Wondering how much to budget for your trip to Norway’s Lofoten Islands? And what tips do you have to avoid breaking the bank during your stay? You’ve come to the right place!
The Lofoten Islands had been our dream for a long time. Although Norway has a reputation for being an expensive destination, we were pleasantly surprised to find that it’s entirely possible to organize a trip to the Lofoten Islands and Norway more generally on a limited budget by following a few simple tips and modifying your habits a little.
Below you’ll find our detailed budget, our best addresses and our tips for saving money while making the most of this little corner of paradise.
Detailed budget road trip to Norway’s Lofoten Islands
Here’s our detailed budget for our week on the Lofoten Islands for a family of 3, 2 adults and 1 child aged 4.
We spent several weeks criss-crossing Norway in our camper van.
For your road trip from France, you’ll need to add car rental(approx. €70 per day) and airfare ( approx. €400 per person).
| Our detailed 7-day budget |
| Petrol: approx. 1,000 km (€1.8/l) | 150 € |
| Ferries (Bodo – Vaeroy then Vaeroy – Moskenes) – We explain below how to save on this item. | 0 € |
| Accommodation : camping & Rorbuer | 230 € |
| Meals (supermarket shopping) | 210 € |
| Restaurants: food truck, café & bakery | 140 € |
| Activity: fjord safari | 140€ |
| OVERALL BUDGET | 870 € |
We’ll explain each item below.
How to save money in the Lofoten Islands? All our tips
Here are a few tips to help you stay on budget during your stay on the Lofoten Islands.
By changing our habits a little, for example, more picnics and fewer restaurants, we enjoyed this little corner of paradise just as much without feeling like we were depriving ourselves.
- 1: ACCOMMODATION TIP: we recommend that you opt for accommodation with a kitchen, so that you can prepare your own meals and save money.
Norway is not renowned for its gastronomy, and given the very high prices charged in restaurants (expect to pay €20 on average for a classic frozen pizza, which quickly deters you, and €12 for a pint of beer, which deters you even more…), we’d be delighted to help you…
You won’t want to go out to dinner every night, so save this budget for your next vacation in Italy, for example 😉
Below, what we ate during our stay in Lofoten. We give you a few addresses with good value for money.
- 2: VEHICLE TIP: renting a vehicle is the best option for exploring the Lofoten Islands. In Tromso (6 hours north of the archipelago) or Bodo on the mainland south of Lofoten, vehicle prices are more attractive than in Svolvaer.
- 3: TRANSPORT TIP: for a loop during your road trip, we recommend renting a car in Bodo, then taking the ferry from Boddo to Vareoy, an island south of Lofoten (a one-night stop is sufficient), then from Vaeroy to Moskenes.
➡️Si and only if you stop off at Vaeroy are both ferry trips FREE. It’s a pretty incredible option, considering thatVaeroy Island is one of our favorite Norwegian islands, where you can enjoy sumptuous hikes almost on your own!
Official Torghatten website for timetables and bookings.
At the end of your stay, we recommend taking the free ferry from Svolvaer to Skutvik. Then the return trip from Skutvik to Bodo (we didn’t take that one).
Since 2022, ferry services with fewer than 100,000 passengers per year have been financed by the Norwegian state, and are free of charge for all users. For a list of all free ferry routes in Norway, visit the official Norwegian website: AutoPassFerries.
- 4: SHOPPING TIP: shop in the larger towns of Bodo or Tromso, as prices on the Lofoten Islands are not much higher, but supermarkets are much smaller on the archipelago.
To reduce your budget, limit your consumption of alcohol, as it is a highly taxed product in Norway. Expect to pay around €4 for a can of cheap lager…
Transport budget to the Lofoten Islands from France
➡️Les 4 nearest airports: Tromso, Bodo, Leknes or Svolvær (the latter 2 are located in the archipelago). Generally, from France, there will be a stopover.
Domestic flights from Oslo or other major Norwegian cities can be booked to its various airports. To help you visualize the different airports, here’s a map.
