The decision to book two nights in Bodø was one of the best decisions I made while planning my trip to Norway. I spent a Friday and a Saturday night there and had an uproariously good time. It was one of the highlights of my trip, and I will absolutely be going back to explore everything I couldn’t get to this time around. Before making my decision to stay two nights in Bodø, I read various travel blogs[1] and stumbled across one in particular that pronounced Bodø one of the hidden gems of Norway.[2] I couldn’t agree more.
Additionally, I have it on good authority that one can see the Northern Lights in Bodø, as it is just north of the Arctic Circle. However, just like any other city, there is a fair amount of light pollution. The best way to see the Northern Lights is to travel outside the city limits, far enough away where you can see the stars in the sky. I just happened to miss the Northern Lights my first night there because I didn’t know any better, for which offense I was emphatically lambasted by three Norwegian gentlemen[3] I met at a local bar the following night.
I was further told, in no uncertain terms, that I would not see the Northern Lights on this trip to Norway because the weather was forecasted to be “too shittty” and there was no chance the weather would change anywhere north of the Arctic Circle. I then received a long and detailed explanation about why the weather in northern Norway would not change in the next week. Everyone in Norway becomes an expert on weather patterns when it comes to seeing the Northern Lights. What a delightful happenstance for misguided tourists. Pro tip: Contact your local Norwegian before running off to Norway to see the Northern Lights and watch them transform into a meteorologist right in front of you. It’s almost as amazing as seeing the Northern Lights. Almost. Maybe significantly less. But enjoyable, nonetheless.
Flying in to Bodø
To maximize my 14 days in Norway, I decided to take a direct flight from Oslo to Bodø on Friday afternoon.[4] I landed in Bodø around 6:30 pm, a full hour after our expected arrival time. I flew SAS from Oslo (read my SAS review here), and other than the delay in takeoff, it was a wonderful flight. Everyone was extremely orderly, there was no hemming or hawing, no irritated passengers, just a plane full of reserved Norwegians and the odd foreigner dotted amongst them. The flight attendants were just about the most fun people I’ve ever met. Okay, I might be exaggerating but I think in real life that must be pretty damn close to the truth.
In terms of price, I paid around $140 USD for my flight from Oslo to Bodø, but I purchased an SAS Plus ticket so in case my plans changed I could rebook or refund the fare. If I had booked my flight a little earlier, the base fare would have been about half that, starting around $50 USD. There are cheaper airlines that operate within Norway, but I had a great experience on SAS, and I love flying them every chance I get.
After arriving in the Bodø airport, I had to wait to collect my checked bag from baggage claim. This was quite simple and straightforward, and the wait time was very bearable. From my google searches, I knew that downtown Bodø was a 15 minute walk from the airport, but that there was also a public bus that would get me there in about seven minutes and that would drop me about two blocks from my hotel.
However, there is a small gating issue for my public bus plan—I do not know how to purchase a bus ticket. What would your average tourist do? I have no idea, I did absolutely nothing in an average manner while I was in Norway. I mean, who has time to care about practicalities, I’m in Norway and everything is great here. In complete keeping with this outlook, I exited the airport with a calm, decorous deportment and slowly took in my surroundings. Just kidding, that’s almost never how I go absolutely anywhere. No, I raced out of the airport like my ass was on fire to find a bus waiting at the corner. I wasn’t even sure it was my bus at the time, but more speed was clearly needed in this situation.
Like any person with a body part on fire, I mad-dash it over to this bus with what were probably crazy eyes, flailing in seven different directions, all with total certainty about absolutely nothing. Naturally then, I’m looking traumatized and confused, and the bus driver is definitely looking at me looking at him. Noticing that I’m a tourist in distress, the bus driver kindly pointed to an advertisement splashed across the side of the bus for the “Reis Nordland” app. No explanation needed. I quickly searched and downloaded the app to my phone. As I was waiting for it to load, the bus driver waived me on board. See, you’re supposed to purchase your tickets before you board public transit in Norway, not while you’re sitting there. Norwegians are all about rules and not breaking them, so I was extremely grateful he didn’t leave me waiting at the airport terminal. I cannot stress how polite everyone is in Norway. Such a lovely country.
Staying in Bodø
After my relatively straightforward public transit adventure, I arrived in downtown Bodø, which is by the harbor. I made my way to my hotel, alternatingly dragging and hauling my check-in size luggage with me over the rock-size rock salt they use everywhere in Norway that will unabashedly ruin the wheels on your luggage. Luckily, my hotel was only a few blocks from the bus stop and my evil roller-board bag only added a few more bruises to my upper thighs.
I stayed at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Bodø (read my review here). Radisson Blu is a chain hotel throughout Norway—I believe there is one in almost every major city and each has conference space available. My room was pleasant and modern, but I was a little surprised to find that there were no snacks or alcohol available for purchase in the room. This seems to be a common theme throughout the hotels in Norway. Take note if you are counting on finding food, or booze, in your hotel room—there most likely won’t be any.
