Lofoten boat tours

There is no ‘best’ time to visit Lofoten. It depends on what you are looking to do in Lofoten. The warmest and driest weather can generally be found from May - August. While the autumn months are generally stormier and more dramatic. From late August until early April it is possible to see the Northern Lights and snow is in Lofoten generally between late November until April.

If you would like to book a boat cruise with Brim Explorer, our season in Lofoten is between April and September 2021.

While Lofoten is most popular and famous for its nature, there are a few beautiful towns in Lofoten worth a visit. Most notably Reine, Nusfjord & Henningsvær. Brim Explorer is based in Svolvær, nicknamed ‘the gateway to Lofoten’ as it has good accommodation options and is a good starting point to explore the rest of Lofoten.

From Svolvær we do our tours to visit the famous Trollfjord and we do our dinner cruise to Henningsvær. Svolvær is also closest to Skrova, an off-the-beaten-path destination which we visit in the evening on our Skrova Island Evening Cruise.

Lofoten is located above the arctic circle, so even during the summer it can on days be chilly. It is also an archipelago and has often rapidly changing weather. This means that is it always wise to bring something waterproof and warm for when you want to go outside during our tours. However, our boats have spacious and warm heated saloons with panoramic windows, so even on rainy days our tours can be enjoyed warm and dry (in t-shirt if you like).

Our boats are designed with our guests in mind. This includes families and children. The boats catamarans which make them more stable and they are spacious with the floor-to-ceiling windows, giving even the smallest amongst us a great view.

We do have the underwater drone on board during every tour in Lofoten. We always try and use our drone, but the weather conditions and circumstances in the water might not always allow the use of the underwater drone.

It is most common to see birdlife on our cruise tours in Lofoten. Most famously the white-tailed eagle, Europe’s largest eagle. Other birds are Cormorants and different types of gulls. With our underwater drone we can explore the hidden world below the surface of the water and we sometimes find different kinds of fish or jellyfish. Rare, but sometimes, we see dolphins, porpoises or even orcas.

Lofoten is not the easiest place to reach, but that makes it all the more magical and relatively undiscovered place.

There are several ways to reach Lofoten. Air travel is by far the easiest and most convenient way. There are airports in Bodø, Evenes (Narvik), Svolvær and Leknes. There are no direct flights so most common is to go with a connection from Oslo. From Bodø you can take the ferry to Svolvær or Moskenes. From Evenes you can take the airport bus (flybussen) from Tide. Svolvær airport requires a taxi but is less than a 10-minute drive from the city.

Travelling by airplane however comes with a lot of pollution. The more sustainable way is to take the train to Bodø or through Sweden to Narvik and continue from there by ferry or bus. There is a direct bus connection to Svolvær. From Bodø you can take a ferry to Svolvær.

It is also possible to reach Lofoten and Svolvær from Tromsø by bus, with a changeover in Narvik.

Brim Explorer is available for private group tours, charters & events in Lofoten. Our ships are well equipped for a variety of occasions, besides our regular boat trips. We have multiple multimedia screens on board and a café/bar. Together with our local partners we can provide food and catering services as well. You can read more about renting Brim Explorer for charter & events here.

We do not offer Northern Lights cruises in Lofoten, but we do in Tromsø. It is possible to see the Northern Lights in Lofoten between late August and early April when the sky is dark enough at night while Brim Explorer offers tours in Lofoten mainly during the summer months and therefore outside of the Northern Lights season.

Instead, Brim Explorer does winter tours from Tromsø where we do our Aurora Dinner Cruise. During this tour, we go out on the fjords to try and see the Northern Lights. You can read more about the Aurora Dinner Cruise here.