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First, for those of you who have taken road trips through tough places like the Middle East, bumpy back roads of the USA, or have been driving in Africa, Norway is an absolute piece of cake. The roads are great, cars run smoothly, driving was great, it’s fairly easy to rent (but be warned that most cars are manual), and Google Maps and road signs are incredibly accurate.
In fact, the guy who rented us our car was completely surprised when I asked him where the spare tire was. It seems to be a running joke that car rental companies tell you that there is no spare tire, and we all laughed when he told us there was no spare tire* “because you just don’t need one.” But he was dead serious. The roads are that good, and the cars are that well-maintained. In hindsight, I guess it’s what I’d expect from Scandinavia!
*Side note: I found out that cars often don’t have spare tires in Germany, either! They would rather you call your car insurance company to fix the car for you. Apparently, it’s faster and safer to do this.
When it came to renting a car, we did some internet research. We heard that if you call local companies it can be cheaper than using a bigger, more well-known company. We decided to go with a Norwegian company called Rent-A-Car Lofoten (Sixt).
Sixt car rental in Svolvær
We barely used our Google Maps as the roads are fairly well marked if you know where you want to go. We had two regions we wanted to visit: Moskenes and Svolvær. Before going to Lofoten we looked at a map and figured out the E10 was the quickest way to get around. If we wanted to get off the main road most side roads were fairly well marked. It was easy to find our way around with landmarks as well.
Typical roads, bridges and signs in the Lofoten Islands
Interestingly, one of our AirBnB’s didn’t even have an address because some of the villages in the islands are so tiny and remote. We were a bit worried we might need GPS to find it, but the directions our host gave us were accurate. Our “village” had only three houses in it, and ours was the one closest to the fjord.
Apparently, there is public transport via bus if you can’t afford to rent a car. We never saw a bus, but we did see bus stops. The bus is very infrequent and you are much better off renting a car. You then have the flexibility of stopping whenever you want and heading down some side roads to explore.
Ure, Lofoten
Road tripping around the Lofoten Islands was one of the easiest experiences I have had, and I can highly recommend it. Where are your favorite places to road trip? Let me know in the comments below!