For mountains, fjords and a vast sky, head North to Narvik

Ski, soak up history and spend the night with wolves in this town on the tip of northern Norway

Explore the snowy slopes in northern Norway (Visitnorway.com)

The very northern Norwegian city of Narvik is a bit of an anomaly. It has the classic Arctic backdrop: mighty mountains, deep, dark fjords, scattered islands and a vast sky. But it has a fundamental difference to the other towns along this coast blessed with the same elemental beauty: it was built just over a century ago for industry, for the export of iron ore from Sweden.

Working docks and the legacy of being badly bombed in the Second World War means the architecture is modern for this part of the world — more brick and concrete, with fewer traditional wooden buildings in the city centre.

Explore the past

All of this has left a different imprint on this town of 18,000 people. Compared with its neighbours, Narvik feels grittier and urban.

The new and fascinating Narvik War Museum in the centre captures a formative part of the town’s history: the 1940 German attack on Norway and the subsequent five years of war and occupation.

With the creation of the docks came the building of the rather wonderful Oftbanen Railway. Opened in 1903 it connected Narvik with the iron-ore mines at Kiruna, across the border in northern Sweden. It still does that and more. Built by itinerant Nordic workers, it’s a spectacular ride through forests, tunnels, rocky plateaux, past red-painted stations and so many fjords. There is a daily train from Narvik to Boden in Sweden and onward connections to Gothenburg and Stockholm.

Another spectacular ride is the cable car from Narvik up the mountain, the Narvikfjellet, which gives you wonderful views of the city and the Ofotfjord below. Try the ‘Lights at the Lodge’ experience, a chance to see the Northern Lights from the comfort of a luxury lodge at the mountain top.

Narvikfjellet is home to the biggest Alpine ski resort in northern Norway. It boasts one of Scandinavia’s largest drop heights and covers all abilities: a few black runs, lots of reds and blues for intermediates and plenty of choice for families.

It’s a later ski season here than more southerly locations because of snowfall and daylight; the resort doesn’t fully open until February but remains so until the end of April.

Between February and as late as June, the off-piste skiing on these wild, rugged slopes is as exciting as it gets and ski touring with local guides is popular. Reassuringly, all routes, whatever your style or standard, lead back to the Ofotfjord.

Bear necessities

For more family-focused adventure, an hour’s drive from Narvik is Polar Park, the world’s northernmost wildlife park. It has the feel of a safari park with its generous-sized enclosures for a range of Arctic animals: bears, wolves, lynx, wolverines and deer and elk. Try to stay at Wolflodge, which is built in the middle of a wolf enclosure and reached only by tunnel.

Meet Arctic animals such as an elk during your Polar Park visit (Visitnorway.com)

At night, while you gaze out of the lodge’s large windows to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights, you may find a wolf gazing in.

Often called ‘The Gateway to the North’, Narvik is a straightforward place to get to. A daily bus service runs from Tromsø to the city and handily to the Polar Park as well. The country’s main north-south road, the E6, runs through the town and a 90-minute drive away is the Harstad/Narvik airport with flights to Olso, Tromsø and Trondheim.

For more inspiration go to visitnarvik.com and to book your break to Norway, visit visitnorway.com

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