Batsfjord fishing village
is one of the largest in Scandinavia

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Batsfjord fishing village

The Batsfjord fishing village on the coast of Norwegian Lapland calls itself "The Fishing Capital". It is one of the largest fishing ports of Norway and Scandinavia, the main industry being fishing and fish processing. The picture is taken at twilight time at end of Novembre.

Not burnt

Most of Norwegian Lapland was put to fire by the Germans as they withdrew at the end of World War II. Thus you may find older houses here. The restaurant and guest house "Havly" - built in 1938 - is one of them. The hotel is of good but simple standard. The hotel has its own social room for Russian fishermen. The "Velferden" restaurant is one of the few places in all of Lapland where you can eat fish courses nearly every day through the year.
(Photo: Olav E. Johansen)

Sights and attractions

The Båtsfjord Church (consecrated 20 May 1971) has one of Europe's largest stained glass windows of 85 square metres. Syltefjord is an abandoned fishing village with sights such as the local history collection and the Syltefjord chapel. There you can also find traces of the old hunting culture (5-6.000 years old). Syltefjord is an historic fishing village with a waffle café making and selling stone products. Also access to famous bird cliffs Syltefjordstauran.

Bird cliffs

Skarvskiten is a small bird cliff at walking distance from Båtsfjord. You can follow a trail.

Syltefjordstauran is one of Norway's largest and most important nesting cliffs with a large variety of birds, including gannets (sula bassana). Syltefjordstauran holds the largest breeding colony of black-legged kittiwake (rissa tridachtyla) (140,000 pairs) in Norway. Other species are common guillemot (uria aalge) (2,500 pairs), Brünnich's Guillemot (uria lomvia)(1,200 pairs), razorbill (alca torda)(1,300 pairs) and even atlantic puffin (fratercula arctica)(100 pairs).

The site is located on the northern side of Syltefjord. Follow road 890 and 891 from Tana bridge to Syltefjord. Boat trips are available from Nordfjord during summer. Another option is to walk the trail from Nordfjord to Syltefjordstauran (11 km).

The cliffs are protected as a nature reserve. This is a coastline with steep cliffs and several rocky pillars, plunging 200 m into the sea from a montane plateau. There is also a large colony of 250 grey seal (halichoerus grypus).

At Outer Syltevik there are two church ruins and traces of stone age settlement. There are even places of sacrifice, including an old Sami sacrificial ring.

Ask at Båtsfjord Tourist Info or at Syltefjord café. See map where Syltefjord is marked. Read more about Batsfjord fishing village.

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