A Day Trip to the Village of Flakstadvåg (on Senja)

I recently worked on a volunteer project on Senja in a place called Ånderdalen National Park. Most of my time spent there was inside a small portion of the park, or an area right outside of its borders.

And to celebrate the end of the project (which was a collaborative one between Ånderdalen and Rissa Citizen Science), all participants were invited on a boat trip to one of the fjords on Senja, as well as a little time in Flakstadvåg village.

In this guide, I will chat about my time in Flakstadvåg and a fjord tour I did on Senja. I also want to share some of my photos from both.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Visiting Flakstadvåg

My partner, Ed, and I opted to drive to Flakstadvåg from Tranøybotn, where we were staying for a lot of the project. Flakstadvåg is where our boat trip would launch from and all I knew was that it was a small fishing village at the end of the road in the south of Senja.

The road to get to Flakstadvåg was impressive and made me keen to make some stops on the way back (thank goodness we had our own car!). We continued to head into the village and were greeted by sheep. A lot of them.

We had a rather large group, so we broke into two and the first group would head out on a fjord tour first, and we would be picked up to join them 30 minutes later. The trip was arranged by the national park manager, Ingve, and a local who owned a sheep boat. Believe it or not, this was my first time riding in a fjord on a sheep boat… shocking, I know.

While we waited on the boat to come back to get us, we got to check out Flakstadvåg. The only thing happening there was a local shop called the Idar Olsen Landhandel. They had ice cream, snacks, and it is a family-owned business. Turns out, the owners were the same family that owned the sheep boat that was taking us out to the fjord!

Here are a few more photos from Flakstadvåg:

Taking a Fjord Tour

After hopping on the boat, we made our way deep into a local fjord. It’s quite a narrow one, with parts of it having vibrant teal water. There is a small islet (or maybe it’s a peninsula) where sheep were roaming that is home to some seabirds.

It used to have a lot of kittiwakes, but since kittiwakes are endangered in Norway, they are no longer found there.

We learned that the first boat saw a gray seal on their trip in… but we weren’t as lucky.

Once we arrived at the end of the fjord, we had a fire with some coffee and sat on the rocky and kelp-ridden shore chatting for a few hours, learning a lot from Ånderdalen’s park manager, Ingve, and a local biologist, Roar.

Rain came and went, almost as fleeting as the harbor seal that paid us a visit for a mere 30 seconds. Hey, at least I saw a seal on my day out at sea!

The trip was the perfect way to wrap up a productive and enjoyable week. We were eventually picked up by the boat captain and his co-captain, a border collie called Sir Wilson. Halfway through our journey back, Sir Wilson fell off the boat into the fjord, something we learned was not a one-time occurrence.

The ‘Sir’ was quickly dropped from his name as he was being forced to swim back to the boat. From the looks of the water he ‘fell’ into, I think he probably jumped on purpose. I mean… LOOK AT THAT WATER.

Here are a couple more photos from the fjord trip:

I am writing this post as a way to document my own experience there and share some photos with readers. Unfortunately, this particular trip was something we did as part of our project and not a commercial trip that is offered to travelers. But Senja has plenty of beautiful fjords to stop by on a road trip!

You can stop by Flakstadvåg and hang out there for a bit, even if there is not much to do. There is a small harbor, the shop I mentioned, and a gorgeous drive down to it.

The drive there crosses Kaperskaret, goes through a small tunnel, alongside a waterfall, and through a valley that will make your jaw drop. I didn’t grab photos on the way back of the valley views because the lighting was terrible, but here are some of Kaperskaret and the waterfall.

That takes you down to Sifjord before you take a left to carry on to Flakstadvåg. There is another tunnel you must drive through (around 2km) that is one lane, so be sure you’re comfortable with that. There are sections where you can pull over inside, so it is not that daunting!

It goes without saying, but I would not tackle this drive in winter unless you know what you’re doing and are familiar with Senja’s road conditions.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out. Thanks!

*This site uses affiliate links, meaning that if you make a purchase through my links, I may earn an affiliate commission.