Things to do in Norway

Enjoy old-school Arctic voyaging on a graceful 100-year-old schooner through a seascape where whales breach alongside and skuas wheel your masts. Cruise Spitsbergen pack ice scouting for seal-hunting polar bears, while Arctic fox patrol the tundra near creaking glaciers. Summer brings beluga whales inshore with calves, while colder months draw rare sei and fin whale (Earth's second largest species). Ship life offers cosy cabins and fascinating lectures. Or sail a converted fishing vessel along Norway’s most varied coast, 350km from the alpine peaks of Lyngen to the plateaux of Finnmark, broken by wide sounds and narrow fjords. Get close to raucous bird colonies, porpoises and whales - and fish for your own dinner! Anchor up lonely fjords or enjoy the quayside bustle in picturesque little ports. Small ship cruising vacations in Norway are the most relaxing way to get around.

Flanked by slender waterfalls and lonely homesteads clinging to green ledges, the fjords are stars of Norway’s crinkle-cut coast. Ancient stave churches muse by these flooded glacial valleys, encircled by a hinterland of meadows, winding hill roads and stunning ridge viewpoints. Villages like Geiranger, Undredal and Ulvik are great waterside bases to strike out on foot or bike.

Norway is cycling nirvana, from sinewy shores to thigh-straining ascents. Rallarvegen is a coast route through a kaleidoscope of sheltered fjords, lush valleys, spectacular waterfalls and rushing rivers. For high country drama, hit Hardangervidda, skeined by jewel-like blue ice glaciers.

Or hit the rolling fjord landscape of Sunnhordland, laden with colourful history: the 17th century Barony Rosendal estate, time-warp villages like Skånevik and Leirvik, the merchant town of Bekkjarvik. Along Norway's north shores from lively Tromsø, islands beckon: mountainous Kvaløya: sand-fringed Sommarøy; Senja's woody hills and rugged shores; peat moored Andøya. End in the dazzling Lofoten archipelago.

Polar bears are Norway's poster beasts in Spitsbergen, starring with walrus, Arctic fox, wolverine and elk – plus whales galore around Svalbard and Lofoten. But consider too a unique safari in the Dovrefjell National Park to see the strange Ice Age beast that is musk ox. Divers, meanwhile, can enter a sea world roamed by giant king crab and sea butterflies! See our Norway wildlife vacations travel guide.