund is completely framed by water, islands, and the rugged, snow-capped Sunnmøre Alps.

The scenic Brosundet Canal cuts right through the historic heart of the city, lined with beautiful old fishing warehouses and Art Nouveau buildings.

It rained during our entire outing. 😦

Ålesund to Trondheim

Saturday, September 19: On Saturday morning, we headed toward Trondheim, passing Munkholmen (Monk’s islet), an islet near Trondheim that has served as a Viking execution ground, a Benedictine monastery, a fortress, a prison, and a World War II anti-aircraft gun station. Today, Munkholmen is a popular tourist attraction and recreation site.

Meet and Greet sister ship

Just after passing Munkholmen, we passed one of Hurtigruten’s sister ships leaving Trondheim. The crew distributed Norwegian flags that we could wave as the two ships passed each other, jubilantly blowing their horns.

Trondheim

We arrived in Trondheim at around 10:oo on Saturday morning and had about 3 hours to walk around the town. Trondheim was founded in 977 Ad by Viking King Olav Tryggvason. The city, originally called Nidaros, served as the capital of Norway through the Viking Age until 1217.

Right after getting off the ship, we saw the hotel where we will stay on Friday-Monday, September 25-28, Clarion Hotel Trondheim.

We saw the huge German cruise ship, AIDAprima, with a capacity of 3,286 passengers, in port. Passengers must have been allowed to disembark in shifts, as we saw groups coming and going at different times during their port stop from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

AIDAprima is the flagship of AIDA Cruises, built by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding at their shipyard in Nagasaki, Japan.

I personally would never take a cruise with that many people on it.

We crossed the Ravnkloa canal and then walked quite a distance to the world’s northernmost medieval cathedral, Nidaros Cathedral. It was built over the burial site of Saint Olav and has served as Northern Europe’s most crucial Christian pilgrimage site and the traditional coronation site for Norwegian kings.

We chose not to go into the church as we had plans to return to Trondheim for two days on September 25-28 when we can spend more time there.

Trondheim to the Arctic Circle

Evening cruise from Trondheim: We had an easy evening after our port stop in Trondheim. We saw the Kjeungskjær Lighthouse which sits on a tiny island at the mouth of the Bjugnfjorden. The 17.5-metre (57 ft) tall lighthouse is made of stone with an octagonal-shaped tower that is painted red. Some people claim it looks like a Moomin House. The lighthouse is lit every year from July 21 until May 16. It is dark during the late spring and early summer months due to the midnight sun.

We sat up in the Panorama Bar and had drinks with our new Australian friend Susan. Then we had dinner with assigned tables. We sat with Paul and Julia from Dorset, England and enjoyed our chat with them. I had salmon with a dill sauce and Mike had reindeer shank and we each had cheesecake with lingonberry sauce.

Arctic Circle Crossing

Sunday, September 20: Sunday morning, we crossed into the Arctic Circle at 7:56:06 a.m.

After breakfast, we continued our cruise down the coastal waterway while waiting for the onboard celebration for crossing the Arctic Circle.

On deck at 10:30, we had the ship celebration for crossing the Arctic Circle. The captain came out as did Njord, the god of the seas from Norse mythology. The man who had guessed the time closest to the actual crossing got a prize: the ship flag signed by the crew as well as a bucket of ice poured over his head and down his back. Anyone else who was willing to get ice and melting cold water poured down their backs, got a free drink to toast the crossing. Of course, where a free drink is involved, I will do most anything, so I submitted to the ice pour. Shiver me timbers!

Arctic Circle to Bodø

At 1:15, we arrived in Bodø and exited the boat to stroll through the town for two hours. With Susan, we searched for the street art that the town is famous for.

In 2016, the street art festival UpNorth was the source for a number of street murals in Bodø. Several professional grafitti artists were invited to paint the city. Most of the works are inspired by the nature and culture around Bodø. NorlandiART is another project designed to encourage street art in Bodø, with a focus on celebrating the history and traditions of the county Nordland.

“Malstrøm,” painted by Spanish artist David de la Mano, was directly inspired by Saltstraumen, the world’s strongest tidal current located just outside the city. It depicts a swirling mass of human silhouettes resembling a whirlpool.

“Insomnia” is by the Italian artis Millo. It reflects Bodø’s 24-hour summer light. This mural shows everyday figures and buildings in crisp black and white lines, with only occasional touches of color. This dreamy and surreal mural takes place under the midnight sun.

“After School” by Russian artist Rustam Qbic covers an entire wall and shows a child spraying the northern lights into the sky with a spray can.

Phlegm is a British graffiti artist who first developed his art in self-published comics. He often features menacing storybook characters. This mural is reminiscent of mythical Norse characters and traditional troll images. His monochromatic work is equally charming and menacing.

“Butterfly” by Norwegian stencil artist Martin Whatson is a vibrant, multi-textured piece that blends classic grayscale imagery with a massive burst of colorful, graffiti-style abstract details inside a butterfly.

Bodø to Svolvær

After boarding the ship at 3:15 to continue our journey, we had a long afternoon ahead since we’d had to check out of our berth by noon and we wouldn’t arrive in Svolvær until 9:20 p.m.

We had also been assigned the 7:45 seating for dinner so we had a lot of time to kill. We were out in a wide expanse of water and it was raining, so going out on deck wasn’t appealing. Mike and I whiled away a few hours on our computers until Susan came down to see if we wanted to join her in the Panorama Bar for a drink. Mike hadn’t been feeling good, so he relaxed in the lounge for a while until he got bored and joined us. We had a fun time having drinks as we were joined by George and Sandy from California who despise Trump as we do. They were quite funny so we all had a grand old time.

We ate dinner at our assigned table (#27) with Paul and Julia from Dorset, England. This was our second night eating dinner with this lovely couple. We all share a love of reading, so we talked about favorite books and movies, and also about our methods for planning travels. We found out they will be on our 10-hour train ride from Bodø to Trondheim next Friday. Like us, they got off in Svolvær, but they planned to rent a car and stay in different places in Lofoten.

We enjoyed a lovely dinner. I had a Norwegian Vegan bowl with herbal oil and beetroot chips, Ling fish with beetroot barleyotto, kale and brown butter with mushrooms, and a dessert of cloudberry cream with crisp waffles and hazelnut brittle. Mike had Bidos (a reindeer bean soup), Herb-Roasted pork fillet from Horns Butchery with charred cabbage, fennel and radish crudités, and Choron sauce, and the same cloudberry cream dessert.

After dinner, we said our goodbyes to the friends we had made. We docked at Svolvær at 9:20, at which time Mike and I disembarked and walked about 1 minute to our hotel, Thon Hotel Svolvær.

What a fabulous experience our short cruise with Hurtigruten was! 🙂