Bodo and Tromso are the furthest away airports, so flight prices are generally more attractive, as are car prices.
Example: flight price from Paris to Bodo around €400 in June with a stopover in Oslo with Norwegian airlines or Scandinavian Airline.
Given all the possible combinations to come to the Lofoten Islands, we think it’s essential to use a flight comparator to find the best option in terms of price and journey time.
Arm yourself with patience and a pen and paper, and find what you’re looking for!
Car rental budget for your road trip to the Lofoten Islands
Public transport is almost non-existent on the Lofoten Islands. The various points of interest and hiking trails are located away from the villages. Renting a car is the most flexible way to explore Lofoten.
Car rental
➡️Tous The airports listed above offer car rentals. From Tromso or Bodo, the cost of renting a small city car is around 80€ -100€ per day, which is quite a budget, but without a car it’s harder to explore the archipelago.
To write this article, we compared rental prices (yes, we had fun!) from Leknes or Svolvær airports located on the archipelago, and the prices are always higher.
We recommend a city car for easy parking and maneuvering. Roads are narrow and parking lots are generally small.
An important point to note is that driving in Norway is pleasant, even if the roads are narrow, and speed limits rarely exceed 60km / hour.
➡️Nous recommends renting a car in advance to make sure you have one during your stay! To compare car prices in Bodo or Tromso, we recommend using an aggregator, which compares the rates of a large number of rental companies.
All you have to do is enter all your criteria – dates of stay, pick-up and drop-off locations – and the site will find the best deal for you!
Generally speaking, rates are more attractive through the platforms than directly from the rental company, as the latter negotiate rates with the comparators.
After testing a number of comparators, Discover Carshas clearly become our favorite site for comparing car rental prices. The site aggregates offers from hundreds of rental companies, allowing you to quickly identify the best rate according to your criteria.
This filter lets you check at a glance :
- the amount of the security deposit
- type of bank card accepted (debit or credit)
- what is actually included in the insurance
- customer reviews for each rental company
👉 As an example, we found a car at €85 per day via Avis (excluding insurance).
🚗 Find our complete guide with all our tips for renting your car in the Lofoten Islands.
Bring your own vehicle
That’s what we did from France. If you have time, we recommend that you leave with your own vehicle or rent a converted vehicle in France. Although the journey to Lofoten is very long, the roads are magnificent and there are many points of interest along the way.
You can find the itinerary of our 4-month road trip in Scandinavia here.
Ferry budget and operations
As explained in“How to save money during your stay in the Lofoten Islands“. If you study your ferry journeys carefully, you can only take free ferries.
If you don’t want to stop off onVaeroy island, and go directly from Bodo (on the mainland) to Mokesnes (Lofoten), the ferry fare is 813kr or around €70 (for 1 car and 2 passengers), lasting around 3h15.
➡️Pensez to book your paid and free ferry trips. Please note that only a limited number of seats are reservable, so if you arrive early enough, you may still be able to get a seat on the day.
During our 2 months in Norway, we took countless ferries. As the Norwegians are at the cutting edge of technology and take the ferry like we take the bus, we registered on the EPass24 website, so that the ticket inspector could scan our number plate when we boarded and then we were debited directly to our bank card, super simple!
Budget accommodation in Lofoten
Wilderness camping in Norway
The good news on the Lofoten Islands is that you have several options for accommodation:
- Free camping / bivouacking: the good news is that in Norway, free access to nature is a right, which means that if you keep a certain distance from dwellings and respect the surroundings, you can camp or park overnight almost anywhere.
Many campers take the opportunity to camp directly on the beach or even at the start of certain hikes.
There aren’t many spots for serviced vehicles, and most of them are located along the only road that crosses Lofoten, the E10. We advise you to stay in accommodation around the village of Reine for a more peaceful night’s sleep.
