The 9 most panoramic norwegian roads
Our campervan wanderings have taken us along endless roads that wind through perennial ice, windswept heaths, skirting dizzying fjords or climbing there in tight turns. You can also pass from one islet to another through an endless series of viaducts over the sea as you travel through the Lofoten archipelago, or be amazed at bridges and roads that rise over the waves of the sea like roller coasters.
1. FV44: FLEKKEFJORD-SOGNDALSTRAND-STAVANGER
This road is the first we encountered as we landed in Norway from Kristiansand. The landscape is very different from any other we have seen, and the road weaves its way through expanses of green shrubs, large polished granite massifs that look as if they were molded out of pongo, placid or rushing streams, and pleasant villages with typical colorful wooden houses, overlooking bodies of water or thundering waterfalls. Something you would not associate with Norway, but still leaves you spellbound.
2. RV13 + FV7 ALONG THE HARDANGGERFJORD
You'll get your fill of views of lovely corners of this magnificent fjord, with red villages reflected in the tranquil waters, mountains with rich vegetation doubled as if in a mirror, lush forests, and thunderous waterfalls whose humid mists envelop the entire road. To see them more closely you'll surely need a raincoat. These roads that run along the edges of the fjord are part of the Hardanger Scenic Route and will give you a full taste of Norway.
3. FV 243 SNOVEGEN
Plausibly the scenic route we loved the most, winding through frozen lakes, snow-dotted taiga, small icebergs floating on quiet bodies of water. It goes from fjord to fjord the Aurlandsfjellet Scenic Route, and is especially noted in winter for its several-meter-high walls of snow perfectly carved out to allow road passage. It is no less picturesque in summer, illuminated by reflected light from the snow that remains there until next winter. It connects two special places, on the one hand Lærdalsøyri, a still village mirrored in the water, and on the other the sumptuous Stegastein, a vertiginous viewing platform at the top of a winding scenic road that climbs the coast of Aurlandsfjord.
4. FV 63 TO TROLLSTIGEN
From Geiranger on the sparkling fjord of the same name to Trollstigen, literally the stairway of the Trolls, you can travel this very long road that plows through fjords and encounters viewing platforms with memorable architecture as well as views. You will reach the viewpoint of Trollstigen and be breathless as you admire the swirls of the road being swallowed up by vegetation toward an endless valley drawn by a waterway. As always at viewpoints in Norway, nature blends with architecture in a splendid union.
5. FV64 ATLANTIC OCEAN ROAD MOLDE-KRISTIANSUND
The Atlanterhavsvegen Scenic Route is a real masterpiece: 7 bridges, many equipped viewpoints, a road that bounces like the trajectory of a ball from islet to islet creating curves to the sky that seem to hardly stay up. They serve to surmount the great waves that form on this North Atlantic beaten coast, and yet you can see incredible photos of billows crashing into unfortunate passing vehicles. The light and sea views are truly special.
6. E10 (detours on E85+FV82) LOFOTEN
The Lofoten Scenic Route is a continuous ribbon of asphalt that crosses cliffs, islands, mountains, and stretches of sea, alternating between sharp mountains reflected in the water, small yellow or red villages on stilts, beaches worthy of a Caribbean destination, expanses of stockfish drying in the wind and unforgettable sunsets. This road is 230km long from south to north. We did not travel it all, and we made several detours to hike and visit the wonderful villages sleeping on the shores of this enchanted archipelago.
7. FV862 SENJA (UP TO TUNGENESET)
The Senja Scenic Route follows the rugged contours of this peninsula with steep mountains that plunge with gentle grassy slopes into the sea. Between white beaches and clear waters that will invite you to bathe, a few architecturally equipped viewpoints that will invite you to get out and take photos or just watch a magnificent sunset, and a few little-traveled hikes, you will enjoy your trip to one of Norway's most beautiful but also some of its least known places. We traveled it from the north to Tungeneset.
8. E6 via BALLANGEN
The E6 from Mo i Rana to Narvik passes through several national parks as well as the Arctic Circle, marked by a stone building in a cold taiga dotted with lakes. The most beautiful part of this route is the section that reaches Ballangen, an area in which you will pass through dense pine forests, thundering streams that make their way through sparse forests, and sunset-dappled valleys in which only birdsong echoes.
9. FV55 SOGNESFJELLET
The record road, which winds 108km through grasslands, lakes, fjords and has the record of crossing the highest pass in Northern Europe (1434m) as well as skirting Norway's longest fjord (Sognefjord, 203km). The peaks in this area are among the highest in Scandinavia, and are interspersed with taiga-covered grasslands and lakes dotted with icebergs. The Sognefjellhytte is one of the architecturally prominent viewpoints where you can make a stop. Another little record: the road starts in Lom, a town famous for housing one of Norway's best-known bakeries. After waiting in the very long queue, and raiding the kanelsnurrer and kanelbollar counter, the reason will be clear.
