Sharon Sparlin: HONNINGSVAG NORWAY

Honningsvag, Norway is located on a bay on the southeastern side of the large island of Magerøya, with the famous North Cape and its visitor center on the northern side of the island. Honningsvag is also a very popular port of call for the Hurtigruten Coastal Express, especially in the summer months. Magerøya actually means “barren island” and this is exactly what it is.

Honningsvag was declared a city in 1996. The 2023 population is 2,346. National legislation was passed in 1997 that states that to be declared a Norwegian city the population must be at least 5,000 inhabitants, but since Honningsvag was declared a city in 1996, it was exempt from this legislation. This makes it one of the smallest cities in Norway.

The Norwegian Star docked in Honningsvag on Friday June 16, 2023 at 7am. Weather forecast called for a high of 42 degrees and cloudy. The ship was cleared by 8am and I stepped onto the pier at 8:15am.

I really only had one goal for the day - a trip to the North Cape.

My first stop of the day was the Tourist Information Office.

Photo: cruisecrocodile.com

I was advised that bus #62 goes to the North Cape. There is only one bus a day and it leaves from Honningsvag at 10:45am and returns from the North Cape at 2:20pm at a cost of 60NOK.

I anticipated there could be a large line for bus #62 as there were two ships docked in town, a Norwegian ship and also one from Hertigruten.

Norwegian Star

Hurtigruten

Bus #62 pick up is right in front of the tourist information office so after briefly walking around the area I returned to the bus stop and was delighted to see I was first in line. The line quickly grew to close to 100. With only one bus going I knew not everyone would be boarding. With heavy tourist traffic from having the 2 ships in port one would think they would put on additional buses to handle the tourists but that was NOT the case.

Finally I could see bus #62 rounding the corner. I looked at my watch. The time was 10:50am. Not bad, only 5 minutes late. You can imagine my surprise and horror as bus #62 didn’t slow down as it approached. It simply blew by all of us standing in line. The sign on the top of the bus said it all: ‘BUS FULL’.

The one and only thing I wanted to do in Honningsvag was go to the North Cape and that wasn’t going to happen on this day. If you want to be sure that you absolutely get to the North Cape, pre-book your tickets through this website.

From the Tourist Information Office I walked to the SCANDIC HOTELL HONNINGSVAG bus stop.

I boarded the first bus that came by - #20 toward NORDVAGEN. I purchased a senior 24-hour pass for 30NOK or $2.98USD as of this writing. I paid the driver using my credit card.

I stayed on the bus at NORDVAGEN and returned to the port. Before heading back to the ship however, I walked around the dock area again as most of the shops were closed previously. This time I found a store called Arctic Suvenir, a local souvenir and gift shop. In front of store is a statue of the famous dog Bamse. I'm almost embarrassed to say I had never heard of Bamse the dog before as he is such a legend here in Honningsvag.

Bamse is actually Norwegian for "male bear", "teddy bear" or "big boy". Bamse the dog was a St. Bernard dog that became the heroic mascot of the Free Norwegian Forces during the Second World War. He became a symbol of Norwegian freedom during the war.

It was almost time to head back to the ship but first a quick stop at the Corner Spiseri. I ordered a Polar Bear beer. The cost was 105NOK or $10.43USD as of this writing.

Unfortunately, my day in Honningsvag did not go as planned. It was certainly my biggest disappointment of my entire 30 day trip, however, should I return to Honningsvag I will definitely pre-purchase my tickets to the North Cape!

Enjoy these random photos of my day in Honningsvag.