15 Days · Stockholm · Helsinki · Lapland · Kirkenes · Bergen
Three Nordic countries under a sun that will not set
This is one of the most varied journeys in Hurtigruten's programme. It starts with two Baltic capitals, Stockholm and Helsinki, linked by an overnight ferry through the Åland Islands. It then heads north by train and coach deep into Finnish Lapland, where you spend two nights in a Midnight Sun cabin at Saariselkä, walk with huskies and learn about Sámi culture at Inari. You cross into Norway at Kirkenes, board the Coastal Express and sail five nights south along the entire Arctic and western coast to Bergen, where the trip ends with two nights in the city.
It runs only in early summer, timed so that the Arctic part of the journey falls in the season of the midnight sun. For the first week a Tour Manager travels with the group, handling the logistics through Sweden and Finland. Once you are on the ship you travel more freely, and in Bergen there is a private guided city tour and a farewell dinner to round things off.
- Duration15 days
- RouteStockholm, Kirkenes, Bergen
- CountriesSweden, Finland, Norway
- StyleEscorted cruise and tour
- SeasonJune to July 2027
- From£3,996 pp
£3,996per person, from
5 departures in 2027 · Nine nights on land and five on board
Who It Suits
A journey for people who like to keep moving
If you enjoy variety, this is a wonderful trip. In two weeks you sleep on a Baltic ferry, in city hotels, in a cabin in the Lapland forest and on a coastal ship, and you travel by sea, rail, coach and on foot. The first week is busy and the group stays together. The second is slower, as the ship carries you down the Norwegian coast and you choose how much to do ashore.
It suits travellers who like the security of a Tour Manager for the more complicated part of the journey, but who also value some time to themselves. It is a good choice for anyone who has already seen the Norwegian fjords and wants to understand the wider Nordic region, and for photographers, because the light in the far north in June and July is extraordinary, soft and golden for hours at a time.
The Midnight Sun
When and where the sun stays up
North of the Arctic Circle, at about 66 degrees 33 minutes north, there is at least one day each summer when the sun does not set. The further north you go, the longer that period lasts. It happens because the earth's axis is tilted, so around the June solstice the polar regions lean towards the sun and stay in daylight right round the clock.
Hurtigruten publishes the dates when the midnight sun can be seen from towns along the coast. At the North Cape it runs from 13 May to 31 July, at Hammerfest and Vardø from 16 May to 28 July, at Tromsø from 20 May to 25 July, at Harstad from 24 May to 20 July, at Svolvær from 28 May to 17 July and at Bodø from 3 June to 11 July. On the June departures of this tour the whole Arctic section of the voyage falls inside that window. On the July departures the sun begins to dip briefly below the horizon at the southern end of the Arctic coast before you leave it, though the nights there are still light. In Finnish Lapland, well north of the Arctic Circle, the sun also stays up through the night in June and much of July.
Watch
Summer in Norway
A Hurtigruten film of the Norwegian coast in summer, when the Midnight Sun keeps the far north light around the clock.
Video from Hurtigruten's official YouTube channel.
Your Tour
Follow the Midnight Sun day by day
Days 1 to 8 are escorted by a Tour Manager. Optional shore excursions on the voyage are listed under each day and paid for separately; all of those shown run during this tour's June and July season.
Day 1 · Arrive in Stockholm, Sweden
Hotel night in Stockholm · Welcome dinner
Fly into Stockholm Arlanda and make your own way to the hotel, where you meet your Tour Manager and the rest of the group over a welcome dinner. Stockholm is built across fourteen islands where Lake Mälaren meets the Baltic, and water is never far away. If you arrive early, the old town of Gamla Stan is the obvious place to start, a tangle of narrow lanes around the Royal Palace, the cathedral and the Nobel Prize Museum.
