Northern Norway by Drone

AirVuz contributor Florian Ledoux is one of the world's top aerial photographers, with his work appearing in numerous international publications, television shows, and other media.  In this outstanding piece, which was a Finalist for the 2023 Drone Video of the Year award, you'll explore Norway's Svalbard archipelago, deep in the Arctic Circle.  The chain of islands is located roughly halfway between the northern coast of mainland Norway and the North Pole.  Roughly 60% of the islands' collective area is covered by glaciers.  

AirVuz contributor and pilot Babang Deshommes is an experienced commercial drone pilot based out of Tromso in the northern part of Norway.  His work includes complex aerial videography filming for documentaries, music videos, TV commercials, and more.  In this amazing piece, he's put together highlights of his work over three years across the expanse of Northern Norway.  Some of the featured locations include the Tromsø Bridge at the :10 mark, the Tromso Cathedral (:15), the Hålogaland Bridge in Nordland County (:45), and more.  

Prepare to be blown away by this stunning drone video from Norway's Svalbard Islands, compliments of top AirVuz contributor denisbarbas.  The islands lie roughly halfway between the northern coast of mainland Norway and the North Pole.  At their northernmost point at around 81 degrees north latitude, the summer midnight sun (when the sun never sets) lasts 141 days, while the winter night (when the sun never rises above the horizon) lasts for 128 days.  The islands have only been continuously  settled since the early 2000's.

If you're a fan of "The Polar Express," the Caldecott Medal winning book turned movie starring Tom Hanks, then you're going to love this piece by top contributor haussmannvisuals. In the middle of winter the sun never fully rises around the Arctic Circle, but that doesn't mean only darkness. The aerial shots of the peaking sun's hues, twilight's glow and evening's sparkle over the famous Lofoten Islands of Northern Norway are simply stunning. This video was nominated for Drone Video of the Week.

Nordland is one of the northern counties in Norway.  It includes the Lofoten Islands in addition to a substantial area on the Norwegian mainland.  Bisected by the Arctic Circle, the coastal areas offer a surprisingly temperate climate given the northern latitude.  As you can see in this drone video by rbendjebar, it is also one of the most beautiful parts of the world - from stunning mountains, to jagged cliffs that dive into the sea, to gushing waterfalls, and more. This video was picked as a Drone Video of the Week Finalist in July, 2019.

Top contributor denisbarbas, runner-up for the 2022 Drone Video of the Year, brings us this stunning piece from Norway's Svalbard Islands.  The islands of the archipelago are some of the northernmost bits of land on Earth, lying roughly halfway between mainland Norway's northern coast (itself well within the Arctic Circle) and the North Pole.  Only small bits of Canada, Greenland, and a few Russian islands are north of these latitudes.  The islands are covered with glaciers, which produce giant icebergs, as you'll see in the video.  

Prepare to be blown away by these spectacular aerial views Norway's Svalbard Islands, compliments of top AirVuz contributor and drone pilot denisbarbas.  He used a DJI Inspire 3 drone on a two week trip to the archipelago, which consists of five larger islands and over a dozen small islets located roughly halfway between the northern coast of mainland Norway and the North Pole.  The northernmost islands lie at around 81 degrees north latitude; making them among the most northernmost points of land on Earth.  

Top AirVuz contributor Enrico Pescantini brings us this fascinating drone video of an abandoned coal mining settlement in Norway's Svalbard Archipelago, roughly halfway between the Norwegian mainland and the North Pole.  It's called Pyramiden, and it's located on the main island of Spitsbergen.  The settlement was originally controlled by Sweden before being sold to the USSR in the 1920's.  The adjoining coal mine was closed in 1998, at which time the town was completely abandoned.  The town now has a handful of permanent residents.

