Kabelvåg is the oldest fishing village in Lofoten and was previously also the largest. It was here that the commerical part of the Lofoten fishing started over 1000 years ago. Kabelvåg was founded as “Vågan” in the early 12th century by King Øystein Magnusson, who built a church and hotel for fishermen there. According to the Norse sagas, there was something resembling a town there several centuries earlier. The oldest traces of settlement are from the Late Stone Age, and there are sparse traces of settlement from the Iron Age. Vågan, the original settlement, was to the east of the current town and existed between 1000 and 1400.

Later a new centre emerged in Kabelvåg, and by the end of the 19th century, Kabelvåg had become an urban settlement and the place was without a doubt the ‘capital of Lofoten’ with all the public institutions located here.

When the fishing fleet became motorised, Kabelvåg’s port was not suitable. Svolvær took over all boat traffic and thus the economic and population growth.

Henningsvær has been a thriving fishing village ever since the 1500s with its heydays in the 1940s when over 12,000 men stayed here during the cod fishing season. The town was populated properly during the 18th century, though Norway’s oldest ski has been found in a marsh near Henningsvær and is believed to be 2,000 years old. The highest permanent population was in the 1950s when it reached 1,000 people.

During World War II Allied forces attacked Lofoten by blowing up the cod liver oil plants. Many Norwegian fishermen from Lofoten followed the Allies back to England.

Reine has been an important fishing village since at least 1743, though it’s believed people have lived there for a long time. 

Å i Lofoten was first mentioned in historic documents in 1567. For a period in the 19th century, Å was one of the largest fishing villages in Lofoten. There used to be two ruling families here: the Ellingsen family and the Nilsen/Hennum family. Normally in fishing villages there was one ruling family, so this is quite unique! Because of this, the village had two docks, two fish oil factories, two clusters of cabins, and so on. Of course, there were also two big manor houses – they stand side by side! The sixth generation of the Ellingsen family still lives in Å. Both of the manor houses are privately owned and not open to the public.

Å was a thriving fishing village until the 1960s. Today, most of the fishing industry has moved to other areas of Lofoten. Still, there is some fishing here.

Unique buildings in Å have been preserved, including a cod steamer from 1850, a bakery from 1844, several fisherman’s cabins, an old trading environment and more. Several of the houses are listed.