Beyond Must See

Visit Senja Island in Norway – Best Summer Hikes

The island of Senja in Northern Norway is a nature lover’s paradise. With steep, rugged cliffs rising out of the ocean, majestic fjord landscapes and beautiful turquoise beaches, there is no shortage of outdoor activities here. Senja lies to the north of the Arctic Circle, which means it sees the midnight sun in summers.

Winters have polar nights with hardly any daylight for months together, but also a good time to experience the magic of Northern lights.

We visited Senja in Summer when the sun never sets. Twenty four hours of daylight allowed us to explore the incredible landscape at our own pace. When compared to the more popular Lofoten Islands, Senja has not been a victim of mass tourism yet. There were times when we had stunning but easily accessible road side viewpoints all to ourselves. Continue reading to find out more about the things to do when visiting Senja. If you are curious about the nitty-gritty of visa process, the best time to book flights, general expenses, food etc., be sure to check out General Tips and Recommendations.

Things to know before visiting Senja, Norway

Best Time To Visit Senja

While the decision of when to visit the island of Senja depends on what you would like to experience, here’s a breakdown of what to expect.

June to August

Summer (Late June to Late August) is the best time to visit if you are keen on hiking or spending most of your time outdoors exploring the incredible landscape here. This is the season of midnight sun. Temperatures are mild with warm days and pleasant evenings.

September to October

This is the shoulder season that starts to see an increase in precipitation. Drier days offer chances of viewing Aurora activity. Rainfall drastically increases in October.

November to June

Rest of the year is basically winter with Polar nights and hardly any daylight. Expect lots of snow. Also a good time to experience the Northern lights. This is a popular time for skiing, dog sledding and snowshoeing. Although not a popular time for extensive hiking, some of the popular hikes are still doable with the right gear.

How To Reach Senja

The island of Senja is not as easily accessible and considered an off-the-beaten-path destination, especially to those traveling internationally to Norway. The remoteness makes it less touristy and a hidden gem to people seeking unspoiled natural beauty. Senja can be reached via a combination of Flight, Car/Bus and Ferries. Make sure to check the cost and feasibility of all possible combinations before booking flight or car rentals.

Rental car or camper van in Senja

Rental cars and Camper vans are expensive and hard to find, specially in peak seasons. We recommend booking rental car first and finalizing logistics of internal transportation before booking flight tickets. Note that it costs quite a lot to have different pick up and drop off locations for car/campervan rentals.

Flight to Senja (Tromso or Evenes)

Fly to a nearby airport. The three airports closest to Senja are:

  • Bardufoss – Approximately an hour and half drive from Senja
  • Tromso – Approximately two and a half hour drive from Senja. Tromso is one of the largest urban cities to the North of the Arctic Circle
  • Harstad/Narvik Airport, Evenes – Approximately three hours of drive from Senja

Ferry to Senja

Ferries are a good way to cut travel time, however they have limited space if you plan to transport your rental car on a ferry. Cars line up hours before the ferry departure time. We recommend checking ferry timetables & plan accordingly. For further details, checkout Ferry Destinations and Timetables.

Note : It is common for people to land at Tromso or Harstad Narvik due to cheaper flight tickets. We first landed at Oslo, the capital of Norway, took another flight to Harstad/Narvik Airport followed by a 3-hour drive to Senja. If further interested, checkout Ideal time to start looking for flights.

Note: You can find more details on buses, taxis and transportation from Evenes airport here.

Where To Stay in Senja

Camping in Senja

Norway’s right to roam law allows everyone access to wilderness camping on public lands with minimal restrictions. This means you can pitch a tent in most public areas without having to secure permits in advance. This is a very popular option among outdoor lovers and budget travelers alike. It is a great way to save big bucks on the relatively expensive hotel and airbnb scene at Norway.

Note: Under the right to roam law, you may pitch a tent, sleep under the stars anywhere in the countryside, forests, mountains, shores, as long as you stay 150 meters away from inhabited houses and private properties. Guidelines also require travelers to strictly follow the principle of leave no trace and pack out any trash. Leave the landscape as you want to find it.

Campsites in Senja

If you have a motorhome, caravan, RV or are simply looking to pitch a tent in established campsites with electrical hookups and Shower/toilet facilities, then this is an excellent budget-friendly option. Most campsites also have shared kitchen and washer/dryer facilities.

Most campsites operate on a first-come-first-serve basis and get booked pretty quickly, specially in the summer months. Plan to get there well before 5pm to find a spot for the night.