Check out these stunning drone views from Northern Norway, compliments of Uglefisk.  The first stop is Kvaløya, which is Norway's fifth-largest island.  It lies in Tromsø County, the next-to-northernmost of the Norwegian counties.  The next stop is Kvænangen, a municipality on the mainland of Tromsø County.   The final area featured is Helgelandskysten in Nordland, the southernmost of the three Northern Region counties.  This video was chosen as a Drone Video of the Week finalist in November, 2019. 

The creative potential of drones to tell powerful stories is astounding.  In this video, the acclaimed Italian composer and pianist Ludovico Einaudi is filmed playing a piano on an iceberg broken off from the Wahlenbergbreen, a glacier on the coast of Svalbard, in the northern reaches of Norway.  The music video was created to build awareness of global warming and its visible consequences in the Arctic, and was selected as a finalist for the 2017 AirVuz Drone Video Awards in the Originality category.  

Top AIrVuz contributor timoksanen brings us this magnificent video from one of Europe's northernmost spots during the summer, when the sun literally does not set.  The video was filmed at midnight in North Cape (Nordkapp), Norway, which is part of the island of Magerøya in the Barents Sea.  Located at around 72 degrees north latitude, well within the Arctic Circle (which begins at about 68 degrees latitude), the summer days here are literally endless.   The video was filmed with a DJI Mavic Pro 3 drone.  

Top AirVuz contributor and first person view (FPV) drone pilot SNTAKU_FPV earned a spot on the FPV Pilots to Watch list with this highly cinematic FPV travel video from the Arctic island of Senja, Norway.  Norway's second-largest island, Senja is located north of the somewhat better-known Lofoten Islands, well within the Arctic Circle.  The video was filmed on the western side of the island, which is covered by spectacular mountains which rise up to about 3.3k ft. above sea level (around 1k m). 

This epic video from Nikkelodeon will give you a sense for the pristine Arctic paradise to be found in northern Norway.  The video was shot across the entire northern part of the country, including the spectacular Lofoten Islands archipelago  (which are the subject of a separate collection on the AirVuz site).   Northern Norway includes three counties, Nordland (which also includes the Lofoten Islands), Troms, and Finnmark; the latter two counties lie entirely north of the Arctic Circle.  

Multi-Drone Video of the Week winner Diamond Sky hits another "bullseye" with this stunning piece from northern Norway.  The first part of the video was shot in Rago National Park, which lies on the Swedish border in Nordland County.  The majority of the footage is from Senja, an island in the new Troms og Finnmark County, north of the Lofoten Islands.   Norway's largest island, Senja is sometimes called "Norway in Miniature" because its scenery is as diverse as that of the country as a whole.  

Contributor Fotoknoff used a drone to create this epic video of a spot in the far northern reaches of Norway.  Varanger is a peninsula in Norway's Finnmark County, which is the northernmost part of the mainland of Norway and lies well within the Arctic Circle.  Varanger is the easternmost of a series of peninsulas which jut out into the Barents Sea.  The landscape is spectacular, more reminiscent of the Icelandic Highlands than the mountainous areas of northern Norway, which lie to its south.  

Contributor and pilot Babang Deshommes created this amazing drone video of historical Tromso County in Northern Norway.  Tromso was actually consolidated with its northern neighbor Finnmark in early 2020, creating the new Troms og Finnmark County.  Whatever its name, the entire area lies north of the Arctic Circle.  However, because of the presence of so much ocean, it's much more temperate than the latitude would suggest; the video, which was shot during the winter, shows a good deal of open water.  

In this outstanding video by former Drone Video of the Week Finalist timoksanen, you'll get an aerial tour of the Lyngen Alps, a mountain range of northern Norway.  The mountain cover most of the Lyngen Peninsula, a landform of Troms og Finnmark County.  Inside the Arctic Circle, the range has a length of around 55 mi. (about 90 km) and a width of around 10-12 mi. (15-20 km).  The highest mountain in the range, Jiehkkevárri, has a peak elevation of just over 6k ft. above sea level (around 1.8k m).  