Day 2 · Stockholm to Helsinki by sea
Private city tour · Overnight ferry with buffet dinner, in a cabin
The morning brings a private four hour city tour, including Stockholm City Hall. Designed by Ragnar Östberg and inaugurated in 1923, it is where the Nobel banquet is held each December in the Blue Hall, while the Golden Hall upstairs is covered in more than 18 million mosaic tiles showing scenes from Swedish history. Its tower rises 106 metres above the waterfront.
In the evening a coach takes you to the port for the Tallink ferry to Helsinki. The crossing runs through the archipelago and by way of the Åland Islands, an autonomous, Swedish speaking region of Finland made up of thousands of islands. Dinner is a buffet on board, and you sleep in a cabin as the ship crosses the Baltic.
Day 3 · Helsinki, Finland
Buffet breakfast on board · Guided city tour · Hotel night in Helsinki
After breakfast on the ferry you arrive in Helsinki for a three hour tour with a local guide. Two highlights are included. Temppeliaukio Church, the Rock Church, was designed by the brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen and completed in 1969; the main hall was excavated straight into the bedrock and is roofed by a great copper lined dome, and the rough rock walls give it acoustics that make it a popular concert venue. The Sibelius Monument, by the sculptor Eila Hiltunen, was unveiled in 1967 in honour of Finland's greatest composer and is made of hundreds of steel pipes welded together into a shape like a wave of organ pipes.
The afternoon is free. Walk to Senate Square and the white Helsinki Cathedral, or across to the red brick Uspenski Cathedral above the harbour, and finish at the Market Square on the waterfront.
Day 4 · By train to Rovaniemi
Rail · Helsinki to Rovaniemi · Private coach to your hotel · Hotel night in Rovaniemi
Today you travel the length of Finland by train, through a landscape of lakes, birch and pine forest that grows wilder with every hour. A private coach meets you in Rovaniemi, the capital of Finnish Lapland. The town was almost entirely destroyed in 1944 at the end of the Second World War and was rebuilt to a plan by the architect Alvar Aalto, whose main roads famously spread out in the shape of a reindeer's antlers.
Day 5 · Santa Claus Village and Saariselkä
Santa Claus Village · Sodankylä Old Church · First of two nights in a Midnight Sun cabin
The morning tour visits Santa Claus Village just outside Rovaniemi, which sits right on the line of the Arctic Circle, so you can step across it on foot. Heading north, the coach stops at the Old Church in Sodankylä, completed in 1689 and one of the oldest wooden churches in Finland, for a brief look at its facade. You arrive in the evening at Saariselkä, a small resort in the fells of northern Lapland, and settle into your Midnight Sun cabin for two nights.
Day 6 · Hiking with huskies
Free morning · Husky hike · Midnight Sun photography expedition to Lake Inari
The morning is yours to walk in the forest or simply enjoy the quiet. Later comes the included husky hike, weather permitting. Instead of a sled, you walk with a husky on a lead, which is a lovely way to meet these energetic dogs in summer; there is a moderate climb involved. In the evening the group heads to the great lake of Inari for a photography outing under the midnight sun, when the light lies low across the water for hours.
Day 7 · Sámi culture at Inari and into Norway
Coach · Saariselkä to Inari to Kirkenes · SIIDA museum · Hotel night in Kirkenes
The coach drives through Finnish Lapland to Inari, the centre of Sámi culture in Finland and home to the Finnish Sámi Parliament. Here you visit SIIDA, the Sámi museum and nature centre, which explains the life, crafts and beliefs of the Sámi people and the nature of the far north that they have lived alongside for thousands of years. In the afternoon you cross the border into Norway and reach Kirkenes, on the shores of the Barents Sea, for a night in a hotel. See our Kirkenes hotels page.
Day 8
Kirkenes, Snowhotel and the start of the voyage
Snowhotel Kirkenes 365 · Board the Coastal Express · Ports today · Kirkenes, Vardø, Båtsfjord, Berlevåg
Before you sail there is a visit to Snowhotel Kirkenes 365, where rooms carved from snow and ice can be seen even in high summer. Then it is on to the pier to board your ship. This is where the Tour Manager says goodbye, as the group joins the Coastal Express for the voyage south.
