I’ve finally visited all the regions of mainland Norway – yay! Finnmark had been sitting on my bucketlist for a long time, so I was excited when we decided to finally take a 5-day roadtrip in the region. My husband wanted to show me Vadsø, a peaceful town located in the Varanger peninsula, about 2 hours and 15 minutes from Kirkenes by car. Vadsø is a potential “hometown”, with a promise of pure and undisturbed nature, a pleasant neighborhood, and a sense of adventure.

Here’s the entire route for the roadtrip, c/o Google Maps:

The nearest big airport to Vadsø is Kirkenes lufthavn, with daily direct flights to Oslo, Tromsø, Vardø and Vadsø. To get to Vadsø from Kirkenes by public transport, one can take a 15-minute flight with Widerøe or a 2-hours, 42- minute bus ride. OR one can rent a car and drive.

The flight with SAS went smoothly, and Finnmark greeted us with pure white, wintery landscape!

We rented a car thru Sixt and picked it up from the airport. There was only one belt for luggages, so it took some time for us to get our bags.

And so we went outside, and voila! It was freezing cold. It looked like it was so far from spring or summer. At first, I wanted to go to Bugøynes to try the king crabs, but then, we decided to head to Vadsø right away and drop our bags in the accommodation.

The first landscape we saw was amazing – rolling rocks, beautiful coasts, and we even spotted some reindeer. It also snowed a bit. The majority of the roads was clean and dry. My husband said that they don’t use salt on the roads, so it’s nice like that. And the cars are also better because of that. I wonder why it’s not possible in the south?

The drive from Kirkenes to Vadsø takes around 2 hours. We passed by very few houses, some looked like holiday ones which seemed abandoned for the winter season.

And we did not only see live reindeer, we also saw a couple of dead ones on the side of the road, getting feasted on by wild birds. I hope they died of natural causes. The whole 2-hour drive was a great way to introduce the area. I loved the winter scenery, and the awakened curiousity of how it would look in summer. Some of the town we passed by was Tana and Vestre Jakobselv. I don’t remember ever passing a gas station from the airport to Tana. It was just roads and scenery.

In Tana, we took a little break and bought some refreshments in a grocery store by a restaurant that was shut down (due to the coronapandemic?). Then, there was Vestre Jakobselv, with a beautiful church very noticeable from a distance. I told Carl that we should visit that on our way out the next day.

After a while, we finally reached Vadsø, a town (and a municipality) of about 5,000 people. Carl had been there for work before, and he enthusiastically kept on retelling his experience of riding smaller planes and how the place has only one hotel (Scandic Vadsø). Well, I think a new one opens seasonally (Fjordhotel). He loves the ambiance and the “small town spirit”, which made Vadsø a viable option for a permanent residence. We are both immigrants (him being originally from Sweden), so we technically don’t really have “roots” in Drammen, despite all the memories and integration phase (especially for me). I had my 2nd bachelors degree and masters degree in Drammen, and my first jobs. We’ve been all around Drammen, all its surrounding mountains, its corners, what it has to offer.. but we don’t really have a deeper social connection in the city.

Anyway, I was a bit skeptical about Vadsø. I love my hospital job. Well, Vadsø doesn’t have a hospital. So, that’s one thing to consider.

The town’s harbour welcomed us, and we enjoyed some “big portion” lunch in one of its few restaurants.

To have a more local experience, we stayed in a sort of B&B on Oscarsgate, one of the popular roads in the town. I was like, I didn’t receive any message on how to get in and such. It made me realize that the locals are probably more laidback and more hands-on in their business. So, we rang the doorbell and out came a man who owns the house. We got a key with a personal message, and he led us to the 3rd floor, which I got excited about because of the possible views.

We had the whole floor to ourselves, but I’m only showing the bedroom here, and a view from one of the many windows. Got a glimpse of the blue bus that runs around the town.

After taking my afternoon nap (I was under treatment, which made me really tired in the afternoon), we wasted no time to get the know Vadsø more. We drove around and Carl showed me where his potential workplace is going to be, and the healthcenter. We also saw some of the houses on sale.

Then, there was the lovely beach – although it was freezing cold in April. That sun there is going the be the same “midnight sun” in summer – how exciting! To have the sun 24/7. The polar sun felt comforting warm, by the way. It wasn’t just “light”. Here it is: the sun, snow, sea, and sky!

Vadsø has its own little airport, with daily flights to Kirkenes, Tromsø, and the little neighboring towns in the region. I’m not very sure about taking small planes, but we checked out the airport anyways. The drive towards it was dramatic – with a huge storm cloud out in the horizon. The drive back was just as dramatic – with the golden rays of a setting sun. The sun stayed near the horizon for a while, and was gone for a few hours at night.

Vadsø has a little island connected to it by a bridge. On the island, Vadsøya, are residential houses, factories, a port, and a nature area with a historical mooring mast for airships! Sometimes, I feel so old, but when I see things like this mast, which I had no idea what it was used for, I begin to realize that I’m probably not that old? The last commercial airship was flown in 1937.

Different species of birds are also found on the island, so it’s a perfect spot for birdwatching.

We enjoyed looking at Vadsø from the island, with its church towering over the town. Then, we crossed the bridge again to have a closer look of the giant church from 1958. I also took a photo of a popular street leading to the sea.

So, would you consider retiring in charming Vadsø? One of the things that I also remember: While driving around, we let a kid with a wooden kick sled cross the narrow road. He smiled and waved at us. It’s both sweet and polite. I guess, Vadsø is a promising place.

Back in the apartment, we relaxed through the rest of the day. I also tried a dried whale chip which we bought from a grocery store. It was good, but not something I would consider eating everyday.

We took the whole journey slow and easy. No strenuous activities because of my treatment. All in all, I was glad to be in Vadsø, and I could see my future self there. Hopefully, with a clinical job. ❤ 🙂 ALL PHOTOS AND VIDEOS ON THIS BLOG ARE MINE.  🙂 #spreadloveandpositivevibes