Trollfjord and sea eagle tours

6 min read Updated October 2026 Compare all tours

Trollfjord cuts west into Austvågøya from the Raftsundet strait, opposite the small island of Ulvøya. It is only about 2.5 kilometres long and around 100 metres wide at the entrance, opening out a little further in. Higravtindan, the highest peak around it at almost 1,150 metres, stands above the water together with Geitgallien and Trolltindan, both over 1,000 metres. Strictly speaking the fjord lies in Hadsel, a municipality of Vesterålen, but the boats that go there all leave from Svolvær. The encyclopedia Store norske leksikon calls the town the starting point for most RIB and boat trips into the fjord.

The name also belongs to a piece of local history. In 1890 the fjord was the scene of the Trollfjord battle, and the guides on the open boat and on the larger Go2Lofoten boat tell the story on the way in.

A quiet ship with indoor lounges

Brim Explorer runs the slowest and most sheltered trip. Its hybrid-electric ship leaves Svolvær harbour in the morning and takes about an hour to reach the fjord, and the whole trip lasts three and a half hours. You can sit in warm panoramic lounges or stand on the outer decks. Tap water is free, while food and drinks are sold in the cafeteria. If the weather and the water allow it, the crew sends an underwater drone down to look beneath the surface.

Reviews of this trip mention that the commentary is hard to hear outside on deck and that there are not enough binoculars to go round. One guest in October 2026 had to pay for parking in town, so leave the car at your accommodation if you can walk to the harbour.

Fast and open: RIB trips

A RIB is a rigid inflatable boat with an open deck, built for speed. The RIB trips take two hours from Svolvær through Raftsundet to the fjord and back, and every operator lends a full suit against wind and spray, most of them with gloves and goggles. Go2Lofoten asks you to arrive at its office in Sjømannsgata 5 thirty minutes before departure to change, and also hands out a balaclava and a hat. RIB-Lofoten starts with a safety briefing at its office on the main square. Lofoten Explorer runs a different route out through the narrow Øyhellsundet, past the island of Skrova, and states that its trips run in rain or shine.

The age limit depends on the operator: RIB-Lofoten takes children from 4, the others from 8. None of them accepts pregnant guests. The point that comes up again and again in reviews is the ride itself. Guests describe the boat slamming over the waves, drivers who took the swell fast on purpose, and in a few cases back pain after the trip. If your back is sensitive, the ship is the better choice.

Open boat, larger boat or yacht

XXLofoten uses an open boat from the Svolvær quayside, which gives you a clear view upwards to the cliffs and the birds. Guests must be at least 8 years old and 140 centimetres tall. One reviewer whose trip ran in bad weather in August 2025 was taken on a shorter route that left out Trollfjord, so the fjord itself is not certain on stormy days.

Go2Lofoten also runs a three-hour trip on a larger boat with several photo stops, and snacks and drinks are sold on board. Reviewers of this trip mention waiting for late groups before departure and loudspeakers that were hard to follow. For a smaller group, the white yacht Leah William leaves from the pier near the restaurant Bacalao on a three-hour trip with coffee or tea and snacks. It only sails with at least six passengers.

Lofoten Explorer has one more format: a 90-minute RIB ride to a group of remote islands where you float in the Arctic water in a suit. It is open to swimmers aged 12 and over and does not go into Trollfjord.

The white-tailed eagle

The white-tailed eagle, havørn in Norwegian, is 76 to 94 centimetres long with a wingspan of 200 to 240 centimetres. It breeds along the coast from Finnmark to the Oslofjord, and about 60 percent of the Norwegian population lives in the three northernmost counties. The national stock has been estimated at 2,800 to 4,200 pairs. Fish and seabirds are its usual prey, and it has been fully protected in Norway since 1968.

Operators handle the birds in two ways. Go2Lofoten throws fish to bring the eagles in close to the boat, both on its RIB and on the larger boat. Its short photo RIB spends extra time in known eagle territories and stops near Haversand and Skjoldvær when time allows. One reviewer objected to the feeding of wild animals. Brim Explorer, XXLofoten and Lofoten Explorer describe looking out for the eagles rather than feeding them. In any case these are wild birds, and no trip can promise a sighting.

Winter and summer on the fjord

The tour pages name no closing season, and reviews describe trips in every part of the year. What changes is the light. In Svolvær the sun stays below the horizon from 7 December 2026 to 5 January 2027. On 21 December civil twilight lasts from 09:24 to 14:35, so a morning departure sails in a blue half-light. The photo RIB is pitched at exactly this period. From 26 May to 18 July 2027 the sun does not set at all in Svolvær.

The coast is mild for its latitude. At Svolvær airport the average is +0.3 °C in January and 13.3 °C in July (1991 to 2020), but cold days happen: the station recorded −7.6 °C on 22 January 2025. Visit Lofoten warns that the weather changes quickly. On an open boat moving at speed, bring a warm hat and layers even with a suit on top.

Trollfjord by Hurtigruten

The coastal ship Hurtigruten sails into Trollfjord on its way between Stokmarknes and Svolvær. Visit Lofoten describes a day trip that uses this: a bus leaves Svolvær at 12:30 for Stokmarknes, home of the Hurtigruten museum, and the southbound ship departs at 15:15 through Raftsundet and into the fjord on its way back to Svolvær. You need ID when you board, and tickets can be scarce at peak times. Check the current timetable with the shipping line and the Visit Lofoten page on Hurtigruten, and ask whether the ship enters the fjord on your date.

For more to do around the harbour, see our guide to Svolvær. If you want to plan around the dark weeks or the light nights, read polar night and midnight sun.