Excerpt from bbc.com
Norway's stunning Lofoten Islands have gone viral for their midnight summer sun. But as the isles face overtourism for the first time, residents have an important message for visitors.
Located 300km inside the Arctic Circle, Norway's Lofoten archipelago rises dramatically from the sea in a jagged, mountainous crescendo. Its otherworldly glacier-sculpted landscapes and magical 24-hour summer daylight have led the isles to proudly dub themselves "the world's most beautiful islands". But it's a roadside stop, not a soaring summit or majestic fjord, that convinces me of this self-declared moniker.
Just a few paces away from the village of Flakstad on the island of Flakstadøya, I spy a beach where the water shifts from turquoise to glass-clear as it laps against basalt rock and sugar-white sand. It's a scene more Aegean than Arctic – until you see the ridge of craggy mountains floating above the fjord, the last snow clinging to their flanks. From late May to the end of July, Lofoten is bathed in constant daylight, and in this endless summer sun, the colours feel heightened. Standing on the sand, it's hard to imagine anywhere more idyllic.