Making plans for a trip from Ireland to Nordkapp then home via mainland europe 3 weeks later any tips on places to visit

I'm doing a similar trip

Not really found many 'must do' tourist style stuff but my trip is really about riding, avoiding the big cities, enjoying the scenery, and getting away from it all for a month or so !

My route includes places like Trollstigen, the Atlantic Ocean Road, Geiranger Fjord, Lofoten Islands, Laerdal Tunnel, Lysebotn, plus a good few more !

Have a great ride !

Each to his own (of course) but from everything I've read about Nordkapp, I shalln't be riding up that far when in Scandinavia in June/July. Other than the 'bragging rights' of getting there, there seems little to recommend the place. I aim to ride from Kristiansand up the Norwegian coastline until I reach about Moirana before heading east to Tornio, then south through Finland to Helsinki.

im still working on my plans so what is your budget for a trip like that ? mainly i will be camping as much as i can due to very low budget and beside loving the nature ,but hate rains and cold though ,
safe travel always

To be honest I have not really worked out a firm budget !

I am reckoning on about £100 (euro 120) per day. £15 to £20 for food, camping free (wild camping whenever possible), 250 miles per day so about 20 litres of fuel at about £35 per day, plus a bit for ferries and other bits and pieces etc. Possibly the odd night on a campsite or hostel to give a bit of luxury here and there ! And a bottle of to drink at Nordkap !

Trouble is, if you work out a budget, you will always end up spending more than that and then you will feel bad about the trip !

Hi Pebble35,

Do you have a route planned with distances etc? I would love to see it. I am also riding Norway for the 1st time (I've been once) for about 2weeks end of May & first 10days of June. Are your riding then? Many places on your list are on my list. I thought to do a SW loop as far as Trondheim to avoid ice/cold/snow etc at that time of year. I am hoping to keep budget down to 75/day, but we'll see!

I'm 38 and on a borrowed 2009 660z Tenere No hoon, especially considering the cost of tickets in Norway!

Jef from New Zealand

Jef,

I set off from the UK on 13 June so it looks like we won't cross paths

i am planning on 200 to 300 miles per day. Sometimes more, sometimes less. It will depend on the roads and the scenery - if I find a great camping spot at 4pm one day. I'll stop, it might be 8pm before I stop the next day. I will be travelling alone so I can be flexible.

Have a great trip !

Just spotted that you are from Alexandria - so I can understand your dislike of cold and rain LOL! But that is what we have in Europe

Fingers crossed I will be down your way later this year - I rode in Egypt two years ago and had a wonderful time

Hi Pebble 35
so you have a house in Alexandria when ever you pass by again
one of my problem i need to sort is to find a cheap way to ship my bike to Europe ,and fly over and make my trip and then reship back to Egypt and fly back its more $$$$ to spend ,grrrrrrr !!!
cheers
and travel safe

Moskitos are no problem may/june. "Räkkä" (moskito season) begins around midsummer.

"Hi, my name is Magnus and I'm an Arctic/Norwegian-o-holic", well a sort of 'AA'...

But, so much that I just need one little 'Iron Butt Ride' up to the island called SENJA (then ferry from Gryllefjord to Andenes and back home to Stockholm, all-in-all tree nights) before we head off for the main MC ride this summer; down to Spain + GIB and over to Morocco...
(The SenjaRide will take place 4-8 June, the summer project = 18 June ~ 10/11 July)

Here, my 2 cents...

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From here you can download/order useful NO-brouchures
Brochures - Official Travel Guide to Norway - visitnorway.com

Pretty good map (I wasn't able to get it in ENG)
Map - Official Travel Guide to Norway - visitnorway.com

Official site for; "National Tourist Routes in Norway"
National Tourist Routes in Norway - www.nasjonaleturistveger.no
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I use this map for all my NO planning, good/easy detailed overview, used to describe down below ride:
Kartor, vägbeskrivningar, flygfoton, sjökort & mycket mer på eniro.se

If right-clicking on the map, you get following options;
Vägbeskrivning från = Rout description/Going from...
Vägbeskrivning till = Rout description/Going to..
and also GPS coordinates
Then click on 'Vägbeskrivning' (Rout description) in upper left corner to get info about distance.
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Sooo, if you're still here Philc, my tip-off/recommendation would be; aim for the E4 (in SWE) and just head straight up north to TÖRE (between Luleå and Kalix, and YES, it is boooring). Change to E10 (which goes all the way to Lofoten), continue towards Kiruna, but aim for ÖVERKALIX and from there rout 392 up to PAJALA. From Pajala, after a heavy lunch at Frasses (hamburgers etc), take road 403 against the Finish border to KOLARI.