Top AirVuz contributor Eaglewood Pictures brings us this marvelous drone tour of an island archipelago off the Norwegian coast.  Træna is a municipality which consists of about a thousand (mostly) tiny islands, of which only four are inhabited.  Lying well to the south of the better-known Lofoten Islands, Træna is part of a historical region known as Helgeland which is essentially the southern portion of Nordland County, the southernmost of the three counties of Northern Norway. 

Multiple Drone Video of the Week Finalist timoksanen brings us this stunning drone video from a waterfall and bridge in Northen Norway.  The Gorsabrua Bridge overlooks the Gorsabrua Waterfall, about ten mi. (around 15 km) southeast of the village of Birtavarre in Troms og Finnmark, Norway's northernmost county.  Very much off the beaten path, the waterfall has a drop of around 500 ft. or a bit over 150 m.  The video was filmed with a DJI Mavic Pro 3 during the height of the Fall colors season.  

Check out this stunning aerial view of an important mountain in northern Norway, compliments of contributor Uglefisk.  It's called Store Lenangstinden, and it's part of the Lyngen Alps, a range which runs through parts of Troms County (and which bears no relation to the Alps ranges of Central Europe).  The mountain has a peak elevation of just over 1.6k meters (around 5.4k ft.), making it the fourth tallest mountain in the country. It's just west of the Lyngenfjord, the longest in the county.  

Former Drone Video of the Week Finalist timoksanen brings us this excellent drone video from Norway's Senja Island.  Norway's second-largest island, Senja is situated in Troms County, well above the Arctic Circle and a bit north of the better-known Lofoten Islands.  Most of the video was filmed over and around the town of Mefjord Brygge, which is located on one of the numerous finger-like peninsulas extending from the northern and western side of the island.  The video was filmed in the early winter.    

Take a tour of the northern reaches of Norway in this amazing drone video, which was created with a combination of aerial footage from a DJI Inspire and a ground camera.  Northern Norway is actually an officially recognized region of this Scandinavian country, consisting of its three northernmost counties: Nordland, Toms, and Finnmark.  It covers an immense area of over 110k square km (over 40k square mi.), much of which is above the Arctic Circle, and in which fewer than 400,000 souls live.

Top AirVuz contributor and drone pilot Uglefisk brings us this fantastic aerial video of a hike into a well-known Norwegian glacier complex.  It's called the Sulitjelmaisen, and it's located north of the Arctic Circle in Nordland County, with a portion overlying the border with Sweden.  The glacier, which has been retreating in recent years, covers an area of about 24 square km or around 9 square mi.  Altitude wise, its runs between a bit over 800 meters above sea level (around 2.7k ft.) and about 1.7k meters (around 5.5k ft.).

Check out this stunning aerial view of the mountains of Northern Norway, compliments of contributor Uglefisk.  Hollendaren is located in Troms County, the next-to-northernmost of Norway's counties.  Like the rest of Troms, Hollendaren is located well inside the Arctic Circle.  The video opens with a brilliant waterfall shot, then will take you over the island's spectacular coastline.  Despite the northern latitude, the air patterns here keep the water open year round and the climate is comparatively mild.  

Former Drone Video of the Week Finalist Uglefisk brings us this fantastic drone video from a chain of islands in the northern part of Norway.   The Vesterålen is an archipelago consisting of the larger islands of Langøya, Andøya, and Hadseløya plus portions of larger islands and several smaller islands.  The islands are located just to the north of the somewhat better-known Lofoten Islands and a bit further west of the mainland.   The islands lie at the northernmost extent of Nordland County, near its border with  Troms og Finnmark County.

Former Drone Video of the Week Finalist timoksanen brings us this spectacular Fall drone video from the Lyngen Alps, a chain of mountains which covers parts of Northern Norway.  No relations to the Alps system of Central Europe, the Lyngen Alps run along a generally north-south axis for around 60 mi. (a bit over 90 km) along a peninsula in Troms og Finnmark County (in the portion which was formerly Troms County), Norway's northernmost county.  The mountains reach peak altitudes of just over 6k ft. above sea level or around 1.8k m.

