World Heritage Site

With a visit to the Vega Archipelago last Wednesday (see my review here), I finally ‘completed’ Norway. It took me 5 separate short trips during the period 2002-2024. The most memorable WHS was the Rock Art of Alta (photo 1) – I had never been as far north and as with most of the Norwegian WHS the natural setting defeats the cultural OUV. I will happily continue exploring Norway to visit the TWHS of Svalbard and Lofoten which are still on my wanted list.

But why did it take me so long to complete a European country with ‘only’ 8 WHS, no overseas ones and no new sites since 2015?

The lack of clusters

It would surprise me if any of the 31 other people who have seen all WHS in Norway visited them in one go. Looking at the map, the narrow shape of the country and the rugged landscape result in mostly groupings of 1 or 2: the Far North (Rock Art of Alta, Struve), the Central Coast (Vegaoyan), near Trondheim (Røros), and near Oslo (Rjukan/Notodden). There is sort of a cluster around Bergen (Bryggen, Urnes, Naeroyfjord) but that still takes multiple days. Nan managed to do it all in 2 separate trips and has reported how on the Forum. 

The difficulty of the last mile(s)

The domestic airline network is good in Norway, but the problem is that most WHS cannot be easily accessed from the nearest airport. Renting a car at that airport often is the most practical solution, but there still will be ferries to deal with and it is of course the most expensive option. Completing Norway on public transport only is an achievement and needs to be supported by bike rentals or lots of hiking. Read Nan’s Getting there section on Urnes to get a feel for the effort it takes.

The high cost per WHS

The main reason why I left Vegaoyan for so long is that I couldn’t fit it within my 650 EUR-per-WHS rule: I spent about 850 EUR in the end. But the other Norwegian WHS aren’t cheap either. The cost adds up due to the combination of #1 and #2: you go there for 1 or 2 WHS at the time (so no splitting of the cost of the international flights), in some cases, you need an additional domestic flight as well plus the local transport. Since you’ve come from so far I usually had 2 nights in a hotel around the WHS visit day. Plus food and entrance fees are generally appropriate to the high cost of living in Norway.

The short season

All my 5 visits were in June, July or August. While you may be able to go during other months, you will find visitor centers, restaurants, the Urnes church etc closed and even less public transport than in summer. And you may be faced with demotivating, incessant rain.

The scarcity of tourist facilities

There is little mass tourism, and the Norwegians seem rather to be left alone. They’ve already offered up Bergen and a fjord or two to the cruise crowd. This greatly affects the accessibility of the WHS, the quality of the visitor experience and the cost. In the Vega Archipelago for example, how great would it be to take a boat cruise around the islands or visit an eiderdown farm at one of those? These are rarely on offer, or on request only at prohibitive cost. I know it’s a chicken-and-egg situation (no tourists, no tours – no tours, no tourists), but still, I feel more effort could be put into it.

How do you look back on your Norwegian WHS visits?