- Paid camping: there are also well-equipped paid campsites, and we stopped for the night at Lofoten Beach Camp, for a machine and to enjoy the sublime white sand beach of Skagsanden (around €30 per night). You have to arrive early to be well placed.
Hotels and Rorbuer in the Lofoten Islands
- Hotel: we recommend staying in a“Rorbuer“, a wooden fisherman’s hut, usually on stilts, with direct access to the sea. Historically, the inhabitants of Lofoten made their living from cod fishing. This activity is still practiced today. Until mid-June, you can even see cod drying on the many drying kilns still in operation.
On the Lofoten Islands, as in the rest of Norway, the cost of accommodation can be surprising. It should be noted that the cost of living in Norway is around 30% higher than in France.
To find suitable, well-located accommodation, you’ll generally need to budget around €150-€200 per night.
The closer you stay to the south of the archipelago, on the island of Mokenesoy, the higher the prices.
Some ideas for value-for-money accommodation:
- On the island of Flakstad (Nusfjord, Rambergstranda…), the Ramberg Gjestegård hotel offers rooms from €100, next to two sublime beaches (+ shared kitchen).
- On the island of Moskenes (Reine, A…), Lydersen Rorbuer offers rooms with access to a shared kitchen, from €70 per night.
- On the island of Austvåg: (Henningsvaer and Svolvaer…) : Fast Hotel Henningsvær offers stylishly decorated rooms with sea views from €70 per night.
A place to indulge yourself
➡️ Rorbuer: Eliassen Rorbuer offers fully-equipped, well-renovated apartments (rorbuer ) with incredible views, a real postcard landscape. Located in Hamnøy, a peaceful village just a few kilometers from Reine. In winter, you can watch the Northern Lights from your living room. We recommend accommodation with a view of the fjord. Restaurant and parking on site.
Shopping on a budget
This is an expense you can save on during your stay in Lofoten. So where can you shop?
- The XExtra supermarket chain offers the widest choice of organic products, even if the fruit and vegetables aren’t very tasty and they’re all sold packaged…
- Some Rema1000s have affordable salad bars for lunch.
- Ideally, you should do all your shopping in Bodo or Tromso, and bring some sandwiches (an idea for fresh cheese/cucumber) and pasta with pesto and tomato sauce for the evening.
As far as alcohol is concerned, even though we advise you to reduce your consumption in Norway. To stock up, you’ll need to visit Vinmonopolet stores, which have a monopoly on the sale of alcoholic beverages with an alcohol content of over 5°.
Restaurants in Lofoten
Here are 3 places to eat on the go without breaking the bank
- By The Way’s turquoise-blue food truck serves excellent sandwiches, a great idea on the way back from hiking Mount Ryten.
- Bakeriet A: a bakery that sells good cinnamon rolls
- Henningsvaer Lysstoperi and Cafe: delicious food in a great setting, we recommend the cream rolls.
Have you ever heard of cashback with iGraal? This system allows you to recoup part of your spending, whether on everyday purchases or vacation bookings. It’s a great way to get even more for your money! And here’s a little extra: we can sponsor you to get you started.
Take advantage of our 5€ free registration offer
Activity budget
We’ve written an article with our top 10 most beautiful places on the Lofoten Islands, 9 out of 10 of which are free activities.
- HIKING: The Lofoten Islands offer countless hiking trails for all levels. Enjoying nature is (still) free, and one of the best ways to explore the beauty of the islands.
- BOAT: the must-do paid activity in our opinion is a safari in the Trollfjord. We were able to observe a sea eagle catching fish in the waters of the fjord.
We really enjoyed writing this article. If you have any other suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment below. We spent 2 months in Norway, so check out our other articles about this incredible country.
See our detailed itinerary for the Lofoten Islands in thearticle our complete guide to organizing your stay.
Don’t hesitate to leave us a note or 5 stars below, to let us know if you’re planning this trip, to ask any questions you may have, below we’ll answer you with great pleasure. You can check out our Instagram stories from our Norway trip, to give you a taste of what’s in store!
