Hello! Today I suddenly got the urge to go to Norway in April. When I’m there, I think it would be interesting to drive up to the Nordkapp. Do any of you know if the road up there is hard and if I should try to pick a bigger car? Or would something similar to a VW up 1.0 be enough? Thanks 🙂

33 comments

  1. Not saying it because I dislike electrical cars – but I would recommend anything that runs on diesel or gasoline when it comes to driving some stretches of road up here.

    Source: I live far north.

  2. You don’t tell us where in Norway you arrive, so I just guess you are just underestimating the size of the country. If going from Oslo I would choose a car with better range or just go with a petrol car.

  3. From where? Oslo? If so, are you aware of how long the drive is? It’s doable and not very difficult, but it takes as long as driving Oslo to Monaco does. And that’s if you take the quicker route through Sweden and Finland, thereby losing out on the majority of the most scenic parts of northern Norway and instead just seeing forests for hours and hours and hours. If you want the scenic route, it’ll take you as long as Oslo to Istanbul. But you might well be thinking about starting from Tromsø or Alta or even closer, in which case it’s obviously a different story.

    The drive itself is fine, though especially some areas of northern Sweden (and to some extent Finland) are depopulated to a larger extent than Norway is. You’ll also encounter plenty of snow and ice, and lots of it if you deviate from main roads, but the drive to Nordkapp is absolutely safe and manageable for a decent driver. I would say being comfortable with winter is more important than having four-wheel drive or anything like that if you’re solely sticking to the main roads towards Nordkapp.

  4. Any regular car with tires intended for winter will be fine. It sort of far though, but I strongly recommend not taking the short-cut through Sweden. The coastal roads are *really* nice, and the inland Swedish ones are *really* not.

  7. Sounds like a cool trip! I have the VW UP. It’s a great car. But not for highways or roads in general where big rigs and trailers drive. The reason being that the car and therefore the wheelbase is very narrow. You will end up wiggling in an out of the troughs in the asphalt, which is very tiring and uncomfortable. Get a larger car!

  8. The car is fine. Remember to fit the car with propper tyres. The fine for driving on snow with summer tyres are insane. Not to mention the risk you put yourself and others to. Be also mindful of the distance you are gonna drive. If you want to do the drive in Norway, for the scenic views, average speeds are slow, around 50km/h on average. The shortest rout trough Norway, from Oslo to Nordkapp is 2000km, meaning a driving time of around 40 hours is realistic. Stops and sleep not included. Probably a bit shorter, but in that area.

  10. Above all, I hope you looked into the distance from Olso to Nordkapp (25 hour drive if you don’t take breaks) and are aware of driving conditions in Norway in April.

  11. It is doable, but if you are renting a car for the purpose of spending several days driving I would recommend going for a car that is a bit bigger.

  13. It’s a fun and exhaustively long drive. I would recommend to take the trip inside Norway at all times, though that can take many additional hours behind the wheel. Any car, even including electric cars can make a trip from our southern most part to our northern most, but electric vehicles need a planned route between charging possibilities. Norwegian infrastructure is generally great in all areas where people live somewhat densely and at least not dangerous in areas where few people live (as long as you don’t plan on making a cool drift around corners with no visibility, that is).

  14. I rented a Toyota RAV 4, got up and down from north cape in about 10 days. Really recommend the trip! I would really recommend the “Helgelandskysten” either up or down, really nice road and most likely good driving conditions.

    If possible I would recommend you getting a car with 4 wheel drive, just for your own safety. As far as I know there will be snow the further north you get, but I can’t say for sure.

  15. An VW UP 1.0 should be OK if you take the scenic coastal route up. Just make sure it has winter tires as the winters up north are long and you may have to drive in snow. Which you should at all costs avoid when you have summer tires. In North-Norway it’s mandatory to have winter tires to the end of april.

    If you go later than april you may encounter RV-tourists and campers. The stereotype is that they drive slow and may unpredictably do emergency stops to take pictures. If you want to drive past them you may need a stronger car. (Please do it in a safe manner, many accidents happend when bypassing them). If you are driving alot of highways you may find it a little scary to drive an UP besides a trailer which may drag you towards them due to the wind.

    As long as you take care and do a little planning you are up for a really nice trip! Just make sure to have a winter prepared car and do some budgeting.

    **Important**: There is a lot of ferries and not to mention toll roads from south to north. Please take a look at this service for ferries so you don’t end up having to pay double the price in just invoice fees: [https://ferrypay.no/About.aspx](https://ferrypay.no/About.aspx). The toll fees is also something you should plan as an expense. I think it may be up to 2000 NOK each way (roughly calculated).

  16. Last piece of road between “Olderfjord” and “HonningsvĂĄg” often is closed due to poor weather.

    If so they usually set up a Convoy every other hour or so, with a snow plower in the front leading everybody over the affected area.

