Risøyhamn - Hurtigruten’s smallest port of call
This tiny village has a big maritime history while the surrounding seas offer almost-guaranteed encounters with huge whales.
Perched on the southern shore of Andøya island in Vesterålen, Risøyhamn is a quiet place with a big story. This small fishing village, home to around 200 people, is surrounded by bogland, marshes and moors golden with cloudberries.
It feels remote, but the 750-metre-long Andøybrua bridge arches across the water, connecting it to Hinnøya, the largest island in the archipelago. But before there was the bridge, the Risøyrenna channel made the area navigable to bigger ships.
From Risøyhamn, you can explore the Andøya National Tourist Route, look for nesting puffins or spot sperm, fin and pilot whales cruising the waters off Andøya.
Risøyhamn: from trading post to channel town
Half an hour north of Risøyhamn, intact skeletons of 150-million-year-old ichthyosaurs (fish-like dinosaurs) were found amid the layers of sandstone and shale Ramså mine and, on the human side, burial mounds dating back to the Iron Age have been found nearby.
For centuries, Risøyhamn was just a shallow sound where, at low tide, you could cross on horseback. That all changed in 1875 when Captain Richard With – the founder of Hurtigruten – moved to Risøyhamn and bought the local trading post. Frustrated by the sandbanks that blocked shipping routes, With pushed for the construction of Risøyrenna, a 4.8-kilometre-long channel that opened up the coast. The channel, opened in 1922 and repeatedly deepened since, transformed the village into a key link on the Hurtigruten route.
On the day of the opening, With sailed through on the Hurtigruten ship DS Finnmarken – our first Finnmarken ship, painted white for the occasion – alongside King Haakon VII and a flotilla of 400 boats. It was a moment that changed the north forever – opening up safer, faster shipping and connecting communities like never before.
Today, the trading post still stands by the quay, its history woven into the village’s fabric. Risøyhamn remains the smallest village port on The Coastal Express – a quiet reminder of the visionaries who helped link the north to the rest of Norway.
What is the weather like in Risøyhamn?
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Min (°C) | -5.8 | -5.8 | -4.4 | -1.1 | 3.2 | 6.5 | 9.4 | 9 | 6.4 | 2.3 | -1.3 | -4.1 |
Max (°C) | -1.5 | -1.5 | 0.1 | 4.1 | 8.7 | 11.3 | 14.7 | 14.1 | 10.8 | 5.7 | 2 | -0.1 |
Visit Risøyhamn with Hurtigruten
How long will I be in port?
Northbound
In port: 15 minutes
Southbound
In port: 15 minutes
As seen from the sea
Risøyhamn is scattered along eastern edge of a small peninsula on the southern coast of Andøya, separated from Hinnøya by Risøysundet strait.
As you approach Risøyhamn through the Risøyrenna, watch for the graceful span of the Andøybrua bridge and the old trading post at the water’s edge.
Neighbouring ports of call
Sortland
Only declared a town in 1997, Sortland is the beating heart of the Vesterålen Archipelago. Known as Blåbyen, ‘The Blue City’, its buildings are painted in shades of blue and inscribed with a line or two of poetry.
Harstad
Harstad sits on the northeastern shore of Hinnøya, Norway’s biggest island outside Svalbard. It’s the only city on this well-connected isle and a handy base for exploring the Lofoten and Vesterålen archipelagos, mainland Norway and nearby islands such as Langøya and Andøya.