North Cape Tourist Information, Finnmark, Norway
Imagine a place in the far north, where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Arctic Ocean and their frigid waters mix.
That place is Nordkapp – the North Cape – in Western Finnmark, Northern Norway. Here, the only dry land between you and the North Pole is the Svalbard archipelago, and the summer sun doesn’t set between the middle of May and the end of July. Many visitors enjoy watching the midnight sun or the sunset over the Barents Sea from the North Cape Plateau.
The first tourist on the North Cape Plateau was the Italian priest Francesco Negri, who visited in 1664. Today, getting to the North Cape has become fairly easy and some 200,000 tourists visit the plateau annually during the two to three months of summer. With its cliff face jutting into the sea, the plateau rises 307 metres above sea level. The visitor centre North Cape Hall holds various exhibitions throughout the year, and the chapel St Johannes Kapell is the world’s northernmost ecumenical chapel and a popular venue for weddings.
The North Cape island of Magerøya harbours other secrets. Visit the bird cliff of Gjesværstappan, home to hundreds of thousands of puffins, gannets and cormorants, or go fishing for giant king crabs and eat the tasty monsters afterwards.
Epic Norway Culture & Adventure Route © Monika Newbound
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