North or South?

In 2022, my boyfriend and I drove from Germany all the way to the North Cape. We camped in the wild, hiked to waterfalls, discovered amazing campsites, slept by beautiful, remote lakes without another soul around, and found the most stunning white beaches. We were on the road for 18 days and traveled both to and from the North Cape through Norway.

This year, we want to do something similar, but we don’t want to drive 8 hours every day. So, our plan is either to quickly head north (through Sweden, which is the fastest route for us) and then spend two weeks in the north, or we explore the south of Norway instead.

By “north,” I mean everything up to Narvik, roughly speaking, as we really enjoyed that area.

We have around 16-18 days again and want to hike, explore, and camp in the wild as much as possible.

However, we found the south of Norway to be very touristy (no shame, we’re tourists ourselves, haha). Around Geiranger, we spent ages searching for a nice place to sleep and ended up staying in a spot with lots of other people.

We preferred it further north, where things were less crowded, and we had more options to choose from.

Additionally, we absolutely loved the rustic atmosphere up north—the reindeer everywhere, the chill even in summer, and the landscape in general. It was just magical.

That said, the south is undeniably stunning, with its incredible mountains and glaciers. Coming from the flat north of Germany, we found it almost overwhelming to take it all in.

We can’t really come to a clear decision.

So, if anyone has traveled either the north or south (or both), we’d love to hear: • What are the absolute must-sees? • Is it worth visiting the south despite the crowds?

(By the way, we’ve already been to the Lofoten Islands, which we’re skipping this year. They deserve their own dedicated trip!)

I hope this all makes sense, and thanks in advance for any tips!