Day-by-Day Itinerary

Day 1: Bergen
Bergen is the bustling capital of Norway's fjord district. If you arrive a few hours before departure, stroll around the old wooden buildings in the Bryggen Wharf, remnants of its Hanseatic past. Your journey begins in Bergen, a harbor town established by the Viking King Olav more than nine hundred years ago. It quickly became the center of Norway's vibrant commercial trade, especially in dried cod, with northern Europe and the British Isles. By the late Middle Ages, the Hanseatic League had set up a trading post on the Bryggen waterfront. Some of those buildings with seaward-facing gables you'll see along the wharf date back to the fourteenth century! You board the Hurtigruten this evening.

Day 2: Maloy–Torvik–Alesund–Molde–Kristiansund
When you awake, the ship will be crossing the open Stadthavet and heading for Torvik. En route, you'll stop in the beautiful Art Nouveau town of Alesund. (Between April 15 and September 14, all ships call at Geiranger in the Geirangerfjord, a UNESCO World Heritage site, to see the beautiful Brudesloret, Friaren, and the Seven Sisters waterfalls.) After a call at Molde—its magnificent view of the Romsdal Alps made it a favorite vacation spot of Henrik Ibsen—the ship will carefully navigate the Hustadvika, a belt of islets and skerries, before docking at Kristiansund. Optional shore excursions available.

Day 3: Trondheim–Rorvik
The ship arrives early this morning in ancient Trondheim, where you'll have time to explore this jewel of a city, Norway's first capital. Did you know that the first Viking sale of goods from "the new found land" took place here about 1000 AD? Timber from Liev Eriksson's Vinland estate was sold to a Bremen merchant. Walk the charming streets, sit by the peaceful harbor, or cross the old city bridge to see the restored wooden buildings in Bakklandet and the great gothic cathedral of Nidaros, where the new kings of old Norway once received their official blessing. From Trondheim, the ship sails on to Rorvik, where the southbound and northbound coastal ships meet. Optional shore excursions available.

Day 4: Ornes–Bodo–Stamsund–Svolvaer
Today you'll cross the Arctic Circle. Of course you can't actually see the line, but on your portside, the globe on the island of Vikingen serves as a marker. There are spectacular sites ahead: islands and skerries with majestic rock formations, whose origins are the stuff of legend. After Bodo, the ship heads out to open sea for the Lofoten Islands with their picturesque cabins on stilts and weathered wooden racks with drying cod. In the evening, she'll navigate the narrow Raftsund Strait, passing the looming crags of the Trollfjord. Optional shore excursions available.

Day 5: Harstad–Finnsnes–Tromso–Skjervoy
This morning you'll pass the medieval Trondenes church before calling at Harstad for breakfast. Afterward, you'll sail across the Vagsfjord past the great island of Senja with its diverse countryside of farmland, pine trees, and plunging peaks. Later you'll stop at Tromso, the "Paris of the North." In the 19th century, Russian, British, Dutch, and German ships called here before heading off on Arctic expeditions for hunting whales, walruses and seals. Optional shore excursions available.

Days 6–7: Hammerfest–Havoysund– Honningsvag–Kjollefjord–Mehamn– Berlevag–Kirkenes
Finnmark's landscape is austere in its beauty, teeming with wildlife. Watch for rookeries ofpuffins and gannets along the cliffs and pods of orca hunting for herring. After calling at Honningsvag, the capital of the North Cape, the ship heads east toward the pretty fishing villages of Kjollefjord, Mehamn, and Berlevag. On the seventh day, you'll arrive at Kirkenes, the journey's northern terminus and turning point. Optional shore excursions available for both days.

Day 7: Kirkenes–Vardo–Batsfjord–Berlevag
After a few hours docked at Kirkenes, the ship will depart upon the southbound half of her voyage, calling during the day at ports passed at night on the trip northward. Crossing Varangerfjord, Norway's only east-facing fjord and a fabled bird-watching site, you'll arrive in Vardo, the easternmost point of the country. Next the ship will round the Varanger peninsula, where archaeologists excavated a community believed to date from 9000 BC. In the evening, the ship calls at Batsfjord, which also boasts the remains of a Stone Age settlement, and Berlevag. Look out for the Tanahorn mountain, which long ago was a Sami sacrifice site.

Day 8: Honningsvag–Havoysund– Hammerfest–Oksfjord–Skjervoy–Tromso
The ship arrives at Honningsvag in the early morning. After calling at Havoysund, she will stop for 1 1/2 hours in Hammerfest, the world's most northerly town. Despite its remote location, it was the first Norwegian town to have electric street lighting and its own power station. She then heads south to Oksfjord, whose glacier calves directly into the sea. After crossing open water, the ship calls at the old trading post of Skjervoy. You'll dock in Tromso just in time to savor its nightlife. Optional shore excursions available.

Day 9: Harstad–Risoyhamn–Sortland– Stokmarknes–Svolvaer–Stamsund
The island groups of Lofoten and Vesteralen have some of the most stunning scenery on this journey. Before your arrival, you'll see the captain skillfully maneuver the ship through the shallow waters of the Risoyrenna Channel, where sand banks are visible through the green water on both sides of the channel. The ship will negotiate the narrow Raftsund Strait leading into the breathtaking Trollfjord, before arriving in Svolvaer and Stamsund. Later, the ship heads east across Vestfjord toward Bodo. Optional shore excursions available.