Amid the New York City’s din, it’s good to remember that cool breezes and refreshing waters are just a train ride away.
28.07.2023 - 13:41 / cntraveler.com
It's getting dark at the end of the world, and the snow is falling fast. It's too dark to see the sea below—for all I know, krakens are churning the water white. The cliff top I'm standing on is Norway's North Cape, the northernmost point on continental Europe (71°10′21,″ to be exact). To reach it, my group steered Ski-Doos over frozen lakes and drove through a blizzard on fat-tired quad bikes, our headlamps turning the snow into brazier sparks. As we return to our cruise ship, we pass wind-carved formations as the northern lights appear and swirl across the night sky.
We're sailing with Hurtigruten, which is woven into Norway's fabric in a way that's unlike any other cruise line. For the past 130 years, its Coastal Express route has stitched together fishing communities, ferrying mail, machinery, and a whole lot of cod in its belowdecks holds. It is held in such regard here that, in 2011, more than three million tuned in to the pioneering “slow TV” show Hurtigruten: Minutt for Minutt to watch one of its ships make a 134-hour voyage from Bergen to Kirkenes, on the Russian border, parts of which were later rebroadcast on PBS. For travelers, it's the best way to experience Norway's famous fjords. But until now, adventures like mine were only possible if you packed up your possessions, spent a night or two onshore, and then hopped on, bus-style, to the next scheduled Hurtigruten ship to come to port.
Winter kayaking near the town of Svolvær in the Lofoten archipelago
This year, however, Hurtigruten is introducing two itineraries aboard its Norway line designed to let passengers dig deeper into Norway's landscape, culture, and cuisine: the summertime Svalbard Express, which takes passengers into the midnight sun of Norway's northernmost islands, and the wintertime North Cape Express, which will sail the entire length of Norway's coast. Earlier this year, I sailed aboard the MS Trollfjord on one of its last voyages before it was refurbished and relaunched, trying out some of the new shore excursions in a behind-the-scenes preview.
The ship, which began operating the Svalbard Express route in June, now has smartly decorated cabins, a photo studio, and an extensive cocktail lounge serving Norwegian gins and aquavits. The menus champion ingredients gathered from farms and small producers along the ship's route, from tangy Lofoten goat cheese to the cod we see air-drying like the morning's wash on wooden racks all along the coast. Cloudberry honey is gathered on the tiny island of Rolvsøy, king oyster mushrooms from the family-run Trøndersopp farm.
“I like the boundaries that sourcing purely from the Arctic Circle gives me; it pushes me to be creative and try different things,” chef Halvar Ellingsen tells me,
Amid the New York City’s din, it’s good to remember that cool breezes and refreshing waters are just a train ride away.
A pot of birch sap simmered on Eva Gunnare’s stove. It was an early morning in May in Jokkmokk, a small Swedish town in the Arctic Circle, and outside the snow was melting. On the table sat a plate of cookies made with dried bilberries, a native fruit that Ms. Gunnare had foraged the previous season.
In much of Europe, summer 2023 will be remembered as a season of bad news for the travel industry. Wildfires have brought a new kind of danger to many southern resorts already suffering from a heatwave, forcing the British government amongst others to issue travel warnings at the height of the summer vacation period.
A new restaurant in the middle of the Hardangerfjord in Norway is wowing — and scaring — TikTok.
In Iceland, the sun doesn't fully set between May and August, with June being peak "midnight sun" season, according to Guide to Iceland.
If you have a prepaid travel accommodation you find you can’t use, TransferTravel will list it for a possible resale to someone else. Although based in the U.K., TransferTravel is targeting an international market including the U.S. and Canada. The idea sounds great, but the travel industry throws up a lot of roadblocks to any sort of trade.
Sometimes it’s the look of a place that inspires us to want to visit. For travelers who roam the Internet looking for visual inspiration to decide where to go next, Pinterest has a handy new tool.
Tickets go on sale today from a brand-new airline.
This summer, Norwegian plans to fly from New York to Belfast, Dublin, Edinburgh, and Shannon—and for these flights, “New York” means Stewart International Airport (SWF), also called Stewart Field.
There’s no shortage of new airlines servicing North America right now: Norwegian, WOW, Primera, XL Airways, Level, Flair, and Joon have recently sprung up or expanded. But none of these new carriers is based in the U.S.
There’s been a lot of talk lately about discount airlines providing low-fare flights to European cities. London, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen are now an inexpensive Wow Air or Norweigan Air flight away from the U.S.—that is, if you’re willing to forego an in-flight meal and deal with a layover. But many business travelers and membership-savvy flyers aren’t looking for a cheap, lengthy flight sans free food.
The new transatlantic low-fare line, Level, has started flying from its Barcelona base to Los Angeles and Oakland. This summer, it operates three times a week from Oakland and twice from Los Angeles. Schedules follow the usual pattern: overnight to Europe, daytime return.