Bodø & Salten is home to several popular attractions that you have to experience when visiting the area

The world´s strongest maelstrom, Norways second biggest glacier, five national parks, and iconic Kjerringøy. This is just some of what you can experience when in Bodø & Salten.

The world’s strongest maelstrom is located just half an hour’s drive from the city center of Bodø. Saltstraumen is at its strongest four times a day when the tide changes, and the forces are at its most powerful at new or full moon.

The area is not only a natural attraction, but also a historical place where people have settled since the Stone Age.

Kjerringøy must be experienced. Here you will find one of Norway’s best-preserved trading places, chalk-white beaches and idyllic places to stay.

Svartisen is Norway’s second largest glacier, and the most accessible in Europe. Take the small shuttle boat “Isprins” over from Holandsvika and visit the glacier arm Engenbreen.

Here you can see the glacier up close, join a glacier hike, swim in ice-cold glacier water or eat a delicious lunch from Brestua with a beautiful view of the glacier.

Nordland county has a total of nine national parks, and five of them can be found in Salten. The children even have their own national park, Sjunkhatten National Park.

In Saltdal you will find Nordland National Park Center – a visitor center for those who want to know more about the areas.

Get to know the National Parks

Because Bodø is located on a peninsula, in the middle of Nordland’s beautiful coastline, we have no mountains blocking the light. All winter we can see the sun, or glimpses of the sun, just below the horizon. This means that Bodø has a spectacular light, all year round, even during winter and polar nights. From dark blue, via shimmering gold to deep pink. In fact, we do not have real polar nights in the winter, despite the fact that we have midnight sun in the summer, and thus it is said that Bodø is the place in the world with the most hours of daylight during a year.