Northernmost point of Europe

Kai Bonsaksen | Live the World

November 23, 2022

The northernmost point of Europe will get you a lot of different answers. The most northern point in Europe if you don't count islands is somewhere in Russia. With the northernmost point of Norway, you'll hear repeatedly Nordkapp *(English: North Cape, Northern Sami: Davvenjárga).* Probably because of its name which indicates something northern.

The actual northernmost point

The northernmost point of Norway is technically a little island dot on Svalbard where few people have been. We'll be focusing on the mainland and there's the Nordkapp area that gets the medal. This is technically an island that is connected to the rest of the land with a bridge and therefore still counts as the Norwegian mainland because of the bridge! This is in the Finnmark county. Knivskjellodden is the northernmost point on Nordkapp and on the map, it looks like a finger that tries to stretch the farthest to win the title. And it succeeded. Because of the importance of being right, you'll have to go to that dot in Svalbard to succeed. Since it is also important to have fun you'll have to go to Nordkapp (71°17), because it gives you a dramatic cliff with good vibes and civilization and some nature, as well as a spiritual connection according to the shamans of the Sami people.

In this area of Norway you can discover ''The Sami people of Norway'', ''The National park Stabbursdalen'', and ''The 5 sense of Tromsø''. The southmost point of Denmark is ''Grenen beach''.

Painting ©: Peder Balke in the 1800s

Museum

On the northernmost island, there is a town called Honningsvåg. In this town, there's a museum dedicated to Nordkapp that takes you through the fishing culture history of Finnmark and shows you the local history of the municipality of Nordkapp. You'll find a lot of interactive devices that makes it so much more interesting.

An iconic road trip route

The closest airport is right above Honningsvåg. The European road starts where Nordkapp is and is a common route for road trips where you can go from the northernmost expanse North Cape to the southernmost expanse of Lindesnes. For the southern point of Norway, there are also some marketing troubles that hides the accuracy of the truth. The trip takes 29 hours by car (2442 km). The time frame is almost the same as the American version that stretches from Madawaska to Key Largo and takes 31 hours (3188 km).

Tourists

Unlike the south of Europe, you'll have some breathing room at these monuments since it's not overcrowded with people. You'll get to stay here calmly without being asked to move a little so that someone can take a photo. If you like to be in these crowds you can have a look at Fontana di Trevi in Italy.

Photo ©: Meiert

''North-Norwegian Italian pizza''

While we are talking about Italy, I want to present you a special food phenomenon from the North of Norway. The inhabitants of the North of Norway are trying to create Italian pizza. It's not like Italian pizza, it's exactly the category of ''North Norwegian replica of Italian pizza'' which is a brand of its own (or will be a brand). The commercialization is focused on the Italian style while the flavour is a North Norwegian replica and in my opinion way better than what I could find in Italy. Maybe I'm bad at searching, maybe I have a weird sense of taste, or maybe I'm enlightened. You would not know these things because the whole point of each of these restaurants is to make Italian pizza and to advertise as such.

One bike challenge called NorthCape4000 challenges you to bike from Lake Garda in Italy to Nordkapp. You'll have to ride about 300 km a day for this challenge.

The Country of North of Norway

The good part about being in this part of Norway is the Reindeer culture and the vastly different ways of behaving from the south. It's almost like this could be its own country up here. I would suggest the borders start right after Trønderlag and have a country called the North of Norway.

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