Norway Guide
Weather
Norway is widely regarded as a remote, cold country – spectacular enough but climatically inhospitable. There is some truth in this – and winters are certainly cold, but when to go is not, however, as clear-cut a choice as you'd imagine. There are advantages to travelling during the long, dark winters with their reduced everything: daylight, opening times and transport services. If you are equipped and hardy enough to reach the far north, seeing the phenomenal Northern Lights (aurora borealis) is a distinct possibility; later, once the days begin to get lighter, skiing is excellent; while Easter is the time of the colourful Sámi festivals. But – especially in the north – it is cold, often bitterly so, and this guide has been deliberately weighted towards the summer season, when most people travel and when it is possible to camp and hitch to keep costs down. This is the time of the Midnight Sun: the further north you go, the longer the day becomes, until at Nordkapp the sun is continually visible from mid-May to the end of July. (The box above lists the dates when the Midnight Sun is visible in different parts of the north.) Something worth noting is that the summer season in Norway is relatively short, stretching roughly from the beginning of June to mid-August. Come much later than 16–20 August and you'll find that tourist offices, museums and other sights cut back their hours, while buses, ferries and trains often switch to reduced schedules.
As regards temperatures, January and February are generally the coldest months, July and August the warmest; the Gulf Stream makes the coastal north surprisingly temperate during summer.