The Bergen to Kirkenes Hurtigrute

Each evening of the year a ship leaves Bergen on an 11-day voyage which will take her up the Norwegian coast far beyond the Arctic Circle and to within a stone's throw of the Russian border at the iron ore mining town of Kirkenes. En route she will visit 35 different ports and cover a distance of close on 2,500 nautical miles. In summer she sails in almost continuous daylight; in midwinter much of the journey is realised in darkness or varying shades of twilight. The Hurtigrute (Coastal Express) still performs similar functions to those the Post Office's first mail steamers did 180 years ago, and offers the traveller from abroad a unique insight into everyday life on the Long Coast - an insight denied to coach tour participants and those who visit Norway on cruise liners.