Norway's Easternmost City: Vardø Self-Guided Walking Tour
Welcome to our Vardø self-guided walking tour! Located in the far north-eastern part of Norway, Vardø is a fascinating but harsh little city. Situated on an island just off the mainland, the city is often exposed to bad weather coming in from the Barents Sea. Still, there’s something charming about this community.
Vardø is also a historic city. There has been a settlement here for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, and the Vardøhus Fortress has a history going back to the 13th century. Vardø emerged as an important fishing harbour and trading site with the Pomors from Russia.
This walk is designed to give you the highlights of Vardø. The vast majority of readers will likely be arriving with the coastal ferry, so time is very limited and you probably only have time to visit the fortress. For everyone, this guide is worth following. Vardø is a small city, but there’s little information around the buildings.
For a historic overview of Vardø, visit our dedicated travel guide page.
Enjoy this Vardø self-guided walking tour!
In this article...
Downloadable Version of This Guide
We offer downloadable versions of our self-guided walks on our online store.
Coming soon
Online Guide
- Information about points of interest
- Images of each point of interest
- Historic overview of the neighbourhood
- Directions between points
- Historic photos
Downloadable Guide
- Information about points of interest
- Images of each point of interest
- Historic overview of the city
- Directions between points
- Historic photos
Vardø Self-Guided Walking Tour
This walk begins outside Vardø Hotel.
Nordpol Kro
Nordpol Kro is a fitting place to start. It is Northern Norway’s oldest inn – dating back to the mid-19th century. At the turn of the 20th century, it was the only decent accommodation available in Eastern Finnmark. The building is built of Russian timber from Archangelsk, which was the hub of the Pomor Trade that Vardø also participated in.
The Brodtkorb family were the original innkeepers of Vardø.
The inn has an interesting link to Fritjof Nansen – it was the last place he stayed before he set off on the Fram 2 expedition towards the North Pole in 1889.
Hurtigruten Pier
Vardø is a port of call for Norway’s coastal ferry. The northbound ferry docks at around 3am, while the southbound ferry comes in around 4pm.
On the pier you’ll find signs advertising excursions out to the bird cliffs. This part of Finnmark is famous for its bird watching, but in order to see some of the more unique species, you need to take an excursion out to the bird cliffs.
Around the pier area is a lot of street art. Street art has become relatively famous in Vardø thanks to a number of highly regarded artworks.
A lot of the artworks are from 2012, when the street artist Pøbel from Stavanger was allowed to invite 11 artists from around the world to participate in a festival where they would have free reign to paint on the abandoned buildings of Vardø. This project was done in collaboration with the North Norwegian Art Centre. The festival was known as “Komafest” as it was an attempt to breathe life back into the city. Several other street artists were invited to paint on the buildings too. On the Codfather photo above, you can see the name of the festival.
The text “Laks er viktig for Norge” means “Salmon is important for Norway”.
Vardøhus Fortress
The first fortification in Vardø was built in the first half of the 14th century. Northern Norway was then in conflict with the Russian Republic of Novgorod. The facility was a square walled castle and inside the fortified area were a number of buildings. The original fortress was located on the other side of the city, however.
In 1599, King Christian IV made a voyage to Finnmark. After a peace treaty between Russia and Sweden four years earlier, the Swedes had been given the right to demand taxes from the Sami, and soon they claimed the area of Finnmark was theirs. King Christian IV visited Vardø to asset Danish-Norwegian sovereignty over the region. When he visited the fortress, he described it as “the wretched fort and wooden church that our barber thought was a reindeer”. The fortress was subsequently rebuilt.
The current fort was completed in 1738. Within the fortress walls there are a number of buildings from before 1825. Today it is under the command of the Norwegian Armed Forces and is open during the day. It is possible to enter for a small fee.
During World War II, the fortress was in battle and saved the coastal radio station from being bombed. This was the last place in Norway to surrender to the Nazis before five years of occupation. The Nazis were chased out of Vardø in October 1944 when the area was liberated by the Soviets.
Vardøhus Fortress is regarded as the northernmost fortress in the world.
Vardø Chapel
Vardø Chapel is one of the few buildings to survive the destruction during World War II. I tis from 1908 and there is very little information about its early use. It was restored in the 1990s and is incredibly popular with weddings and baptisms.
Steilneset Memorial
The monument here is to reflect on the tragic burning of women accused of witchcraft in Vardø. Nearly 90 victims were burned here. Vardø was one of the worst areas in Europe when it comes to the witch hunts, and this is partly to do with the Sami population but also Vardø’s location at what feels like the end of the world.
The monument is a 100m long hall designed by the French-American artist Louise Bourgeoise and the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. It is open 24/7 and free to enter.
When you enter, you will see banners on each side with the name of one of the victims. The text (in Norwegian) describes what they were accused of. By the door is a small booklet with English translations.
Tunnel to the Mainland & Butterfly Shape
After leaving Steilneset, make your way down to the tunnel that connects the island to the mainland. The tunnel is a subsea tunnel and is 2,892 metres long and the deepest point is 88 metres below sea level. The tunnel opened in 1983.
You will notice that Vardø is shaped like a butterfly – two islands connected by a small piece of land. You are now going to cross that piece of land onto the other island. There is a modern building on this piece of land – it is the culture house.
Vardø Church
Vardø Church was completed in 1958. It is the fourth church to stand in Vardø, though not necessarily in the same spot. The first church was built in 1307 and is believed to be the first church to be built in Finnmark. It was built at the same time as the fortress and stood somewhere near the current church site. It was demolished in 1711 and a new church opened three years later. However, the materials from the church were used to build houses and a new church had to be completed in 1869. This was the one destroyed by Nazis during the scorched earth policy.
Pomor Buildings & Museum
The yellow and red wooden buildings make up part of the Pomor Museum. The Pomor Trade was an important period of trade between Northern Norway and the north-western part of Russia that lasted throughout the 19th century until the Russian revolution. These are original trading houses that were able to survive the destruction of World War II. The museum is fantastic and worth visiting.
You can find information about the museum here: https://www.varangermuseum.no/en/
Back at Vardø Hotel
The Pomor Museum is located close to the Vardø Hotel, where this walk began. I hope you enjoyed this walk around Vardø.
