Norway’s Senja Island has a little bit of everything. From incredible summits hanging over the ocean and traditional Norwegian food to waterfalls and wild National Parks, discover some of the best adventures in Senja.

Why this blog? Hey there! My name is Maddy and I’ve ben working as an outdoor guide and writer since 2018. With hands-on experience working as a guide in the outdoors, I’ve made it my mission to help connect travelers like you to the best possible adventures for your skill and comfort level through honest reviews, on the ground experience, and well-researched guides.

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Things to do in Senja, Norway

Senja Island is just two or three hours form Tromsø, and best reached with a rental car. Less touristy than the Lofoten Islands, Senja is the perfect place for travelers looking for a somewhat off-the-beaten-path experience while still enjoying a lot of the commercial amenities available in touristed areas.

Senja is often also called “Norway in miniature” because the landscape throughout the island is so varied. In the week we spent exploring Senja, my husband and I drove nearly the entire island and really got to appreciate that. In the far south Senja is flatter and more pastoral, while in the north jagged and dramatic cliffs and mountains tumble directly into the ocean. At times, we drove over dramatic and rugged mountain peaks and it seemed like we couldn’t possibly have stood on a sandy beach that morning. Senja was incredible, and I’m genuinely excited for you in planning your adventure!

Senja is the traditional and cultural homeland of the Sámi People, who still live and work throughout Sápmi (Northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Russian Kola Peninsula) today.

1) Hike Selga & Hesten

The hike to the Hesten peak for the view of Selga mountain is the single most popular hike on Senja Island and for good reason. This iconic view graces the front of postcards and appears all over the internet. The hike offers gorgeous scenery the entire way up, with the climatic peak of the hike being reaching the edge of a sheer cliff that drops toward the ocean.

To hike to Hesten and view Selga, you’ll need to park in the Selga trailhead parking lot and hike to the Hesten Trailhead, where there is no parking. Note that most popular hikes and viewpoints required paid parking, which you can do in on your phone via the EasyPark app. If you’re traveling to Norway from abroad, I recommend purchasing an ESIM in advance so that you have service to use this app. Most of the recommendations in this article include paid parking.

From the Hesten Trailhead, you’ll be hiking straight up for a mile and a half (2.5 km) to reach the summit of Hesten. There are several incredible viewpoints along the way, but for the iconic Selga view, you’ll want to summit Hesten. Until the turnoff for Hesten summit, the trail is rated blue, or intermediate. Once you begin to ascend Hesten the trail is rated red, difficult, and includes exposed rock scrambles.

Be especially careful near the sheer cliff edges, as falling can (and definitely would) be deadly! All in all, the hike to the Selga viewpoint (Hesten hike) is about three miles or five kilometers round trip.

Check out Guided Tour Options for Senja Island

2) Get a burger or fish & chips at Selga Grill and Pub

After your hard hike, head to the Selga Grill and Pub for a bite to eat and a cold beer. Keep in mind that Norway has a zero tolerance for drinking and driving, so your driver will not be able to have a beer. Here, we had a burger and fish and chips and it was honestly our favorite meal in all of our time exploring Northern Norway!

Many travelers adventures on Senja will end here, only hiking Hesten and grabbing food at the Selga Grill and Pub.

Honestly, of all the things to do on Senja, I could’ve skipped the iconic Selga and Hesten hike in favor of something less touristy and Instagrammed. I really debated whether or not I wanted to do this hike, or a lesser known one and ultimately regretted picking the more popular one. It’s always a toss up between the philosophy of “popular things are popular for a reason” and will the popularity of the hike impact the experience for me.

For your planning purposes, I think it’s worth considering whether you want a specific iconic view and experience, or a beautiful hike that feels like an exploration.

Other hikes on Senja:

Senja Island is chock-full of incredible hikes. Here’s a quick list of places to start beyond Selga and Hesten with links to detailed blog posts and trail reviews:

• The Husfjellet Hike
• Sukkertoppen Hike
• The Barden Hike
• The Keipen and Grytetippen Hike
• Riven Hike

3) Stay at Hamn i Senja

If you’re looking for a beautiful place to stay with an ocean view and things to do on property, Hamn i Senja is a great bet. Here, you can book a variety of lodging styles directly on the ocean, walking distance from the Storbrygga restuarant. The rooms and apartment options are clean, modern, and beautiful.

We stayed in the Aurora suite while we were here and really had such a nice time. I really loved the included breakfasts, walking around the little island looking at tidepools in the morning, visiting the sauna and hot tub, and then grabbing a drink at the bar and poring over a map planning out the next day every evening.

Bonus points for being walking distance from Sukkertoppen Hike!

4) Visit Ersfjord Beach

One of the best stops on the Senja Scenic Route, Ersfjord beach is an iconic white sand beach lined with jagged mountain peaks. This is the perfect place for a picnic or a swim in the summer months.

Ersfjord can also be a wonderful spot to view the Northern Lights, which in Senja can be viewed from the fall through the spring, with the best and clearest months being January, February and March.

READ ALSO: Ultimate One Week Northern Norway Road Trip

5) Stop at Bergsbotn Viewpoint

Along the Senja Scenic route, one of the most beautiful stops was the Bergsbotn Viewpoint viewing platform, which faces north and offers a particularly gorgeous view of the road winding along the place where the ocean meets the mountains.

Of all of the scenic stops on Senja, I think this one was probably the most beautiful and made for the prettiest photos. I would’ve loved to come back at night for the Northern Lights, but honestly we were so tired from long days out exploring that we often went to bed early!

6) Eat at Storbrygga

Storbrygga at Hamn i Senja is an excellent, upscale dining option on Senja Island. Here, we had the reindeer steak and sea trout dinner, followed by an incredible desert of berry compote and creme brûlée.

