Hurtigruten's schedule - ports of call

Unlike on other cruises, where you probably get to visit one port a day (or less), with Hurtigruten you will get a chance to see severeal ports a day. Some of the ports are short stops, bearly long enough to allow passengers to board/leave the ship, and for goods to be loaded/
offloaded. Hurtigruten's ships are not only cruise ships, they are also a vital lifeline for many smaller communities, which may not have many other means of transporting people and goods. In other ports you get the chance to venture into cities and smaller towns.


(Picture borrowed from Hurtigruten.)

  




















Some of the popular ports are:
Bergen (this is where many passengers start and end their journey).
Ålesund (is famous for it's architecture).
Trondheim (this is where you can see the Nidaros Cathedral).
Bodø (the second largest town in North Norway).
Tromsø (you should visit Polaria).
Honningsvåg (this is where you can visit the North Cape).
Kirkenes (Hurtigruten turns back to Bergen again).

But there are many more ports, actually 34 all together. You can check them out here. As you can se in Hurtigruten's schedule, some of the ports are visited in daytime and some at night. If you book the round trip, you are sure to see the ports that you missed while sleeping, because the ports that that are visited in night time northbound, are visited in day time southbound.

If you look at a map of Norway, it's easy to think that travelling on Hurtigruten's ships means that you will be exposed to heavy seas. This isn't so. Although rough weather can be experienced, a large part of the route along the coast is sailed in fjords or behind bigger islands, which means that the ship is protected from the biggest waves.