You can find and reserve most campsites on this website.

Hotels & Airbnb’s in Senja

Senja offers a wide range of accommodation options including hotels, resorts, cabins, campsites & Airbnbs depending on your budget. We recommend choosing accommodation based on proximity to:

  • Trailheads/Hikes planned
  • Arrival or departure ferry port (Andenes – Gryllefjord)
  • Arrival or departure airport

Here are our recommendations on the best places to stay in Senja, Norway.

Things to do in Senja

There is easy accessibility to abundant natural beauty that the island of Senja has to offer. Some of the best views on the island don’t even need extensive hiking to get to. However, if you are willing to hike, the trails in Senja lead to some of the most dramatic 360° views of the island. Paired with midnight sun, the views are sure to leave a lasting impression.

Most of the scenic viewpoints and hikes with the best views either lie on the National Tourist Route in Senja or are a short detour from it. The entire drive is about 80km running from Gryllefjord to Botnhamn, not accounting for detours.

Must visit stops on National Tourist Route in Senja

Hamn Lighthouse

If you are staying at Hamn i Senja, then all the more reason to take a short 1.5km drive/walk to the lighthouse. With panoramic views of the fjord and mountains, this place lies on the Aurora Borealis belt and is known for Northern lights viewing.

Bergsbotn Viewpoint

A viewing platforms overlooking the tiny, picturesque village of Bergsbotn that opens into fjords and mountains.

Tungeneset Viewpoint

A short wooden walkway leading to views of jagged teeth-like mountain peaks dropping into the Norwegian Sea. We were pleasantly surprised to have a place as beautiful and easily accessible as this all to ourselves.

Ersfjordstranda

A beautiful white sand beach on the Norwegian Sea. This is also one of the preferred wilderness camping sites among outdoor enthusiasts. In the summer months, you would be lucky to find a camping spot on the beach.

Scenic routes in Norway are known to have intrinsically architected buildings for public restrooms. Ersfjord beach is one of them. There is a brass plated outhouse serving as a public restroom on the beach that has become a tourist attraction in its own right.

Husfjellet hike in Skaland

A challenging hike with jaw dropping views. If you have time for only one hike in Senja, highly recommend doing this. Find out more details about Husfjellet hike below.

Fjorgard

A small fishing village located in the North of Senja and connected by tunnels to the rest of the island. Fjordgard houses the most popular mountains on the island of Senja – Segla and Hesten!

Note: The tunnels connecting different parts of the island are only operational during certain times of the day. We have shared details and the official link to the road and tunnel systems here.

Best Hikes in Senja

Husfjellet Hike

  • Distance : ~5 miles Out & Back
  • Time : ~4-5 hours
  • Elevation gain : ~ 2100 ft
  • Rating : Moderate to Challenging
  • Trailhead: Husfjellet Trailhead
  • Kid Friendly : Yes, if they are experienced hikers

This one is a classic Northern Norwegian hike with 360° panoramic views at the summit. The views of tall, jagged peaks rising dramatically from the ocean paired with hues of the midnight sun, were so good that we easily ended up spending a couple of hours there with the wind almost knocking us off the ridges.

This hike is not as steep as the popular Segla-Hesten hike but still challenging in certain stretches, especially the stretch before reaching the summit. You will be treated with jaw dropping views throughout the hike, except for the first half mile that runs inside a forest land.

We highly, highly recommend starting this hike around 9pm in the summer months such that you are near the summit around midnight. Views of the midnight sun gliding across the horizon and casting a beautiful golden radiance on the peaks all around is a sight not worth missing.

Caution – It could get dangerously windy near the summit, especially around midnight. Sudden rain showers are not uncommon either. Definitely bring layers to stay warm from the wind and rain.

Hesten hike

  • Distance : ~3.5 miles Out & Back
  • Time : ~3-4 hours
  • Elevation gain : ~ 1800 ft
  • Rating : Moderate to Challenging
  • Trailhead : Hesten Trailhead
  • Kid Friendly : Yes, if they are experienced hikers

Fjorgard is the starting point to the most popular hike on the island – the Hesten hike with views of Segla mountain. This is a short but steep hike. Unfortunately, during our time on the island, the tunnel connecting Ersfjord and Senjahopen were accessible via convoy escort only with restricted entry and exit timings. When we reached Ersfjord, the tunnel was closed for the night. Make sure to read this to plan your trip and avoid having to go through similar experience yourself. This is a very common occurrence in all of Northern Norway.