Here's an amazing drone video of a competitive alpine skiing event in the town of Narvik in Northern Norway.  Narvik is one of the principal towns in Nordland County, the southernmost of the three counties which make up the country's Northern region.  Narvik is mostly surrounded by mountains, some of which reach up to almost 1.9k meters in altitude (6.2k ft.).  Skiing is almost a way of life here; some of the surrounding slopes run nearly into the center of the town.  The higher elevation slopes retain snow virtually year-round.  

Check out this magnificent drone video from the mountains of Northern Norway, compliments of award-winning contributor Florian Ledoux.  Middagstinden Mountain is a  923 meter (around 3.1k ft.) peak on the western side of Kvaløya, Norway's fifth-largest island.  The mountain is popular with climbers and hikers and is fairly accessible from the city of Tromsø, which lies on an adjacent island connected by bridge.  The whole area is part of Troms County, which is located entirely within the Arctic Circle.  

Home to around 72,000 people, Tromsø, Norway is a major cultural hub above the Arctic Circle. It's the principal city in the recently consolidated Troms og Finnmark County, the northernmost of the Norway's 11 counties.  The views itself might be familiar, the centuries-old wooden houses that make up the city’s historic center are legendary as are the Northern Lights you can see from the area. You can see in this drone video by Babang Deshommes just how frigid and cold the area looks, but also how beautiful it is. 

Top AirVuz contributor and pilot Dem Niko brings us this splendid aerial view of a fog-covered island in northern Norway.  Andøy is the main island of the Vesterålen archipelago in Nordland, the southernmost of the three counties which make up Norway's Northern Region.   It lies to the north of the better-known Lofoten Islands, well inside the Arctic Circle.  Shot as the sun was rising on the eastern horizon, this idyllic Norwegian scene was filmed with a DJI Mavic Pro drone.  

With so much attention on Norway's Lofoten Islands, it's easy to forget that this chain is home to just a fraction of the islands which lie off the country's long northern coastline.  In this drone video by Kameraturer, you'll get a bird's eye view of an area on Langøya, the country's third-largest island.  It's located in the Vesterålen district of Nordland County, a bit north of the Lofotens.  As you'll see from the video, the area offers a surprisingly mild climate given its latitude above the Arctic Circle.   

Spitsbergen is the largest and only permanently populated island off the coast of northern Norway in the Svalbard archipelago. Known for its rugged terrain of glaciers, mountains, fjords, and frozen tundra, Svalbard is home rare animals like polar bears, Svalbar reindeer, and Arctic foxes. The area was originally used as a whaling base, then became home to a mining company. Six national parks protect its fragile ecosystem. Pilot toast777 brings us aerial views of this incredibly remote, arctic archipelago.  

Check out this stunning 4k drone video of a mountain in Northern Norway, compliments of contributor Uglefisk.  Store Sætertinden is situated near the village of Sandtorg on the eastern side of the island of Hinnøya (Norway's fourth-largest, ignoring the distant Svalbards).  It's part of  Troms County, the next-to-northernmost of the Norwegian counties, and well within the latitudes which define the Arctic Circle.  The mountain has a peak elevation of about 1.1k meters or around 3.6k ft. above sea level.

Taking us along to see a dog sled team out for a run is pilot Enrico Pescantini. He’s out in the frozen tundra that is Svalbard, Norway. Svalbard is an archipelago that sits between mainland Norway and the North Pole, making it one of the world’s northernmost inhabited areas (it is home to just under 3,000 people). You may see polar bears, Svalbard reindeer, and Arctic foxes scattered across the terrain, but in today’s case just two teams of sled dogs and their mushers pop out against the glacial terrain.  

