Svolvær

Svolvær is the main town in Lofoten, on the south-east side of Austvågøya, facing the Vestfjorden. The old centre sits on a low, flat neck of land, and the town has spread out onto the islands around the harbour, joined by bridges. Behind it rises Fløyfjellet, and from most streets you can pick out Svolværgeita on its side, a rock tower that ends in two horns like a goat's head. About 4.850 people live here.

In North Sámi the town is Suolvearra, in Lule Sámi Spålavuolle. The Norwegian name goes back to Old Norse Svǫlver, probably from svalr, cool, and vær, fishing village, though the first part may also be Sámi suolo, islets. The midnight sun lasts from about 26 May to 18 July, and from 7 December to 5 January the sun doesn't come up at all.

Local knowledge: Svolvær was built on cod. From February to April the spawning cod called skrei come into the Vestfjorden right outside town, and for hundreds of years fishermen from much of the Norwegian coast followed them here. In 1896 there were 32.000 of them in Lofoten. They slept in rorbuer, simple cabins by the water, rented from the væreier, the man who owned the fishing village and traded in their fish. Svolvær became a ladested in 1918, and when it got its coat of arms in 1941, it was a silver cod on blue. It is still Lofoten's biggest fishing village and the fishery's administration is here, though most fishermen now sleep on board their boats.

Born here: painter Gunnar Berg (1863–1893) grew up on Svinøya and painted the fishermen at work, and his Trollfjordslaget, about the 1890 fight between fishermen in open boats and steamships in the Trollfjord, hangs in Galleri Gunnar Berg. Singer Kari Bremnes (born 1956) sings mostly in her northern Norwegian dialect, and her biggest radio hit is "Bergmannen".

Visiting: the pin points to the tourist information at Torget 18, on the square by the harbour, open all year. From there it's a short walk over the bridge to Svinøya, with rorbuer, fish racks and a trading wharf from 1828. Svolværgeita was first climbed on 1 August 1910, and the boldest climbers jump the 1,5 metres from one horn to the other. On a rainy day, go to the Lofoten War Memorial Museum in the centre. One of its stories is 4 March 1941, when British and Norwegian commandos blew up the fish oil factories and more than 300 Norwegians left with them for Britain. Afterwards the Germans burned houses in revenge. If the Lofoten International Art Festival (LIAF) is on, ask at the tourist information where the shows are. Further west are Henningsvær and, on Gimsøy, the Pøbel street art.

Fact sheet

• Other official names: Suolvearra (North Sámi), Spålavuolle (Lule Sámi)
• People: 4.853 in Svolvær, 9.905 in Vågan municipality
• County: Nordland
• Town since: 1918 (as a loading place)
• Typical industries: hotels and rorbu rentals, fishing and fish farming, machinery repair and installation
• Midnight sun: 26 May – 18 July
• Polar night: 7 December – 5 January

Population on 1 January 2026, from Statistics Norway. Typical industries are the ones with a much bigger share of the jobs here than in Norway as a whole (Statistics Norway, 2025).