Cycling from Lille to Nordkapp: advice on my route

Hi there, I’m planning the route to cycle from Lille to Nordkapp with my partner. Duration: 3 months, from May 1st to July 31st, 2026. In the attached details below, I need to add some "non-riding" days (rest days, basically). So I’m looking to "shorten" the trip by taking ferries or trains for some stretches. Which areas could I skip? Thanks in advance for your great tips. Have a good evening. https://www.komoot.com/fr-fr/collection/4023980/-lille-cap-nord-1er-mai-au-31-juillet-2026?ref=collection

Hi Olivier, from my experience, it’s often more practical to cover a few extra km on a "rest" day rather than taking a complete stop. Otherwise, given the route, the entire section from Lille to Denmark is totally flat, so I think it’ll be easy to increase the km a bit on that stretch and save 2–3 days.

I just took a closer look at your route and its breakdown. In Norway, there are quite a few stages that only add up to 20 or 30 km with very little elevation gain. It seems to me that stretching them to around 50/60 km would easily free up some rest time. You should also keep in mind that while 50 km might feel tough in the first few days, after two months of cycling, it’ll be a breeze. On my last long trips, the first few days at 70 km left me "fried," but after a month, 100 km was a piece of cake.

Thanks Nomade for your feedback. My route is purely indicative, and over 3 months, we’re giving ourselves the flexibility to do more or less each day, depending on the weather, how our legs feel, the people we meet, and the landscapes. We’re currently wondering whether to go from north to south—taking the train to Hamburg (instead of Lille) and heading up there by train via Oslo, all the way to Nordkapp... we’ll see. The risk is that in May, it’ll probably be really cold, I think... What do you think?

Hi there, After cycling from Tromsø to Nordkapp in May-June 2015, my route might interest you for reference: https://ddvagabondages.fr/index.php/dede-velo/voyages/europe/norvege-2015-1 Happy planning! André

Hi there, I’m not a big cyclist—just a few multi-day trips a year—so take my opinion with a grain of salt... I’m a bit confused about how you’re calculating the duration of your stages. I see stages over 80 km with 1,200 to 1,300 m of elevation gain that are estimated to take less time than some with very little elevation. As someone used to the mountains but a mediocre cyclist, I really struggle with elevation gains over 1,000 m, and my average speed in those cases rarely exceeds 10 km/h, whereas on relatively flat routes, I’m usually around 18 km/h.

Actually, the route is a combination of many GPX files I’ve gathered here and there—from forum posts I’ve read, as well as official sites like EuroVelo, Norway’s National Cycle Routes, etc. Each stage will probably need fine-tuning once I’m on the ground, depending on what I mentioned in another post. So, the distance, elevation gain, and duration for each stage... all of that is just a rough estimate for now. To plan the trip and let it mature, I need to visualize a basic route. QED

Thanks André, I’ve already checked out your blog—super informative and it really makes me want to go! Hope we haven’t set the bar too high for a first long trip of over 3 weeks, which is already more than usual.

I can't find this info on your blog... which route did you take back from the North Cape to the south, because this question is really bugging me? Thanks!

I returned to Tromsø by Hurtigruten boat from Henningsvær https://ddvagabondages.fr/index.php/dede-velo/voyages/europe/norvege-2015-2 on Tuesday, June 9, 2015. I’d recommend this boat trip back. The Hurtigruten goes much farther south. You see Norway in a whole different way, especially when it’s raining...

Thanks André, I’ll check that out!

Hi there, What a great project—I really admire it! Just a heads-up: there’s no train all the way to Nordkapp. The northernmost point you can reach by train is Narvik, going through Sweden. If you stick to Norway, it’s Bodø. The rest of the way is by bus. Happy planning!

Hi there,

I also did this route (starting from Oslo). You can find the travel journal, maps with the stages on my blog:

https://onbaik.blogspot.com/p/nordkap-juillet-2022.html

A few ways to shorten it: - For me, Belgium and the Netherlands aren’t the most exciting and can easily be skipped. - Denmark is pretty and quite flat: the coastline is beautiful. - You can also shorten the trip by taking the mountain route from Oslo to Trondheim, which lets you skip the well-known fjords (very scenic) but adds quite a bit of distance. That’s the option we chose (all the details are on the blog). - Once you’re there, it’s very easy to skip stages by taking one of the many ferries that cover long distances, or even the Hurtigruten, which travels the entire Norwegian coast in stages (though it’s quite expensive). If that’s the case, I’d recommend only booking if you’re sure you’ll take it, as there’s no refund possible (we had this issue), even if you want to move it up by a day (total scam).

I’d recommend heading *toward* Nordkapp rather than coming back from it—it’s a powerful magnet, and the landscapes get more and more stunning. Plus, in May, there’s no midnight sun, whereas in July there is, and it’s amazing.

As for the duration: we took 1.5 months to go from Oslo to Nordkapp (with a few rest days to visit places like Trondheim, Lofoten, Bodø, etc.).

Three months seems like plenty of time to me.

Make sure to pack good rain gear and budget for staying in *hytte* (wooden cabins) now and then to dry your stuff. Our trip was very rainy (2 out of every 3 days), but some people in 2023 were luckier—almost no rain. Unless you’re total warriors, of course.

Keep in mind that everything is expensive in Norway!

For the return trip: like others, we took the Hurtigruten from Honningsvåg to Tromsø, then flew back.

Have a great trip—it’s beautiful!!!

Thanks so much for your feedback. I’ll check out your blog, Olivier

hi there, we did the bike trip in three months from June to August 2025 (5,700 km and 45,000 m of elevation gain). We took the train to Hamburg, then EuroVelo 12 to HIRTSHALS, ferry to BERGEN, then EuroVelo 1 all the way to the NORTH CAPE. We came back by ferry to BERGEN and HIRTSHALS, then cycled home through Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Voie Bleue and ViaRhona—we live near Aix-les-Bains. If you want more details...