I had the pleasure of having an excellent white water kayak trip to Northern Norway in the Summer of 2026. Here’s some notes for my own benefit and anyone who is interested.
We previously did a trip to the popular Sjoa area which worked great. So this year we booked to go further north in search of new water. We were 5 people all competent to paddle grade 4 with 5 water. All able to roll in most cases although we had I think three swims over the two weeks. 5 feels like an ideal number as you can easily make a group decision, you can travel in two cars, you can lose a person or two for a day or two and it still works. You can even pick up a person or two if that is useful and you can fit the luggage, boats and kit in the two cars.
We booked flights from Edinburgh to Trondheim with Norwegian air. Fortunately we made the booking before Trump started an unprovoked war with Iran and the cost was about £730 each person for a return. This included two large bags in the hold, two small bags in the cabin and 1 piece of sports kit. They do not have an option for kayaks and claim to limit sports kit to 23kg and 250cm which our white water kayaks were slightly over but this didn’t seem to be a major problem. The flight goes to Oslo were we changed to another plane for Trondheim. Of course we needed helpful family members to drive us to the airport with boats and bags. At airport check-in in Edinburgh the the lady did get confused about our surf boards being large and had to go and ask how to check them in but after a 15 minutes delay worked it out. We had one bag for paddles although some of us flew with splits inside the kayak. We also put bags under the tail of the kayak when being weighed which I thought would be something the check-in would spot but did not seem to be. One car used Long Stay parking at Edinburgh.
After a nervous wait by the Special Luggage door at Trondheim airport the boats made it out fine. We used gig economy app Getaround to hire two cars and arrange for them both to have roof racks (remember your own straps) and have one meet us at the airport. This first car was used to drive to pick up the second car. We arrived on the Saturday and supermarkets close on Sundays in Norway so we had to make a stop at Burger King and at a supermarket to buy food and cooking gas for the next couple of days. With no obvious rivers to paddle between Trondheim and the campsite we made the 5 hours drive to RiverNorth AS campsite. There Joe Rae-Dickens met us and chatted about the best rivers to paddle. It’s a simple campsite with some tables under a canopy and a toilet/shower block. There also seems to be a washing machine you can pay to use for clothes although we didn’t use it.
We arrived at the end of June and we were the only campers on the site besides a couple of campervans. That first week we paddled the local classics: Vefsna Festival Run, Susna, Gasveselve and Stavvasselva. We did the wonderfully long big water paddle of Vefsna Wilderness and Ragnarok down to the campsite. The Ukerelva and Krugata had more lost-in-the-mountains vibes.
Norway is like England to the extent that Norge Norvege starts less than half way up the country. After a week we went further north to the Arctic Circle Campsite. Here we paddled the Rana river which the guide described as 3-4 but turned out to be a long grade 4-5 run which pleasingly ended at the campsite. This campsite had the luxury of a warm cafe with hot chocolate and tumble dryer. I got a massage while my friends mapped the lower Rana. We then visited the Arctic Circle Centre which is a fun tourist trap where the sun don’t set. Buy a raindear pelt for a changing mat and a Sami knife for your cheese.
We drove back south to the Vefsna and RiverNorth and found that we had set the trend as more and more kayakers turned up each day. Low water elsewhere ment many of Europe’s paddlers had turned up where we were. We repeated some of the same runs but with some more company. On the way home we did the Gargbergelva which is a long walk in after a long drive but was well worth it. The final day was spent washing, hoovering and returning the cars.
For 5 people for two weeks travelling around, camping, fuel and food we spent £4000 or £815 each. We booked the cars for 2000Km but drove 3200Km which costs an extra 5 Kroner per Km (would be 4 Kroner if we had booked the extra in advance but you don’t know on advance ) so that was an extra £150 each. Roads in Norway often had tolls which are picked up by an onboard transponder and charged on return. Tolls were £8 a person.
With flights at £730 and sport travel insurance at £35 that’s £1740 a person.
Bring split paddles, we had to use them. Bring uprights for the roof rack but beware of the 17mm socket tool being taken off you at Edinburgh airport security. Everyone but me had ear plugs either because of issues with surfers ear or wanting to avoid issues so maybe I should get into them. Bring drysuit neck seals and glue, we had to use two. We were super lucky with the weather, some days of sun, some days of rain which kept up the rivers but never so much we ended up with excessively cold camping and under kit. And it was fun having more and more paddlers arrive during the second week as it became clear we had picked the best spot. I edited some of the whitewater.guide entries and added some photos and videos, anyone else who has changes do let me know.
See my Norway White Water Kayaking YouTube playlist for the videos.