    For planning your route trough Norway, check out this site.
    [https://www.vegvesen.no/trafikk/#/ruteplanlegger/rutebeskrivelse?lat=70.09496&lng=20.98033&zoom=6&layer=fer,tra,ctv,tfl](https://www.vegvesen.no/trafikk/#/ruteplanlegger/rutebeskrivelse?lat=70.09496&lng=20.98033&zoom=6&layer=fer,tra,ctv,tfl)

    Translate it with Google Translate if you use Chrome and set your route from “Tromso” to “Nordkapp”
    This gives you a suggested route and includes notes for closed roads, weather conditions, live camera feed where available (to check weather conditions etc)

    # Take notes of these three mountainpasses:

    -**Kvænangsfjellet**
    -**Sennalandet** *(live camera located here on the map called “Aisaroaivi”)*
    -**Hatter**

    Check these out on the map before you drive over them.
    The map i linked above will tell you if there anything you need to worry about, but they are **sometimes slow to update the weather, so if you wanna to check that out, use:** [**YR.no**](https://YR.no)

    I’ve been driving on these roads my whole life and some things i always pack during summer is:

    Extra clothes meant for staying warm, even without a vehicle.
    winter boots, jacket, pants, gloves, etc.
    something to eat, like snacks, if you get stuck for a few hours.
    Flashlight, blanket, and a solid showel to free the car with.
    If your car has a sqrew in towing hook, check that you got that with you + rope for towing.
    Battery jumper cables. (cold weather during the night drain the battery pretty quick)

    During April 2022 some parts of these mountain passes had tempratures as low as -15C*
    add 25m/s winds on top of that and things get cold pretty quick.

  18. “Interesting” is an – interesting way to describe that plan.

    I’m a native of the far north. Driving long distances on meh roads in crap weather is part of our daily lives.

    You could not pay me enough to drive that stretch in April.

  19. Get a car with high end breaksystems at least, like a volvo. The roads up there isnt like in europe in general, so you wont regret putting some extra money into getting a decent car. Also get a gasdriven car to avoid unecessary hicups with not finding a charging station when u need one and its also a cheaper alternative.

  21. For the love of god dont drive a low car. The roads over here have so many holes and you have to drive here to get to Nordkapp

  22. From tromsø it’s probably gonna take you 10 hours. Did the same thing last june in a seat leon. The only tricky part may be the last ~5-10km up the hills/mountains just before nordkapp, they’re partly very steep up/down. Still shouldn’t be a problem for you after all

  24. I drove there from Lakselv in Finmark. It took about 4 hour or so if I remember correctly. Remember to look out for reindeer around every turn cus they are plenty and everywhere

  25. I’ve lived in northern troms for a couple of years and driven the route between Tromsø and Alta lots of times.
    Now, spring is beautiful in the north. Mostly because the sun is finally out. There is still snow and the sun will reflect off of the snow and the whole place is just suddenly alot brighter than it was during winter. It’s like a breath of fresh air and you feel your energy levels rising.
    It can still snow in April though. By “can” I mean there will be two or three days where it will suddenly snow again. But April is mostly spring time.

    Now.. for a tourist you will likely want to do some hiking. That’s part of the charm of northern Norway. See a mountain top or hill? You can hike up it and have lunch. April is terrible for hiking. Terrible and potentially dangerous. The snow is old, heavy and melting. So that cuts down in the hiking opportunities significantly.

    The best time to visit northern Norway is August, early September.
    Anyway.. the car is totally fine. The roads are narrow but good. Just drive according to the conditions.

  27. Is this sub seriously meant to be a jævla travel agency for foreigners who ask low effort questions they can easily Google?

  28. Tromsø to Nordkapp is double, 9 hours drive if the conditions are ok. Would go with the guys who say bigger car, winter tyres is a must but if you rent a car that will already be in place. Also have some stuff in the car so closed roads / waiting for clearing of roads won’t be an issue (clothes, blanket, food and drinks)

    If you’re planning on a week you could split it with a stop or two on the way. A lot of awesome nature on the way.

    As for the timing, April should give you a decent chance of seeing northern lights.

  30. I did it last year from the UK in July in an old 5 series and had no issues. It’s a long drive but it’s fantastic, roads in Norway, Sweden and Finland, for the most part, are so much better than the UK. An UP should be fine, but even in the height of summer, the recommendations for that region are to be prepared.

    If the weather is good, I see no reason why a much more modern car would struggle with the trip.

  31. I drove there from Lakselv in Finmark. It took about 4 hour or so if I remember correctly. Remember to look out for reindeer around every turn cus they are plenty and everywhere

  32. id be sceptic taking that trip with any electrical vehicle, other than that, check the conditions on the mountain passages, and fit all year or winter tyres in any case

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