General Tips and Recommendations

We have shared some useful links along with takeaways from our experience in this section. Hopefully, this will make the process of planning your trip to Senja smoother.

Best time to start planning a trip to Senja, Norway

We recommend planning a summer trip to Senja around January. We started narrowing down on the places in Norway we wanted to visit. What started with a roadtrip spanning the length of Norway from South to North, ultimately ended up being narrowed down to two islands in Northern Norway – Senja and The Lofoten Islands! Goes to say that there is so much to them that simply driving through places would not allow us to really experience what they have to offer.

Reserving a rental car was the first thing we did in January and had all other reservations including flight tickets completed by February.

Norway visa requirements

Norway is one of the Schengen countries. It could take up to 3 months to get a Schengen Visa depending on the passport you hold. We have shared some links below that guided us through the visa application process and requirements.

Information on how to apply for Norway Visa
Schengen Visa FAQs
Norway Visa Requirements and Application Guidelines
Schengen Visa Document Checklist

We applied for Schengen visa around mid February for our travel in June. The visa category we applied for was ‘Short Stay Visa (Schengen Visa)’. We were required to attend an in-person visa interview at the San Francisco consulate.

We were required to present a complete itinerary of activities for each day that we were present in the country along with paid booking confirmations of flight, accommodations and rental car.

Note :

  • If you plan to camp, the itinerary should cover on which days and where.
  • It’s a good idea to come up with a rough itinerary and make refundable bookings for the visa process. After you receive an approval, you could cancel them if needed and make actual bookings. This will save you a lot of hassle if the visa was not approved for any reason.

As a hack, We googled a 20-day itinerary for Norway, made refundable flight, accommodations and rental car bookings and presented it for our visa appointment.

Ideal time to book flights to Norway

We recommend booking flights at least 3-4 months in advance. We observed that pricing didn’t change much prior to that. Flights to Oslo are cheaper, but get expensive to Northern Norway destinations. Here are a few samples:

SFO to EVE Flight Price History

SFO to OSL Flight Price History

SFO to TOS Flight Price History

Food in Norway

Food in Norway is expensive. If you are traveling for extended duration and looking to save precious bucks while also treating yourself to Norwegian delights, we recommend carrying instant food to cover some of your meals.

Along with instant meals, we had carried rice and other grains that don’t require much cook time while allowing us to have freshly cooked food. Goes without saying that on the days we did not camp, we had chosen to stay in places with a kitchen and basic cookware. Believe us, the extra bucks you pay for a place with kitchen costs much lesser than eating out every meal of every day at Northern Norway! The best part about camping here is that most campsites are already equipped with a common kitchen, and some may also have basic cookware.

We shopped for fruits, veggies, and condiments at the local Grocery stores and were surprised at the variety they carried even in the smallest of towns.

Note:

This post takes you to the more remote parts of Senja. Before starting off on your adventures, we recommend stocking up on groceries from either of the below supermarkets in Finnsnes which is the last major township.

  • Rema 1000 – Meierigata 2, 9300 Finnsnes, Norway
  • Kiwi – Hans Karolius vei 1, 9300 Finnsnes, Norway

Most supermarkets are closed on Sundays. Make sure to check store timings.

Roads and tunnels in Senja

Before you start your journey, make sure to note the road conditions/restrictions on mountain passes and sections exposed to the weather

Here are the links to check the road conditions & tunnel closures in Senja:

Senja ferry information & timetable

The summer ferry 180 Andenes – Gryllefjord is operated between June and August, plus a few days in May and September. It connects the islands of Andøya (state Nordland) and Senja (state Troms). The ferry can transport cars, motorcycles, motorhomes, buses and trucks. It rides over an hour on open sea. People with sea sickness should prepare themselves for days with strong wind and swell conditions. It’s a nice boat ride with the possibility to spot whales.

In July it is highly recommended to be at the port 2-3 hours before departure. It is a very popular route and the ferry has limited capacity.

Ferry timetable can be found on this website. The price for a one-way trip with standard car including driver was NOK 695 in 2023. Duration of Ferry: approx. 100 minutes. Passengers are not allowed to stay in their vehicle. You buy the tickets when you drive onto the boat. It is not possible to make a reservation. Here’s a link on how to pay for the ferry.

Note: You can park your car in the queue & can use the supermarkets in both port locations prior to boarding the ferry/while you wait for the ferry to arrive.