While the mountains of Northern Norway aren't especially high by alpine standards, they feature some of the most spectacularly vertical peaks.  That's why the area has become a haven for rock climbers around the world.  In this drone video by hamed.razzaghi, you'll get an aerial view of some very skilled climbers tacking these sheer cliffs.  One thing which may surprise you is the obviously mild temperatures here - despite being located above the Arctic Circle, the climate here is surprisingly mild.  

Enjoy tthese excellent aerial views of Norway's Silfar Canyon, compliments of AirVuz contributor Kapatzy.  The canyon is located near the village of Børselv in the municipality of Porsanger in Troms og Finnmark, the country's northernmost county. The canyon is cut by the Børselva River, which runs a course of about 47 mi. (76 km), draining the snowmelt from the nearby mountains into the Porsangerfjorden, one of the northernmost fjords of mainland Norway.   The river takes on a distinctive emerald color as it runs through the canyon.   

Multiple Drone Video of the Week Finalist Uglefisk brings us this fantastic drone video of a well-known mountain in Northern Norway.  It's called Gasskatjåhkkå, and it's located on the border between the municipalities of Hamarøy and Sørfold in Nordland, the southernmost of the counties of the region of North Norway.  The mountain has a peak elevation of just over 1.5k meters above sea level, or just under 5k ft.  It's situated between the neighboring mountains of Gjerdalen and Linnajávrre.  

Check out this highly cinematic first person view (FPV) drone video from an island off the coast of Norway, compliments of AirVuz contributor and FPV pilot VladFPV.   Engeløya is part of the municipality of Steigen in Nordland County, the second-to-northernmost county of Norway.  The video features a shot flying along the Engeløy Bridges, a series of two bridges which connect the island to the Norwegian mainland via the small intervening island of Ålstadøya; these spans were opened in 1978.    

Multiple Drone Video of the Week Finalist Uglefisk brings us another stunning drone video from the mountains of Northern Norway.  This video was shot around the mountain known as Urskartinden, which is located in the municipality of Bodø in Nordland County.  The mountain has a peak elevation of about 3.4k ft. above sea level or around 1.05k m.  While the latitude here is (just) inside the Arctic Circle, proximity to the ocean keeps the temperatures surprisingly mild, even in the depths of winter.  

Multiple Drone Video of the Week Finalist timoksanen brings us this fantastic drone video of an abandoned fishing village in the far northern part of Norway.  It's called Hamningberg, and it's located on the shores of the Barents Sea (an inlet of the Arctic Ocean) in Troms og Finnmark, the country's northernmost county.  It's part of the Varanger Peninsula, well within the Arctic Circle.  While the village survived occupation by German forces during World War II, Hamningberg was abandoned in 1964.  

Top AirVuz contributor and first person view (FPV) drone pilot Tricky FPV brings us this epic video from the mountains of one of the world's northernmost spots: the Norway's Svalbard Islands.  The islands are situated in the Arctic Ocean, roughly halfway between the northernmost point of mainland Norway and the North Pole.  Heavily glaciered and covered in mountains which range up to about 5.6k ft. in altitude (about 5.6k m), Svalbard is still very much off the beaten path, with a permanent resident population of only about 2.5k.   

Top contributor timosanen created this stunning aerial view of Senja, a mountain off the coast of Northern Norway.  Covering almost 1.6k square km (around 600 square mi.), it's the second largest Norwegian island outside of the remote Svalbard archipelago.  Lying north of the Lofoten Islands and well within the Arctic Circle, like the Lofotens it features a surprisingly mild climate even in the winter months.  The island and its spectacular mountain peaks are accessible from the mainland via the Gisund Bridge.  

