Stepping off the plane at Kirkenes Airport, I’m hit with disarming warmth. In Arctic Norway, summer has arrived. Snow has melted to reveal sandy beaches, temperatures are creeping above 15°C, and reindeer are grazing on grassy hillsides, leaving their winter lifeline of lichen sun-bleached and forgotten.
As the Arctic mellows, I’ve come to travel across Finnmark, Norway’s northernmost county, using a summer-only bus pass. For £75, I’ve secured a Snelandia Summer Ticket, granting seven days of hop-on, hop-off travel.
I’m under no illusion that the Arctic is cheap – this is my fourth consecutive year of visiting, and in winter I’ve splurged a small fortune on Aurora, snowshoeing and reindeer tours. This summer trip is an exercise in budgeting as I carefully connect sporadic timetables across theVaranger coastline.
Leaving the Thon Hotel in Kirkenes, I activate my scannable ticket in the Snelandia App. Within minutes, I’m aboard a bright-yellow bus, weaving through green tundra. Whoever designed these roads didn’t believe in moving mountains; Tarmac ribbons around rocky mounds, wisps of snow peeking out from granite crevices above.
Finnmark is Norway’s northernmost county (Photo: Sunniva Tonsberg Gaski)
