Where to Stay in Narvik, Nordland

What is Narvik known for?

The ice-free port grew where the line from the interior meets a deep fjord in north-eastern Nordland, and that rail-and-harbour history fills the Museum Nord railway museum at the town's heart. Wartime cut a second history into Narvik. The Nordland Røde Kors krigsminnemuseum records the 1940 battles that sank a whole invasion fleet at Narvik.

A northern harbour ringed by steep mountains.

What are the main landmarks in Narvik?

The railway museum comes first. Museum Nord tells the story of the line and the harbour that built the town, while the Nordland Røde Kors krigsminnemuseum gathers the relics of the wartime battle for the port. Three churches follow.

Narvik Church is the main church for the town, the Fredskapellet is a chapel in Narvik, and Ankenes Church serves the far shore. The Narvikfjellet skisenter and its cable car climb the peaks behind this north-eastern corner of Nordland.

What is the history of Narvik?

Narvik took its town title in the 20th century. The port was chartered in 1902 on a deep, ice-free fjord in north-eastern Nordland, raised to ship iron ore brought by rail from the Swedish mines at Kiruna, on ground that had held only a few farms before the line was built. The railway came first.

Museum Nord keeps the story of the Ofoten Line and the port. War reached the young town in April 1940. German destroyers seized the harbour, two naval battles sank the whole invasion fleet and left the largest ship graveyard in Norway, and German bombers destroyed large parts of the town during the fighting, a struggle now recorded in the Nordland Røde Kors krigsminnemuseum.

The town was rebuilt after the war. From a railway port chartered at the turn of the century, Narvik grew back into the harbour town of the north-eastern Nord-Norge coast.

Where is Narvik?

Narvik clings to a steep fjord. The town occupies a shelf of ground in the north-eastern part of Nordland where a deep arm of water cuts inland between high mountains, the harbour at the bottom and the streets climbing the slope above it. Peaks press close.

The fjord stays ice-free through the dark months, opening a year-round sea route, while Ankenes faces the port from the far shore and the ridges behind town carry the snow for the Narvikfjellet slopes.

What is the climate of Narvik?

The fjord keeps Narvik's water open. The deep, sheltered arm in north-eastern Nordland stays ice-free even through the polar dark, so the harbour works the year round despite the high northern setting. Snow holds on the heights.

The mountains behind town and across at Ankenes keep deep cover for the Narvikfjellet slopes well into spring, while the long winter night gives way to the bright midnight sun over the Nord-Norge coast in summer.

How do you get to Narvik?

The railway is the town's lifeline. Narvik sits at the seaward end of the line that drops from the interior to the harbour, the route that first built the port, and that link still carries arrivals into north-eastern Nordland. Roads climb the fjord shore.

The highway threads the steep coast and crosses toward Ankenes, while the cable car of Narvikfjellet lifts visitors from the centre to the peaks above. The nearest airport is Harstad/Narvik Airport, Evenes, 57 km away by road, with a bus link to town.