The afternoon and evening take you west along the Varanger coast, the most easterly part of Norway, low and treeless and facing straight out to the Barents Sea. The ship calls at Vardø, with its old fortress, and then at the fishing harbours of Båtsfjord and Berlevåg, all in full daylight at this time of year.
Day 9
Honningsvåg, Hammerfest and Tromsø
Ports today · Mehamn, Kjøllefjord, Honningsvåg, Havøysund, Hammerfest, Øksfjord, Skjervøy, Tromsø
The ship calls at Mehamn and Kjøllefjord through the bright Arctic night and arrives early at Honningsvåg, the town on Magerøya that serves the North Cape. Out on the cliff top, about 300 metres above the sea, a summer breakfast is one of the best excursions of the voyage.
Next comes Hammerfest, which has long promoted itself as the northernmost town in the world. Its Meridian Column belongs to the Struve Geodetic Arc, the nineteenth century line of survey points from northern Norway to the Black Sea that measured the size and shape of the earth, and it is now on UNESCO's World Heritage list. The ship continues through the islands to Tromsø, docking just before midnight, in time for a late concert ashore if you would like one.
Optional excursions
- Breakfast at the North Cape (Honningsvåg, 6 hours) Breakfast at the North Cape plateau, with the globe monument and the view to the Barents Sea.
- The Northernmost Town in the World (Hammerfest, 1 hour 45 minutes) A guided introduction to Hammerfest.
- Mountain Hike in Hammerfest (1 hour 30 minutes) A short walk up above the town.
- Midnight Concert in the Wooden Cathedral (Tromsø, 1 hour 15 minutes) Music in Tromsø's wooden cathedral in the city centre around midnight.
Day 10
Vesterålen, the Raftsundet and Lofoten
Ports today · Finnsnes, Harstad, Risøyhamn, Sortland, Stokmarknes, Svolvær, Stamsund
This is the day the islands take over. Morning calls at Finnsnes and Harstad are followed by the shallow Risøyrenna channel, dredged so that ships could pass between the islands of Vesterålen, and then Stokmarknes, where the Hurtigruten story began in 1893. In the afternoon the ship enters the Raftsundet between Vesterålen and Lofoten and, conditions permitting, edges into the Trollfjord, a dead end slot of water with cliffs so close you feel you could touch them.
Svolvær, Lofoten's main town, is the evening call. The islands' peaks rise straight out of the sea here, and the cod drying racks and red fishermen's cabins, the rorbuer, are everywhere. With the sun still high at night, an evening excursion here feels like an afternoon.
Optional excursions
- A Taste of Vesterålen (Harstad, 4 hours 15 minutes) Overland through Vesterålen with local food tastings.
- Sea Eagle Safari (Stokmarknes, 2 hours) A safari to look for white tailed eagles, the largest birds of prey in northern Europe.
- Lofoten Islands (Svolvær, 3 hours 30 minutes) A guided tour of the Lofoten landscape.
- RIB Adventure in Lofoten (Svolvær, 1 hour 30 minutes) A fast boat trip around the islands.
- Lofotpils Brewery (Svolvær, 40 minutes) A visit to the local brewery.
Day 11
Leaving the Arctic: Helgeland and Brønnøysund
Ports today · Bodø, Ørnes, Nesna, Sandnessjøen, Brønnøysund, Rørvik
After an early call at Bodø the ship heads south and crosses the Arctic Circle, marked by the globe monument on the islet of Vikingen, and there is a crossing ceremony on deck to mark your return to lower latitudes. The rest of the day is spent along the Helgeland coast, passing the seven peaks of the Seven Sisters and the mountain of Torghatten, pierced right through by a natural tunnel, before reaching Brønnøysund in the afternoon.