Upon arriving in my room, I immediately threw myself into the throes of departing as I was on the prowl for some Friday evening nightlife. I considered going to the hotel bar at the Radisson Blue, called Top 13 Bar & Lounge. The bar had quite a lot of good google reviews remarking on the quality of the cocktails. Though I am an avid cocktail-lover, I opted not to stop there first on my way out of my hotel. No, instead I ventured to another restaurant nearby, called Gatsby. Gatsby is a perfectly decent restaurant with good burgers and fabulous cocktails, but is not a good place to meet new people. The bar was completely dead, and for the life of me I could not figure out who I was supposed to order from: the bartender or the maître d’, who seemed to double as a waiter. I don’t know if this confusion was because I was sitting at the bar, or why the whole ordering process seemed so unnecessarily complicated. You would think if you were sitting at the bar, with the bartender on the other side, that the bartender would come up to you and take your order. But no, why would that be the case for Emily, on her first Friday night in Norway, when she’s all alone at this dead-empty bar, wondering how she missed her exit on the freeway and ended up here instead. Dreaming of a different exit, I’m left sitting there at this bar, trying not to stare at the bartender, thinking extreme thoughts about cocktails in his direction, exceedingly grateful when the maître d’ walks up to ask me if I want anything to eat or drink, which is a very odd thing to be grateful about when one is seated at the bar.
And it went on like that. For the entire night. The only thing I managed to get out of the bartender, without a helpful word from the maître d’, was a glass of water. For whatever reason, I decided to go back in for a second drink. The cocktails were delicious, but they were not worth the price of awkwardness I had to pay to get one in front of me. And if ordering a second round of cocktails wasn’t hard enough, let me tell you how long I sat at that bar trying to figure out how to pay my bill and get out of there! Far too long. That’s the answer. Beyond the point of feeling awkward. It just got downright weird. I kept thinking, okay now he’s going to bring me my check. That didn’t happen. No. Even though I was at the bar, I had to go to another part of the bar to get my check and then I had to wait in line to pay said check. Add that to the awkward-o-meter and I was at a solid seven.
Combining my utter lack of social interaction and my feelings of awkwardness, I was having myself one deflating Friday night. But I was in Norway for christ’s sake and I was unwilling to call the night on a low note. I put myself back together and returned to my hotel with a million questions for the lady at the front desk about where to go for some good nightlife. Of course, it was during this conversation that I found out Gatsby is not a good place to socialize. I don’t know about the weirdness of ordering and paying, I was already 30 questions deep into a maze of 100 and I didn’t have time to take detours with this woman. However, I did ask about the hotel bar, Top 13. It seemed like an easy cop-out, but the front desk lady warned me that Top 13 is often occupied by conference attendees, and not the best place to meet other people if you’re traveling solo in Bodø. Thank you front desk lady for averting total boredom and potentially even more awkwardness.
In addition to being a font of information, this woman had the patience of a saint. I cannot thank her enough—she was one of the nicest hotel concierges I have ever met. She gave me excellent recommendations for where to go out as a solo traveler, what time to go, and even reviewed my outfit (a pink tunic sweater and leggings) when I came back downstairs an hour later! If you’ve been following my Norway chronicles you may be wondering about the wisdom of my choice to wear leggings. Well, wonder no more, my curious friends—it turns out that leggings are perfectly acceptable attire in Norway.[5] Armed with the front-desk lady’s reassurance on my outfit, and a new location to try, I ventured out around 11:00 pm to a disco called Dama Di.
Oh Dama Di. You are a somewhat bizarre, yet culturally eclectic place, that I have to revisit upon my return to Norway. I can’t say that you turned my Friday night around, but you were definitely happening. To me—you were happening to me. Yes, I was there and so were some other people and at least the bartenders knew how to take a drink order. If you’re not picking up what I’m putting down, I’m saying this place was more of an experience than a fun Friday night for me. Red flag number one might have been the front desk lady’s warning not to leave anything at the coat check there. If you weren’t paying attention, this is Norway and you can pretty much leave everything you own anywhere you want, come back in 24 hours, and find your stuff in the exact same place the next day. Not at Dama Di, people.
All you rampaging readers out there, quell your beating hearts. My adventures at Dama Di are next to come.
[1] See Silvia, “9 Reasons to Visit Bodø on Your Trip to Norway,” https://www.heartmybackpack.com/norway/things-to-do-in-bodo/, Heart My Backpack.com (https://www.heartmybackpack.com/), Sept. 16, 2022 (hereinafter referenced as “Silvia”); Megan Starr, “22 Things to Do in Bodø, Norway’s Most Underrated City,” https://www.meganstarr.com/things-to-do-in-bodo-norway/, Megan & Aram (https://www.meganstarr.com/blog), Jan. 5, 2023 (herineafter referenced as “Starr”).
[2] Starr.
[3] Names have been changed to maintain the privacy of the individuals mentioned herein.
[4] You can also take the train to Bodø. See “Experience the Nordland Railway: the Arctic Circle Express,” https://www.visitnorway.com/plan-your-trip/getting-around/by-train/nordland-line/, Norway (https://www.visitnorway.com/), updated 2023. In her blog entry on Bodø, Silvia explains she traveled from Oslo to Bodø by train.
[5] I was highly concerned, as the young man I met on the airplane over to Oslo professed not to know what leggings were and he certainly didn’t know if women in Norway wore them out. How terrifying.