Nusfjord in Lofoten, Norway

How to get to Nusfjord

Nusfjord is a rather remote fishing village so getting there will take some time.

Since Lofoten is located in the North part of Norway, it would serve you best to fly either into Tromsø (Airport Code: TOS) or Svolvaer (Airport Code: SVJ). Svolvaer is much closer to Nusfjord and you can just rent a car, or a campervan like we did, and drive south down the E10 road and look for the signs that guide you to Nusfjord.

We chose to fly into Tromsø and stay there a few days to enjoy the midnight sun and to prepare for our trip. Then we took the four hour drive to the northern tip of Lofoten, Norway, also via the E10 highway. So as you can already see, flying into this part of Norway and renting a car to drive on the E10 road will get you to this amazing village. Of course, Google Maps will help you along the way.

When to see Nusfjord

Our time in Nusfjord was during the summer, however the specific day in particular was cloudy, a typical occurrence for this part of the world. Summer provides you with so much more light, nearly 22 hours of daylight during its peak, so you have much more to work with for photography.

The fishing village also sits on the west side of a small bay so perhaps sunset is the best time to capture the gorgeous light over the village.

We do definitely intend on going back to Lofoten, and Nusfjord as well during the winter months. After seeing photos of Lofoten, blanketed in snow, we are tempted to go back to see it in this way, along with capturing the Northern Lights. What a better way to capture the village than with stretches of green, white, and purples across the sky.

Photographing Nusfjord

There is a parking area in the middle of Nusfjord, that is elevated from the surrounding area. As soon as you park, you will find that this spot gives you sweeping panoramic views of the entire village, so take our your standard focal length lens, 24-70 mm, to capture some of the rorbu around. From the parking area, make your way to lower elevations to the center of the village.

There is a well made path that leads you through the rather small village, taking you past more old fisherman cabins as well as a restaurant or two and bath house. This may be a good time to also use a wide angle lens, 10 mm focal length. Furthermore, if you have a nifty fifty, or a 50 mm prime lens, this would be great to use to get that sweet bokeh of the red/orange cabins and vegetation in the background.

If you walk southwest along one of the trails, you can find another panoramic viewpoint (68.034234, 13.346656) for photo opportunities. Closer to the water, the viewpoint at 68.034181, 13.350608 is also worth checking out.

As a drone flyer, I found flying and capturing Nusfjord from the air to be especially rewarding. Just follow the normal drone rules such as maintaining visual line of sight, no higher than 120 meters in the air, and not flying at night, and you will be just fine. I think setting up a hyperlapse to capture the town along with the shifting cloud cover and sunlight would be an amazing shot as well that I have yet to do myself.

Purchasing Photos

Conclusion and Further Resources

Nusfjord, and Lofoten as a whole were on my radar for quite awhile. Although we didn’t manage to see everything we had wanted, we were so satisfied with our trip, especially me with the photos I was able to capture. It is far too large of an area though to just see over a week’s time so a return is definitely in the books for us.

If you want to read more about destinations in Norway, go ahead and check out my blog posts below.

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