Offshore lie the Vega islands, a World Heritage Site since 2004 for the way their people combined fishing and farming with the careful harvesting of eider down, building little nesting houses for the wild ducks.
Optional excursions
- UNESCO Vega Archipelago (Sandnessjøen, 5 hours) To the World Heritage islands and their eider duck tradition.
- Hike to Torghatten Mountain (Brønnøysund, 2 hours) Up to the hole through the mountain for the view.
- Visit the Salmon (Brønnøysund, 2 hours 30 minutes) An introduction to Norwegian salmon farming.
Day 12 · Trondheim, Kristiansund and Molde
Ports today · Trondheim, Kristiansund, Molde
Free time in Trondheim gives you the chance to visit Nidaros Cathedral, Norway's national shrine, built from around 1070 over the burial place of St Olav and still the setting for the consecration of the country's kings. The city's old wharves and the wooden houses of Bakklandet are within an easy walk. In the afternoon the ship sails on to Kristiansund, a town spread over several islands, and then to Molde.
Optional excursions
- The Atlantic Road (Kristiansund, 4 hours 30 minutes) By coach along the 8.3 kilometre road that hops across the islets of the open coast on eight bridges.
Day 13
Into Bergen
Ports today · Ålesund, Torvik, Måløy, Flørø, Bergen · Private city tour · Hotel night in Bergen
The last morning on board takes you past Ålesund and Flørø and across the mouth of the Nordfjord, and the ship arrives in Bergen in the afternoon. After you disembark there is a private guided tour of the city, taking in Bryggen, the Hanseatic wharf on the UNESCO list since 1979, St Mary's Church, the oldest building in Bergen, and Håkon's Hall, the great stone hall built for King Håkon Håkonsson in the thirteenth century. Then check in to your hotel for two nights.
Day 14 · Bergen, the city of seven mountains
Free day · Farewell dinner at a local restaurant
A free day to explore. Ride the Fløibanen funicular up Mount Fløyen, which takes only a few minutes, and walk back down through the woods, or spend the morning in the KODE art museums around the lake in the city centre, where there are important works by Edvard Munch. In the evening the group gathers for a farewell dinner at a local restaurant, perhaps Bryggeloftet & Stuene, a long established restaurant on the Bryggen waterfront.
Day 15 · Farewell to Bergen
Breakfast at the hotel · Tour ends
After breakfast the tour ends and you make your own way home. If you would like to stay longer, we can add nights in Bergen; our Bergen hotels page has the options.
Departures & Fares
Follow the Midnight Sun departures 2027
There are 5 departures, all in June and July 2027. Each tour lasts fifteen days from the date shown. The cabin categories refer to your cabin on the ship for the five nights from Kirkenes to Bergen. The price covers the whole package as described on this page, including hotels, the ferry, the rail journey, the guided tours and the voyage, per person sharing, without flights.
| Departure date | Ship | Polar Inside | Polar Outside | Arctic Superior | Expedition Suites |
|---|
| 3 June 2027 | MS Richard With | from £4,110 | from £4,296 | from £4,680 | from £5,897 |
| 9 June 2027 | MS Nordlys | from £4,092 | from £4,351 | from £4,746 | from £6,000 |
| 23 June 2027 | MS Polarlys | from £4,092 | from £4,256 | from £4,746 | from £6,000 |
| 6 July 2027 | MS Richard With | from £4,044 | from £4,203 | from £4,680 | from £5,897 |
| 12 July 2027 | MS Nordlys | from £3,996 | from £4,248 | from £4,632 | from £5,849 |
Fares are per person in pounds, based on two people sharing, and were checked on 20 October 2026. They are subject to availability and may change at any time before booking. Single supplements on request. Call 0333 405 0194 for current prices.