A quick note about food prices in Northern Norway: You may have already read or heard, but Norway can be very expensive! In our two weeks traveling above the Arctic Circle, we ate out just four times, and Storbrygga was our splurge meal. In order to save money while traveling in Norway, we visited grocery stores and prepped sandwiches and easy snacks along the way.

7) Catch the Northern Lights

If you’re visiting Senja between September and March, you may be able to catch the Northern Lights! In the summer, the midnight sun makes it too bright to see the Northern Lights. Wait for a clear night then head out in search of the lights.

Be patient, as the Northern Lights ebb and flow throughout the night. Unlike comparatively southern latitudes, you do not need a KP index of 5 or higher to see the aurora, often a KP of 2 will do.

When chasing the Northern Lights, I find it helpful to first use my phone to locate the lights as the phone camera is more sensitive to light than the eye. From here, you can hang out a while once you have eyes on them to see if they’ll flare up and dance for you!

READ ALSO: Ultimate Guide to Tromsø, Norway

8) Visit Ånderdalen National Park

Ånderdalen National Park is home to old growth pine and reindeer herds, waterfalls and long treks. To visit the park on a day trip is to barely scratch the surface — if there’s one thing driving around the perimeter and day hiking around Ånderdalen showed me, it’s that this park is best experienced by an overnight trekking trip. Perhaps next time!

In the meantime, Åndervatnet hike is a great way to dip your toes into the National Park. This beginner-friendly hike leads up a well-maintained forest path eventually to Åndervatnet (a lake!). Hike in as far as you choose. We only hiked about a mile and a half in before the weather worsened and we turned back and headed across the street to Hyttekroa for coffee and pizza, but the photos above were my favorites from our entire trip through Northern Norway.

9) Eat Reindeer Pizza at Hyttekroa

After our rainy hike to Åndervatnet, we stopped in at Hyttekora for reindeer pizza topped with pomegranate and a large mocha to warm up.

Andy, my husband, also got a cardamom bun which, he reports, was one of the best he tasted on Senja.

10) Stay at Norwegian Wild

While at Hyttekora we checked out the neighboring Norwegian Wild, which was one of the places I considered booking when we were looking for where to stay on Senja. In hindsight, I actually think the tiny cabins on the ocean here would’ve been more our speed than Hamn i Senja.

Hamn i Senja is more of a resort vibe, with lots to do on site and clearly catered to creating the ideal visitor experience — I think this is great and a really fun way to travel. Andy and I both have backgrounds as outdoor adventure guides and tend to appreciate a little break from tourists on our own vacations, and Norwegian Wild had a quieter, less curated and more rustic vibe.

I would say if you’re looking for the quintessential Senja experience and a more upscale vibe, book Hamn i Senja. If you’re looking for more of a quiet, cabin-in-the-woods off-the-tourist-track experience, book Norwegian Wild.

11) Sauna and Hot Tub

You really can’t visit Norway without finding a lovely spot to sauna and jump in the Arctic Ocean. Check out the sauna at Norwegian Wild, Damperiet Barrel Saunas and the Valvåg barrel saunas.

Hamn i Senja also has Sauna and Hot Tub time slots available for rent.

12) Visit Husøy

One of the cutest places to visit on Senja is the island of Husøy at the Northern end of Senja Island. The historic fishing village of Husøy is very small and scenic, and for this reason visitors will want to visit with care. The island is small and can only support so many tourists.

We did a quick hike to the Husøy fyr then grabbed coffee at Senja Storm Adventure. I recommend stopping at the Husøy Viewpoint on your way into or out of town. To stay on Husøy, check out Storm Hotel Senja.

13) Drive through the Heart of Senja Island

One of the coolest things to do on Senja is to drive the Fv232 down to Flakstadvåg. We spent an afternoon doing this and wished we had budgeted a full day to check out all the waterfalls and little hiking trails we passed. The road wilds along the highland edge of Ånderdalen National Park and it was genuinely some of the most beautiful driving I’ve ever done.

The route also took us well off the tourist track — in Northern Senja we saw tourists pretty much everywhere. Here, we only ran into about four other groups throughout the whole day.

This was also the first and only place in two weeks of exploring Northern Norway that I saw reindeer truly in the wild, sitting up by a mountain pass.

READ ALSO: Ultimate Guide to Norway’s Lyngen Alps

14) Chase waterfalls

Senja is full of gorgeous waterfalls to explore — one evening we sat down and looked over a map, charting out all of the places we thought might be worth checking out. Traveling this way can be really fun; by picking up a physical map and ditching the online blogs (ironic recommendation, I know) you can often find places that don’t appear on Instagram and have your own, unique experience somewhere.

Pick up a map, choose three spots on the map to check out, and don’t be afraid to take an unexpected detour or stop. You won’t be disappointed, I promise.

I often think that it’s due to blogs like this one, that all recommend the same route over and over that we end up with a worn tourist track in a lot of places. And in some ways that’s okay, to keep the bulk of tourism in the same area, but in other ways it’s a lot more meaningful to do something a little bit different.

Besides, if you wanted the tourist track, you’d probably be headed to Lofoten, not Senja, right? (I’ll stop now, for more thoughts like this though, join my travel newsletter below!)

15) Go tidepooling

I love the ocean and truly believe that a visit to a place like Senja isn’t complete without a low-tide ocean walk to watch for intertidal critters. Check out sea urchins and sea stars, little fish and anemones. If you watch carefully, you might even catch a glimpse of porpoises cruising in and around the islands.

For the best tidepooling experience, I recommend checking out a field guide or simply google searching what species to expect before you go. In order to see intertidal species, you’ll need to time your tidepool walk around low tide, when the water levels are lower and more species are exposed.

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