The road, Norwegian County Road 17, is 630 kilometers long, running from Steinkjer in Trøndelag county, to Bodø, the largest urban area and town in Nordland county, across the Arctic Circle. According to National Geographic, it’s one of the ’101 World’s most Scenic Routes’. The road has it all: small fishing villages, white sandy beach coves, and mighty mountains. The road is totally paved and includes at least six ferry crossings, taking from 10 min to an hour each (more if you want to visit the islands).
The beautiful nature and the wonderful views along the Kystriksveien are already an attraction in themselves, but in addition, you will find the Torghatten (“the mountain with the hole”) at Bronnoysund, The Seven Sisters (a group of mountains with peaks around 1.000 meters) at Sandnessjoen, the Svartisen near Halsa (the second largest glacier in Norway), Marmorslottet (an amazing marble formation) and the Saltstraumen just south of Bodo.
The Saltstraumen is the largest and most powerful tidal current in the world. Every 6 hours no less than 400 million m3 of seawater passes through a narrow strait here.
Along the road 12,000 islands await you and you should take the time to visit a few of them. The Vega Archipelago was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2004 for its outstanding natural and cultural environment. Vega’s world heritage center gives visitors a good grounding in what makes the islands unique. Local farms help tourists learn even more about the eider down industry. Especially, Vegatrappa, the wooden staircase leads from the beach all the way to the top of the mountain Ravnfloget. Those who tackle the almost 1,500 stairs are rewarded with wonderful views of the ocean and the islands.
Besides, nearly half of Norway’s land mass is in Arctic territory, where the midnight sun happens. The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon when the Sun remains visible at the local midnight. When the midnight sun is seen in the Arctic, the Sun appears to move from left to right. The opposite phenomenon, polar night, occurs in winter when the Sun stays below the horizon throughout the day.
According to the Internet