Your Package
What is included
| What's included |
|---|
| On land |
| Nine nights on land 4 star hotels, a one night ferry cabin from Stockholm to Helsinki, and two nights in a Midnight Sun cabin at Saariselkä | Included |
| Tour Manager Escorting the group from day 1 until embarkation on day 8 | Included |
| Guided city tours Stockholm, including exclusive access to City Hall; Helsinki, including the Rock Church; and Bergen, including Bryggen | Included |
| Rail journey Helsinki to Rovaniemi | Included |
| Husky hike A scenic walk with huskies at Saariselkä, weather permitting | Included |
| Itinerary visits Santa Claus Village, Sodankylä Old Church, the Lake Inari photography outing, SIIDA in Inari and Snowhotel Kirkenes 365, as described day by day | Included |
| Meals on land as shown Breakfast daily, plus two lunches and five dinners, including the welcome dinner in Stockholm, the buffet dinner on the ferry and the farewell dinner in Bergen | Included |
| On board the Coastal Express |
| Five nights, Kirkenes to Bergen On the same ship throughout | Included |
| Full board Breakfast, lunch and dinner in Torget, the main restaurant | Included |
| Tea and coffee Selected teas and filter coffee available all day | Included |
Not included: flights and airport transfers, optional shore excursions, drinks unless stated, and meals not listed in the itinerary. You can arrange travel insurance online here.
Flights
Flights from London Gatwick or Manchester
The tour begins in Stockholm and ends in Bergen, so you need a flight into Sweden and a flight home from Norway. Hurtigruten does not include flights or airport transfers for this tour, but we can quote flights from London Gatwick or Manchester, out to Stockholm Arlanda and back from Bergen, to go with your booking.
| Package | Starts / Ends | Included in price | Price |
|---|
Follow the Midnight Sun
with flights | Stockholm / Bergen | The tour as described, plus a flight from London Gatwick or Manchester to Stockholm and a flight from Bergen back to the UK | Call |
Package prices are per person based on two people sharing. Call 0333 405 0194 for a quote on your chosen departure.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Is this a guided tour?
Partly. A Tour Manager escorts the group from your welcome dinner in Stockholm on day 1 until you board the ship in Kirkenes on day 8. The voyage is then unescorted, and in Bergen there is a private guided city tour and a group farewell dinner.
Will I really see the midnight sun?
On clear days, yes. In Finnish Lapland and along the Arctic coast of Norway the sun stays above the horizon all night in June. On the July departures it begins to set briefly at the southern end of the Arctic coast, but the nights remain light. Cloud can of course hide it.
Which countries does the tour visit?
Sweden, Finland and Norway. You begin in Stockholm, cross the Baltic to Helsinki, travel north through Finland to Lapland, then cross into Norway at Kirkenes for the voyage to Bergen.
How many nights are on the ship?
Five, sailing south on the Coastal Express from Kirkenes on day 8 to Bergen on day 13. The other nine nights are in hotels, a ferry cabin and a Midnight Sun cabin.
Which ship will I sail on?
It depends on the departure. For 2027 the ships shown are MS Richard With, MS Nordlys and MS Polarlys, as listed in the fares table. You stay on the same ship for the whole voyage.
Are flights included?
Not in the tour price. You make your own way to your Stockholm hotel on day 1 and home from Bergen on day 15. We can quote flights from London Gatwick or Manchester.
How fit do I need to be?
You should be comfortable with a busy first week, regular walking on city tours and a husky hike that includes a moderate climb. Hurtigruten does not recommend this tour for wheelchair users or guests with limited mobility, so ask us if you have any concerns.
What should I pack for June and July?
Layers. Lapland and the Arctic coast can be warm in sunshine but cool and windy on deck, so bring a waterproof jacket, a fleece and comfortable walking shoes. An eye mask helps with sleeping in constant daylight, and insect repellent is useful in the Lapland forest.
Can I add extra nights?
Yes. Extra nights in Stockholm before the tour or in Bergen afterwards are easy to add, and we will price them with your booking.
