Honningsvag, Norway

Lovely little village at the top of Europe. Well worth a visit. The people are friendly, there are some quaint little shops and bars you can visit. We did a King crab fishing excursion that was quite fun.

Best weather we could hope for north of the Arctic Circle! HAL offered great shore excursions for Stappen Island Bird Safari, a King Crab Safari (catch & eat), & a RIB boat & IceBar combo, but we opted for local bus tour to the top of Europe at the North Cape

Visited: Jun 10, 2018

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Many people complained that there isn't much to do at this port, but I liked the remoteness and the stark landscape. The ships tours to the North Cape sold out quickly and were VERY expensive. Non-ship tours you can find online were 1/3 the price and added in stops at a picturesque fishing village and at a Sami "village"--an area across the street from a Sami house where they have a typical "tee-pee" set up, a reindeer you can take pictures of, a man in traditional Sami dress, and a store where you can buy souvenirs (bring cash only). The problem with any tour to the North Cape is that it's frequently socked in with fog--didn't think much of the actual "North Cape" building--there is a movie you can see and some exhibits--they were not rated highly by most visitors I talked to. (Except for the World War II exhibit with pictures of ships and accompanying stories which was fascinating.) The gift shop is very large and is where lots of people spent most of their time. As far as the actual port goes: vendors were selling several tours in the parking lot right off the ship (the one with lots of buses where you had to walk to after getting off the ship). There is also a large gift shop at the dock which everyone on the ship took advantage of.

We have only done organised tours in a few places, but this was one. We went on a princess organised tour to Nordkapp, it was worth every penny. The tour guide/bus driver was friendly & very knowledgable of the local area. When there you felt like you were looking out at the edge of the world, it kinda puts a lot of things into perspective for you! We had cracking weather when there & had some brilliant views. Apparently about an hour later the clouds & rain rolled in & you couldn’t see a great deal at all. On the return drive we were lucky enough to see a couple of herds of wild reindeer which my wife & daughters loved. All in all, a good trip well worth the money. Back in honningsvag we had a wander & went into the ice bar, which was great fun.

We started the day with nothing planned and it turned out to be one of the best fun packed days ever. We went to the ice bar in town to start enjoyed a drink in the ice cups. Then we booked the atv vehicles to ride up the mountains. ( you will need your licence to do this) amazing views at the top booked in town not off ship. Then took a private taxi up to north cape. He took us on extra villages on way back as we were his last passengers. Great weather great amazing views!