Proceed on road 80 to KITTILÄ, then left up north on road 79 to SIRKKA. From Sirkka take right on road 956 (goes NorthEast)... and in KÖNGÄS get right on road 955 all the way up to INARI. The part between Sirkka and Inari = "In The Middle of Nowhere - Into the Wild", approx length 175 km, where ~50 km will be on gravel. On this trail, you'll actually find petrol in POKKA (~100 km before Inari), and they do accept Visa/MasterCard! (you'll only be missing the banjo player, hehe)

From Inari, turn left on E75 (rout 4) for about 25 km... and then right on road 971 towards the Norwegian border - GREAT ROAD loads of turns/swings!! Road 971 will change into 893 in NO and head in to KIRKENES to fuel up (Shell)! From Kirkenes aim for the Russian border via E105, before the boarder turn left on road 886 and ride all the way out to GRENSE JAKOBSELV, you'll be running beside the Russian boundary, make sure not to spit or throw a stone 'against Russia', could be seen/interpret as an act of war, hehe...

Turn around and head all way back on E6 to VARANGERBOTN, pretty nice rout from time-to-time (curvaceous ;-), fuel up and continue east on E75 towards VARDØ (John Norum from 'Europe' is actually born here!!). Just before Vardø, turn left on trail 341 out to HAMNINGBERG - fascinating landscape, Lord of the Rings?!

Once again, turn around and aim for VARDØ to fuel up and head back to Varangerbotn, get on E6 to TANA BRU (petrol station), turn left over the bridge on road 98 and go all the way to IFJORD (petrol) - this is a great rout, nice scenery. (In June 2012, there was a long part of road construction, closes to Ifjord), perhapps done now?!)

And now, do not aim for Lakselv further on to North Cape/Nordkapp.
(as we instructed on Englishman who we meet hear in June 2012, and he followed our instructions!)

You shall aim on MEHAMN/GAMVIK by goin' north on road 888 (the peninsular is called NORDKYN). The really nice scenery starts after BEKKARFJORD = No Man's Land, empty beautiful vastness, but that is my personal opinion. In Gamvik (just outside) you'll find the northernmost mainland lighthouse - SLETTNES Fyr. When goin' back, petrol can be found in KJØLLEFJORD (Statoil).

Now, you may ride on down to LAKSELV (petrol, Statoil). Get on E6 and head straight for the North Cape/Nordkapp, petrol in OLDERFJORD, E69 from here... and petrol in HONNINGSVÅG (Shell). It is actually the last ~30 km up to Nordkapp which is the very best part of the 'North Cape Adventure'; a sort of majesty feeling. Therefore, I see NORDKYN as a better option - overall - in comparation to Nordkapp. However, "North Cape will always be North Cape", a must for the check/bucket-list!

And finally, last turn around and head all the way out to Å i Lofoten on E69, E6 and E10. Please have in mind; an 'E-way' in Norway shall not be mixed up with 'ordinary' European highways in Europe! All way between Nordkapp and Lofoten will show really nice and beautiful scenery/landscape in different/fluctuating ways - You'll not get disappointed!

From Lofoten, take the ferry from MOSKENES to BODØ, make sure to have your tourist photos taken in/over REINE (before Moskenes) = 'postcard beautiful'.
Ferry = www.thn.no
Choose under 'Ruteopplysning' (rout info), 'Ruteinfo og priser - Ferger' --> Bodø - Moskenes
(Bodø-Moskenes)

From Bodø, proceed on road 80 towards Fauske, but before in LØDINGE, turn right on road 17 = National Tourist Route - the 'Helgelandskysten' rout. Plz note; in total, this rout (17) has 6 ferry crossing = time and money... I've only ride past the two first ferry crossing. After the crossing between JEKTVIK and KILBOGHAVN (the second one), we aimed for MO i RANA. But this short part was really really great!

Well, from MO i RANA I'll let you loose on your own, hehe..
However, this part of the E6, down to NAMSSKOGAN 'turns' really nice - fun riding :-)
In Namsskogan you'll find petrol/Statoil (not that many stations between Mo i Ran and Namsskogan?!?!)
Side note; after Mo i Rana comes a little society called KORGEN, at the end of Korgen and BEFORE the very looooooong tunnel through the rock/mountain, you may leave E6 for a while by turning left on a very little trail (tarmac) and go over the mountain and come back to E6...

Next part(s) of Norway; Trollstigen-Geiranger, Hardangervidda, Jotunheimen, Lysebotn, Ryfylke, Atlanterhavsvegen and many more - that's another story...

Above trip was done in June 2012, and yes - we had luck with weather, but do count on RAIN (we got our share).
We ride with 100% own 'household', camping in the wilderness, the nearest (only) 'civilization' we need to visit = petrol stations.
No need for any NOK cash.

Finally - wot ever You do - do not go to 'tent' before midnight!!!
To ride under the MidnightSun is aaaaaawesome, that's the half point of going to the northern part Scandinavia - the so called Arctic.

PHOTOS and inspirations can be found in my PhotoGallery --> MC
Above ride = "Nord-NO-2012"

Norway; the land solely 'created' for one thing: Motorcycling.
(however, one or two camper/trailer can be seen...)

Godspeed and my the force be with you, all...
Magnus, Honda VTX1300