Alta · Norway

Hovdenes rest area · Langfjorden road north of Talvik

Small rest area on the road from Talvik towards Langnes, on the open west shore of the Altafjord.

See tonight's live score and best time to go for Hovdenes rest area in Aurora Atlas

“Coastline of Altafjorden at Hovdenes in Alta, Troms og Finnmark, Norway, 2022 August” by Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized).

Why it works for the aurora

View: North-east and north over the outer Altafjord..
Darkness: Very dark sky, grade 0 on a scale from 0 (darkest) to 5. No towns or road lights nearby; the faintest aurora shows.
Aurora: Under the auroral oval: aurora can be overhead even on quiet nights.

Getting there

Distance: About 22 km by road from Alta (estimate), roughly 25 min by car.
Parking: Rest area; room for about 5 cars and 2 lorries.
Coordinates: 70.0906, 22.9873 · Open in OpenStreetMap

Before you go

Narrow county road; park inside the rest area.

Dress for standing still in the cold, bring a head torch with a red light, and park only where parking is allowed. A forecast is guidance, not a promise: check the road and weather warnings for Norway before a night drive. See our winter safety note.

Spot information from openstreetmap.org.