Voyage Planning

Voyage Information/Support

Agency Services Based in Bergen, Alex Grieg is a one-stop shop for organizing your cruise to Norway: they can provide everything from Customs and Immigration clearance assistance, to berth reservations, to itinerary planning, to spare parts procurement.

Attainable Adventure Cruising has a wealth of information on high latitude sailing in general and information on specific equipment and techniques that work well in Norway and Svalbard.

Expedition Support This experienced group of high latitude sailors can provide full expedition support or an advisory service to assist you in preparing for and running your own expedition.

Expeditions Mark van de Weg is a very experienced high latitude sailor who offers expeditions on your own boat or on one of his two boats.

Sailboat Delivery Very experienced Norwegian sailor Harald E. (Rikki) Bjerke offers sailboat delivery services to and from Norway as well as chartering opportunities within Norway.

Charter Companies Based in Norway

Boreal Yachting, based in Tromsø, is located in the perfect place to leave on a cruise of the Lyngen Alps or Svalbard. Ivar and Emely Bertelsen have six sailboats available for charter.

Charter Cruise AS, based in Bergen, is a motorboat charter and tour company. Though their focus is on larger boats, they are open to discussing bareboat charters of smaller motorboats.

Explore North offers ski and sail expeditions between Bergen and Spitsbergen. The skippers include experienced sailor and journalist Jon Amtrup and the mountaineering couple Sture and Enid Ellingsen.

FjordSailing is based in Bergen and offers many services to sailors, including boat charter, sale of Beneteau yachts, over-winter storage of sailboats, and more.

Nautic Sailing is based at Hjellestad and offers bare boat and crewed charters. They are particularly well situated for cruises of the Hardangerfjord with land trips to the Folgefonna glacier.

Paid Crewing Opportunities to Norway and Svalbard

Fredøya. The Freds (when you marry someone with the same name, you can get inventive!) have spent many years sailing in Norway on their aluminum expedition sailboat, Fredøya (Peace Island–a wonderful play on their names and the Norwegian language). Join them on a voyage to Svalbard in 2017.

Mahina Tiare. John Neal provides sailing instruction, personal voyage consultancy and leads expeditions on his boat Mahina Tiare.

Nooderkroon. André Blankestijn and Ingrid van Tricht provide sailing instruction as well as adventure during voyages on their 13.5 m steel sailboat Nooderkroon.

Regina Sailing. Leon Schulz offers sail training adventure voyages and RYA preparation training on Regina Laska, a Hallberg-Rassy 46.

Remote Adventures. Andy & Sian offer tailor-made programs for novice and experienced sailors on Mahi, a 12-m Ovni 365.

Sailing4u2. Based out of the Netherlands, Stefan Keersmakers offers skippered cruises to Norway and RYA training.

Schooner Sail. The three-masted schooner Trinovante sails as far north as Lofoten each year and also competes in any Tall Ship Races from Norway.

Tourist Information

Norway

The official tourism site for Norway.

Lonely Planet has a guide to Norway, 4th Edition, published in 2008.

We found the Rough Guide to Scandinavia to be very good. They also have a guide to Norway, 5th Edition, published in 2009.

The Norwegian Trekking Association oversees one of Europe’s larger marked hiking trail network (20,000 km) and arguably the world’s most extensive cross-country skiing track network (7000 km).

Svalbard

The Governor of Svalbard‘s site is the place to visit to get the latest protocol for taking your boat to Svalbard and how to behave once you get there!

The Norsk Polarinstitutt provides topographical and other maps and photographs.

A Journey to Svalbard Polar Territory By Christian Kempf: we found this volume to be not only visually beautiful with a wealth of photographs, but it contains a lot of good information.

Russia

Sailing in Russia is the site for the cruising guide, Sailing Through Russia: From the Arctic to the Black Sea, by John Vallentine & Maxine Maters, who completed this journey in 2013 on Australian S/Y Tainui.

Hiking/Skiing

Websites

The Norwegian Trekking Association oversees a huge network of hiking/ski trails and huts.

The mother of all outdoor activity related websites in Norway, which is a collaboration between the Norwegian Trekking Association and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation.

A site that describes a number of skiing, kayaking and hiking trips in North Norway. Though in Norwegian, the photos and maps go a long way to tell the story.

A photography and outdoor activity site for Lofoten.

Another photography and outdoor activity site for Lofoten!

Books

A good source for travel literature is the Nomaden bookstore in Oslo.

Walks and Scrambles in Norway by Anthony Dyer, Ian Robertson and John Baddeley. A book presenting a “comprehensive introduction to mountaineering” in Norway. In English.

Turbøker: Regional hiking guides, in Norwegian.

Three books, in Norwegian, that describe skiing/hiking trips:

  • På tur i Troms (Troms Turlag, ISBN: 82-990-8841-0)
  • Toppturer i Norge (Fri Flyt, ISBN 978-8299643214)
  • Toppturer i Troms by Espen Nordahl (Fri Flyt, ISBN 978-8293090038)

Guides

Culture and History

We Die Alone: By David Howarth, this wonderful book chronicles the story of Jan Baalsrud, a Norwegian patriot in WWII, who was smuggled in to Northern Norway by the Norwegian Resistance only to be betrayed. The rest of his group was killed but Jan managed to escape and walk to Sweden.

The Shetland Bus: Also by David Howarth and another book about the Norwegian Resistance in WWII, this book is an excellent overview of the whole movement, including a short vignette about Jan Baalsrud.

Novels and Adventure

Champagne and Polar Bears: Romance in the Arctic: We met Marie Tièche, the author, and Hauke Trinks, a German professor, at an isolated station on Nordaustlandet, Svalbard, just at the beginning of their 13-month stay there. Marie does a wonderful job of describing their time on Nordaustlandet and the growth of their relationship.

Wolf Winter: Sailor turned author, Clare Francis has written a wonderful murder/mystery set in Norway. A great read.

Bear Island: By Alistair MacLean, this is a murder mystery novel written in the early 1970s that takes place on Bjørnøya. It’s a fun read.

Rowing to Latitude: Journeys Along the Arctic’s Edge: Jill Fredston and her husband are avalanche experts in Alaska in the winter. In the summer they row their sculls along various challenging coasts, including those of Norway and Svalbard.

Ice Bears & Kotick: Rowing on Top of the World: This is the story of two young British men who row a traditional open Norwegian boat (oselvar) around Svalbard.

Attention All Shipping: A Journey Round the Shipping Forecast: Charlie Connelly’s bestselling book is a wonderful romp through the North Sea shipping forecast areas.