Food, Glorious Food: A Delicious Guide to Hurtigruten

One of our Destination Specialists explores the food and dining experience aboard Hurtigruten's Norwegian Coastal Voyage.

Hurtigruten's Norwegian Coastal Voyage, known as the world's most beautiful voyage, offers not only a feast for the eyes, but also the taste buds. As the Coastal Express sails between Bergen and Kirkenes, the landscapes outside the window are reflected in the food served onboard. Hurtigruten's Norway's Coastal Kitchen concept brings the flavours of the coast to the table, with fresh, seasonal ingredients sourced from local producers along the route.

Norway's Coastal Kitchen

Hurtigruten's Norway's Coastal Kitchen is all about bringing the coast onboard. Hurtigruten sources directly from around 70 local farms, fisheries and bakeries, with ingredients and food and drink gathered from communities along the route.

The idea is wonderfully simple: as you sail through Norway, the landscape outside your window is mirrored on your plate. The food changes with the seasons and celebrates the places through which you travel, with local ingredients, traditional flavours and modern Nordic cooking.

You might taste melt-in-your-mouth cod from Vesterålen, award-winning cheeses from Lofoten or brews from Bergen. Seafood from the Norwegian coast is naturally a highlight, with ingredients sourced directly from local fisherfolk and producers. Every dish is designed to tell a story of place, season and tradition.

Dining onboard the Coastal Express

On the Hurtigruten Original Coastal Express, breakfast, lunch and dinner are served daily in Torget, the ship's main restaurant. Tea and filter coffee are also included.

The restaurant is designed to keep you connected to the scenery, so you can enjoy your meal while watching Norway's dramatic coastline pass by. One moment you might be sailing past steep mountains and small fishing villages; the next, you could be looking out across an Arctic landscape.

For something extra special, guests can upgrade to dine at Kysten, Hurtigruten's fine-dining restaurant. Here, Norwegian ingredients and coastal flavours are given a more refined treatment, making it a wonderful choice for a special evening during your voyage.

A taste of the Norwegian coast

If you love seafood, a Hurtigruten Coastal Express voyage offers plenty to tempt you. Norway's long coastline provides an extraordinary variety of seafood, and local ingredients feature strongly in Hurtigruten's onboard cuisine.

Cod from Vesterålen is one of the specialities highlighted by Hurtigruten, while king crab from coastal Finnmark is another celebrated taste of northern Norway. Along the way, you can also discover the cheeses, breads, beers and other regional produce that make Norwegian food so closely connected to the landscape.

The food isn't all about seafood, either. Norway's Coastal Kitchen celebrates the country's farms and food producers alongside its fishermen, with fresh ingredients that reflect the region and season. The result is fresh, healthy Nordic food with a distinctly coastal character.

Food with a lighter footprint

Hurtigruten's approach to food is closely connected to its wider commitment to caring for the Norwegian coast. The company has invested in reducing the environmental impact of its fleet and has banned unnecessary single-use plastics. Every ship also carries water filtration systems designed to help protect the seas through which it sails.

The focus on local food also forms part of this story. By working with a network of local farms, fisheries and bakeries, Hurtigruten brings ingredients from the communities along the coast directly to its ships. One of the examples featured in the brochure is Myklevik Gård, an ecological farm in Lofoten known for its zero-waste practices.

This connection between food, people and place is one of the most enjoyable aspects of dining on the Coastal Express. Rather than offering food that could be served anywhere, Hurtigruten aims to give travellers a taste of the coast they are exploring.

And, of course, there is the scenery. One of the pleasures of a Hurtigruten voyage is that there is no need to choose between sightseeing and dining. Your table becomes another vantage point from which to experience the coast, whether you're watching the changing light of the Arctic winter, the Midnight Sun of summer or the landscapes of Norway in spring and autumn.

After all, food tastes even better when you're looking out at one of the world's most beautiful coastlines.

Considering a coastal voyage of your own? Contact one of our friendly Destination Specialists to learn more.

Photo credits: Carsten Pedersen / Hurtigruten, Agurtxane Concellon / Hurtigruten.

Further reading

A Hurtigruten voyage is one way to travel Norway's coast, and it sits within a wider set of journeys along the same waters. Our Norwegian coastal voyages set out the full range of routes, from the classic Bergen to Kirkenes sailing to shorter northbound and southbound legs. For travellers who want time ashore as well as at sea, our coastal voyages combined with a land journey pair the coast with the fjords, cities and Arctic north. If the aurora is the main reason to travel, our Northern Lights voyages focus on the winter sailings beneath the polar night. And for practical guidance and first-hand accounts, our coastal voyage articles and guides range from what to pack to what a day on board is like.