Vadsø is a small town on the Varanger Peninsula in Finnmark, northern Norway, with around 4,850 people in the urban area and about 5,800 in the municipality. The settlement originally developed on Vadsøya island before gradually moving to the mainland during the 17th century, and Vadsø received town privileges in 1833. It later became an important centre for trade with Russia and for Kven immigration from Finland, giving the town a distinctive cultural heritage that remains visible at Vadsø Museum – Ruija Kven Museum. Large parts of Vadsø were destroyed by Soviet bombing during the Second World War, although more pre-war buildings survived here than in many other parts of Finnmark. On nearby Vadsøya stands the mooring mast used by Roald Amundsen and Umberto Nobile’s airship Norge during its 1926 flight across the North Pole, and again by Nobile’s Italia in 1928. Today Vadsø is the administrative centre of Finnmark and a useful base for exploring Varanger, an area particularly known for Arctic landscapes, birdlife, fishing villages and the long coastline of Varangerfjord.

FESTIVALS

Valo Rock

Back to Norway.