130km (81 miles) NE of Hammerfest; 2,444km (1,515 miles) NE of Bergen
You have to journey a long way to see Nordkapp (North Cape), the most celebrated attraction in Norway. Nearer the North Pole than Oslo, the mighty rock stands at a latitude of 71° 10[pr] 21[dp] N. The attraction is generally viewed from mid-May to the end of July, when the Midnight Sun does not drop below the horizon. Before you've come all this way, we'll let you in on a secret. Nordkapp is supposed to be the northernmost point of continental Europe, although it actually isn't. See our box, "Europe's Real Northernmost Point." To the Sami, the North Cape held great religious significance and was a site for sacrifices. The name of North Cape came from the British explorer, Richard Chancellor, who drifted here in 1553. Actually, he was looking for the Northeast Passage.
The world's northernmost village, the gateway to the North Cape, is a completely modern fishing harbor set in a land of forests, fjord waters, and crashing waterfalls, everything bathed in summer by the eerie light of the midnight sun. Only the chapel withstood the village's destruction by Germans in 1944. It's some 80km (50 miles) nearer to the North Pole than Hammerfest, on the Alta-Hammerfest bus route.
Honningsvåg is on the southern side of the island of Magerøy, connected to the North Cape by a 35km (22-mile) road.
