Arctic Voyage to the North Cape & Land of the Midnight Sun

Newcastle upon Tyne is a university city on the River Tyne in northeast England. With its twin city, Gateshead, it was a major shipbuilding and manufacturing hub during the Industrial Revolution and is now a centre of business, arts and sciences. Spanning the Tyne, modern Gateshead Millennium Bridge, noted for its unique tilting aperture, is a symbol of the 2 cities.

Kristiansund is a town and also name of the municipality on the western coast of Norway. It is known as the dried codfish capital of Norway. 

It is a city situated in the middle of the sea, located over four islands. The small local ferry Sundbaten takes visitors and locals alike between the Kirkelandet, Innlandet, Nordlandet and Gomalandet. 

The Norwegian Clipfish Museum is located at Milnbrygga wharf. The town was built partly on the fishing heritage of clipfish, which is split, salted cod dried traditionally on the cliffs along the sea. 

Kraftkar cheese is from here, and Snadderfestivalen is the annual food festival every June, which celebrates local food, craft beer and aquavit. 

Sortland is a town in Norway's Nordland county, in the region of Vesterålen. The Norwegian Coastguard has a base here, and it is also a popular place for observing the Northern Lights. The town is the location of the Sortland Bridge, which provides a road connection between Langøya and Hinnøya by road. Sortland is sometimes nicknamed the Blue City, as many of its houses are painted in that colour.

Searching in 1553 for a northeast passage to India, British navigator Richard Chancellor came upon a crag 307 yards above the Barents Sea. He named the jut of rock North Cape, or Nordkapp. Today Europe's northernmost point is a rite-of-passage journey for nearly all Scandinavians and many others. Most cruise passengers visit Nordkapp from Honningsvåg, a fishing village on Magerøya Island. The journey from Honningsvåg to Nordkapp covers about 35 km (22 miles) across a landscape characterized by rocky tundra and grazing reindeer, which are rounded up each spring by Sami herdsmen in boats. The herdsmen herd the reindeer across a mile-wide channel from their winter home on the mainland. Honningvåg's northerly location makes for long, dark winter nights and perpetually sun-filled summer days. The village serves as the gateway to Arctic exploration and the beautiful Nordkapp Plateau, a destination that calls to all visitors of this region. Most of those who journey to Nordkapp (North Cape), the northernmost tip of Europe, are in it for a taste of this unique, otherworldly, rugged yet delicate landscape. You'll see an incredible treeless tundra, with crumbling mountains and sparse dwarf plants. The subarctic environment is very vulnerable, so don't disturb the plants. Walk only on marked trails and don't remove stones, leave car marks, or make campfires. Because the roads are closed in winter, the only access is from the tiny fishing village of Skarsvåg via Sno-Cat, a thump-and-bump ride that's as unforgettable as the desolate view.

More than 600 miles north of the Arctic Circle, the world's northernmost town is also one of the most widely visited and oldest places in northern Norway. "Hammerfest" means "mooring place" and refers to the natural harbor (remarkably free of ice year-round thanks to the Gulf Stream) that is formed by the crags in the mountain. Hammerfest is the gateway to the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean, a jumping-off point for Arctic expeditions. Once a hunting town, Hammerfest's town emblem features the polar bear. In 1891 the residents of Hammerfest, tired of the months of darkness that winter always brought, decided to brighten their nights: they purchased a generator from Thomas Edison, and Hammerfest thus ecame the first city in Europe to have electric street lamps. In addition to two museums, there are several shops within Hammerfest's small city center. There is also a market selling souvenirs and other goods outside the town hall.

With its centre located on the island of Tromsø, the municipality of Tromsø is more than five times the size of Norway’s capital, Oslo, and is the world’s northernmost university city. Lying 200 miles inside the Arctic Circle, it is known as the 'Gateway to the Arctic' because it was used as a starting point for hunters looking for Arctic foxes, polar bears and seals. In the 19th century it was a base for explorers on Arctic expeditions – a history that is remembered in the city’s Polar Museum, which you can visit on an excursion. Also commemorated in the area is the history of Norway’s indigenous people, the Sami. Visitors can learn about the traditions, heritage and modern preservation of the Sami culture at the Tromsø Museum. Nowadays, Tromsø is a charming mix of old and new, with wooden buildings sitting alongside contemporary architecture such as the impressive glacier-like Arctic Cathedral, which features one of the largest stained glass windows in Europe. Looking down on the city is Mount Storsteinen, and a cable car runs to the top, giving wonderful views over the surrounding countryside of forested peaks and reindeer pastures.

Molde, the 'Town of Roses', is a city and municipality in Romsdal in Møre og Romsdal County, Norway. The municipality is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord. The city is located on the northern shore of the Romsdalsfjord. The city of Molde is the administrative centre of Møre og Romsdal County, administrative center of the municipality of Molde, commercial hub of the Romsdal region and seat of the Diocese of Møre. Molde proper consists of a 6.2-mile (10-kilometre) long and 0.62-1.24 mile (1-2-kilometre) wide strip of urban land running east-west along the north shore of the Moldefjord, an arm of the Romsdalsfjord, on the Romsdal Peninsula. The city is sheltered by Bolsøya and the Molde Archipelago, a chain of low-lying islands and islets, to the south and the wood-clad hills of Moldemarka to the north. The city centre is located just west of the River Moldeelva, which runs into the city from the north, originating in the Lake Moldevatnet and running through the Valley Moldedalen.

Newcastle upon Tyne is a university city on the River Tyne in northeast England. With its twin city, Gateshead, it was a major shipbuilding and manufacturing hub during the Industrial Revolution and is now a centre of business, arts and sciences. Spanning the Tyne, modern Gateshead Millennium Bridge, noted for its unique tilting aperture, is a symbol of the 2 cities.