Harstad; Friday, 08 May, 2026

The curtains did work very well, though they didn’t help protect against the blasts from the Hurtigruten horn as it pulled into port around 8am, which put pay to staying asleep any longer.

After a decent breakfast I headed out of the hotel and down to the bus stop to pick up the bus a couple of kilometres up the peninsular to the settlement of Trondenes. This is the site that could be considered the forerunner of modern day Harstad, set at a narrow point on the peninsula where there is access directly into the sea on one side and into the network of fjords and sounds between the islands on the other side. Today it’s also still home to a major military facility on the very tip of the peninsular, which you can only visit on a guided tour that only runs on weekdays, has to be booked some time in advance, and there was no spaces available for today when I checked.

Instead I settled on visiting the other attractions that the village has to offer starting with the viewpoint that overlooks the fjords and inlets of the Altevågen before walking the short distance down the hill to the Trondenes Kirke, a medieval church that was originally built in the 13th century and now has the distinction of being the northernmost medieval stone church of Norway and the world's northernmost surviving medieval building.

From the church it’s a very short walk across to the Trondenes Historiske Senter which houses a museum that charts the history of the area from the earliest hunter gatherers through to the darker history of the area during the Second World War. The peninsular, and in particular the area around the church was used by the Nazis as a prisoner of war and forced labour camp, turning it into one of the largest, and deadliest, in Norway and the museum doesn’t hold back on the details.

Next door to the museum is the recreation of a Norwegian Farmstead from around 1200 which includes a church, forge and dwelling that you can also wander around – all built in the early 21st century, but to the styles and methods though to have been used at the time.

Rather than catching the bus back into town I instead opted to use the Stien langs sjøen, or Path along the Sea, a 3Km foot path that, for about ½ its distance, follows the coastline on either dedicated paths or boardwalks. The area around a shipyard requires a detour in land. Along the route are a series of art installations and viewpoints, as well as lots of seating so you can stop and take in the views out across the sea towards the neighbouring islands and in the distance the peaks of the mainland.

Back in town I headed back to the hotel to freshen up and to grab some afternoon fika, as well as grabbing a quick sandwich as I’d only had a coffee and a waffle at the museum and that hadn’t really counted as lunch. I had a bit of a wander around the town centre before heading back to the hotel to grab first digs at the evening meal which turned out to be popular as it was taco night.

After dinner, to walk off some of that food, I caught the bus over to the Gangsås area of town, located on the opposite side of the harbour to the hotel, and rising above it the 181m high Gangsåstoppen, although the bus did the first 67m of that when it dropped me off at the starting point of the, I suppose you could call it hike, though in places it felt more like a climb with several sections requiring the use of a rope to get yourself up the steeper sections.

However, after only about 20 minutes I emerged onto the highest point and was rewarded with some pretty stunning views over Harstad and the surrounding landscape of sea, fjords, islands and many many snowcapped mountains. From the peak you can walk along the ridge of the hill to the slightly lower second peak that looks more to the south of the city and further down the coast. From here the walk back down was actually significantly easier than the scramble up – though I’m pretty glad I’d done it this way round as I wouldn’t have wanted to try going down the way I came up.

I even made it back to a different bus stop with a couple of minutes to spare before the bus back into town that meant I didn’t end up with a 55 minute wait, which I had feared would happen, and also meant that my 90 minute ticket I’d brought to get out here was still just valid as I boarded the bus, so the return journey back to the centre was free. From the bus station it was a slightly slower and stiffer walk back to the hotel, via a supermarket to pick up some more water, and then a well-deserved sleep.