Vardø

Vardø sits on its own small island, Vardøya, in the Barents Sea just off the Varanger Peninsula. You drive in through the Vardø Tunnel under Bussesundet, Norway's first undersea tunnel when it opened in 1983, and come up in a town of wooden houses, fish quays and steady wind. White radar domes stand on the hill Vårberget, and the tall, narrow tower of Vardø church rises above the roofs. There are hardly any trees, apart from one rowan that gets wrapped up against the cold every winter.

This is Norway's easternmost town, further east than St Petersburg and Kyiv, with about 1.764 people. Boats land mostly cod and crab, which are processed here. Many jobs are with the state: the Coastal Administration's unit that watches ship traffic, the office for compensation to victims of violence, and the Intelligence Service's radar. The sun doesn't set from about 16 May to 28 July, and it stays below the horizon from 24 November to 18 January.

Local knowledge: in the 1300s the name was written Vargøy, from Old Norse varg, wolf or outlaw, and later turned into Vardøy, after varde, a cairn. In Kven the town is Vuorea. Vardø got its town charter in 1789, the same day as Hammerfest, when trade in Finnmark was set free. That opened the door for the Pomors, Russian traders from the White Sea who sailed over every year with rye flour to swap for fish. In the 1800s more than 300 Pomor boats a year came to Northern Norway, the mixed trading language Russenorsk grew up on the coast, and Vardø became the Pomor capital. It all ended with the Russian revolution in 1917.

Born here: John Norum (born 1964), guitarist and one of the founders of the Swedish rock band Europe, moved to Sweden as a baby. Footballer Stefan Johansen (born 1991) grew up here and captained Norway's national team from 2017 to 2021.

Visiting: the pin is on Strandgata by the inner harbour. Walk from here to the star-shaped Vardøhus Fortress, built 1734–1738, and to the Steilneset Memorial for the 91 people executed in Finnmark's witch trials. Around town you pass the murals of Pøbel Street Art – Komafest Vardø, painted on worn-out houses in 2012, and the easy Tusenårsstien walk. On a rainy day, go to the Pomor Museum in Brodtkorbsjåene at Kaigata 2, old warehouses on the harbour that are among the oldest wooden buildings left in Finnmark. Boats run out to the bird cliff on Hornøya, and the road north along the coast ends in the old fishing village Hamningberg.

Fact sheet

• Other official names: Vuorea (Kven)
• People: 1.764 in Vardø, 1.969 in Vardø municipality
• County: Finnmark
• Town since: 1789 (as a trading town)
• Typical industries: state offices and defence, harbour and shipping services, fish processing
• Midnight sun: 16 May – 28 July
• Polar night: 24 November – 18 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).