Brief introduction to a short but intense three-day stay in Bodø, one of the loveliest places I have ever visited. Norwegian winter beauty at its best.

Please allow me just a few remarks before I go on to recount the mindblowing three days I spent in Bodø just last week. I’ll (try to) be quick.

I booked this trip back in August: flights, hostel and buses from Brno. A bunch of minutes and it was done: one minute I was still fantasising about when I’d go back to Norway and, Ohh when will it be? When??, and the next thing I knew, I was going to be there in a couple of months or so. Let that sink in.

Bodø airport

I picked Bodø with no particular hesitation. The choice of my destination had to necessarily comply with the following:

1. I wanted to head north, possibly above the Arctic Polar Circle, and because I’ve been to Tromsø once already, I thought I’d pick a place I had yet to visit. (Of course I would love to go back to Tromsø: Tromsø and Bergen are top list in my ’to re-do list’ for Norway – of course I have a ’to re-do list’ for Norway.)

2. I had very little time on my hands (in fact, as it turned out, my short break was even shorter than if I’d made it to Bodø in October as initially planned). Bodø allowed me a convenient flight combination from Prague at a reasonable price and for a reasonable amount of hours of journey.

3. Multiple travel guides open their respective Bodø chapters saying that Bodø usually serves as a transit point for travellers and tourists heading to Lofoten. Really, there’s nothing that could keep people around for a little longer than the departure time of their Hurtigruten or flight to Svolvær and surroundings? I was very curious to see it for myself.

Bodø, view from the harbour

After three days in and around Bodø I am able to say that, if there’s something that has managed to beat Norway in the summer, with the lush green of its nature and its round-the-clock daylight, well it’s Norway in winter. I do like winter and cold temperatures, but really, I didn’t expect it to be so, so utterly beautiful and breathtaking beyond words.

Also, I didn’t expect Bodø itselt to be quite so, so pretty and lively and lovely. I was confident it would, of course, yet I did my best to retain a neutral attitude till the very end. At which point I could easily and adamantly say: what a surprise, Bodø, you blew my mind.