Top contributor davidaguilar won the People's Choice category at the second Annual DVA's with his "Magic Iceland" masterpiece.  In this video, he brings us some stunning views from even further north - the islands off the northern coast of Norway specifically the Lofoten Islands and the island of Senja, further north in Troms County.  Picked as a DVOW Finalist in October, 2019, the video combines aerial footage from a DJI Mavic Air with DJI Mavic Air with ground footage from a Nikon D5300 camera.

Contributor Uglefisk created this amazing video of Store Lakselvtinden, one of the highest peaks in the Lyngen Alps of northern Norway.  Contrary to what the name suggests, these mountains are not related to the Alps Mountain system; rather they are part of the Scandinavian Mountains system.  They are located in Troms County, which is north of the Arctic Circle.  Though not as tall as the "real" Alps, the stunningly beautiful Lyngen Alps present some of the most technically demanding climbing conditions in Europe.  

Top contributor Uglefisk does it again with this stunning aerial piece from the mountains of Northern Norway.  The mountain is called Galtskartinden, and it's located near the town of Bodø in Nordland County.  Situated amidst a group of lakes just inland from the Atlantic coastline, it presents a typically beautiful nature scene from Northern Norway's most accessible (and southernmost) county.  The more well known Svartisen National Park lies just to the east and south of Galtskartinden.

In this drone video, top contributor Timoksanen takes us north of the Arctic Circle to Troms County in northern Norway.  Troms is the second most northern country of Norway (just below Finnmark County), and it lies entirely above the 22.5 degree latitude mark which denotes the Arctic Circle.  Most of the area is covered by the Scandinavian Mountains, and (as is the case with almost all of Norway's Atlantic coastline) there are islands aplenty.  It's a pristine environment, far from Norway's major population centers.  

Former Drone Video of the Week Finalist timoksanen brings us this fantastic drone views of Norway's Lyngen Alps.  Not related to the Alps of Central Europe, the Lyngen Alps run for about 90 km (around 55 mi.) on the Lyngen Peninsula in Troms og Finnmark, the country's northernmost county.  Paralleling the western shore of the Lyngen Fjord, the mountains have peaks of up to 1.8k meters above sea level or just over 6k ft.  Popular with extreme skiers, the Lyngen Alps are also a popular summer destination.  

Explore some of the northernmost lands on Earth with this fantastic drone video by top contributor Enrico Pescantini.  The video was filmed over the course of a cruise through Norway's Svalbard Islands, which lie roughly halfway between the northern coast of mainland Norway and the North Pole.  The cruise ran from Longyearbyen, on the west coast of the island of Spitsbergen (the main island of the archipelago) to the abandoned mining settlement of Pyramiden, which lies off of a fjord near the center of the island.  

Top AirVuz contributor and first person view (FPV) drone pilot chrissbergan earned a spot on the FPV Pilots to Watch list with this fantastic piece from a remote Norwegian island called Jan Mayen.  Jan Mayen is located hundreds of miles off of the Norwegian mainland, at the northwestern boundary of the Norwegian Sea (an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean).  Considerably closer to Greenland than mainland Norway, Jan Mayen covers about 146 square mi. (around 377 square km) and has no permanent population.  

Norway's Polar Park is one of the natural treasures of this large Scandinavian country.  Seen in this outstanding drone video by former Drone Video of the Week Finalist fotoknoff, it's located in the municipality of Bardu in Troms, Norway's northernmost county.  Believed to be the northernmost park of its type, its population includes Norway's four largest predators as well as reindeer, muskox, red deer, moose, and other fauna.  The park covers an area of about 270 acres.  It was opened in 1994.  

Unless you are deathly afraid of heights, you will enjoy this drone video of some epic rock climbing in Northern Norway by contributor Hamed Razzaghi.  It was filmed at Stetind Mountain, located near Tysfjord in Nordland County.  The mountain is known for its smooth sides, which extend all the way from its peak to the fjord below.  With a peak elevation of just under 1.4k meters (about 4.6k ft.), it wasn't scaled until 1910.  It's known in part for its distinctive-looking obelisk shape.