April, May and June saw us start our long anticipated trek towards the Nordic countries. After a quick ferry crossing from Dover, UK to Dunkirk, France, it was a fairly rapid drive up through Belgium, through Germany and into Denmark where we visited the first of 9/12 UNESCO sites. With Denmark being a small country these were completed fairly quickly and we were straight through to Sweden for the largest cluster of 14 UNESCO sites. One Swedish site, Laponia, required a 9 hour drive which then lead us into the Arctic Circle and on to the top of Finland where we only completed 1 of the UNESCO sites due to time constraints and locations, which means a return future trip.
From Finland, and still in the Arctic Circle, we entered Norway and started our journey from north to south and arguable some of the most stunningly beautiful UNESCO sites in the world, being the fjords.
Norway's eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites:
Bryggen (Bergen)
Urnes Stave Church
Røros Mining Town and the Circumference
Rock Art of Alta
Vegaøyan (The Vega Archipelago)
West Norwegian Fjords (Geirangerfjord and Nærøyfjord)
Struve Geodetic Arc
Rjukan-Notodden Industrial Heritage Site
Nordic UNESCOs
The Kingdom of Denmark's 12 UNESCO World Heritage sites:
The Wadden Sea
The Par Force Hunting Landscape in North Zealand
Viking-Age Ring Fortresses
Ilulissat Icefjord (Greenland)
Kujataa: Norse and Inuit Farming at the Edge of the Ice Cap (Greenland)
Aasivissuit – Nipisat: Inuit Hunting Ground Between Ice and Sea (Greenland)
Sweden's 14 UNESCO World Heritage Sites:
Agricultural Landscape of Southern Öland
Birka and Hovgården
Church Town of Gammelstad, Luleå
Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland
Engelsberg Ironworks
Hanseatic Town of Visby
High Coast / Kvarken Archipelago
Laponian Area
Mining Area of the Great Copper Mountain in Falun
Naval Port of Karlskrona
Rock Carvings in Tanum
Royal Domain of Drottningholm
Skogskyrkogården (The Woodland Cemetery)
Grimeton Radio Station, Varberg
Bacon's rating of interest; ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Bacon's rating of interest; ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
To access Noway's UNESCO sites and truly appreciate Norway for all it's beauty and drama it can only be achieved on wheels. We spent 5 weeks driving in our campervan from north to south during the shoulder month of May and the verdict is that all of Norway is spectacular! However, Norway is ridiculously busy during peak season, so we vacated a week earlier than we wanted but are planning a return trip.
The opinion: Of the 8 Norwegian sites, the exceptionally scenic beauty of the West Fjords was indubitably the favourite days of our travel.
The adventure to visit the Urnes Stave Church was fun, requiring leaving our van in the small town of Solvorn to catch the ferry to Ornes, walking the 800 odd meters uphill to the church then reverse to return while running 800 meters downhill so as not to miss the ferry. It was just a really enjoyable trip.
The Vega Archipelago was a lovely stop for a couple of days. The famous Eider ducks were visible from the Vega museum which has some good facilities and activities. Driving around the island there are some excellent hikes and view points that are often shared with free ranging goats.
Unfortunately the Rock Art of Alta was very icy the day we visited so the walk ways were closed for safety. The museum though has great information, exhibitions and loads of history.
Roros Mining Town Is definitely worth a few hours visit. The museum has excellent and informative photos and a stroll around the town is really interesting.
Ryukan Industrial site, Struve Geodetic Arc and Bergen were okay to visit though we did find that while the central area of Bergen is pretty, it is also dirty and the promenade was literally littered with broken glass in front of the shops and bars. Not great for dog paws.
Bacon's rating of interest; ⭐⭐⭐.5 /5
Bacon's rating of interest; ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Denmark is one of those countries you visit that is simply...pleasant. It is clean, its people are approachable and it's landscape, while not dramatic, is pleasant. Of the 12 UNESCO sites we managed 9 with the remaining 3 being in Greenland, a visit for another day. Copenhagen was a nice stop with a pretty central area and worth a few hours visit.
The opinion; A few of the UNESCO sites were also just pleasant but we did enjoy the views of Mons Klint even though it was insanely busy even for shoulder season. Stevns Klint was much more relaxed and my opinion, more enjoyable to just wander around unhurried. Kronborg Castle is a large complex with additional activities, cafe etc. and the Jelling Mounds was an interesting area to stroll around in the very quiet little town of Jelling.
Bacon's rating of interest; ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Sweden is a joy to drive around and having so many UNESCO sites to visit meant we covered lots of the country. The sites are accessible though in some cases have had to integrate with modern day society such as one of the stone carvings in the Agricultural Landscape of Southern Oland, which was located in the middle of a crop paddock.
The opinion; The Hanseatic Town of Visby was the highlight of Sweden for us. Though incredibly expensive to get to it helped that we had our own accommodation, being the van. Laponia was an interesting deviation away from the Sweden's wonderful pine forests and rock escarpments due to being much further north west. This ended up being a 9 hour drive for a 45 minute museum visit. The museum is new and very modern with some great hikes in the area. The weather was still very cold that far north so our hiking was limited to nonexistent.
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