For almost fifty years, the Norwegian Cruising Guide has accompanied sailors along the length of Norway’s remarkable coastline. First published in 1978, at a time when reliable English-language information was scarce, it quickly became the standard reference for those venturing north. Since then, it has been expanded, revised and carefully handed on from one group of committed cruisers to the next.

A Tradition of Continuity

What makes this Guide distinctive is not only its scope, but its continuity. Each generation has built directly on the work of those before them — not rewriting from scratch, but refining, correcting and expanding based on firsthand experience. The result is a body of knowledge accumulated over decades at sea: harbours revisited, anchorages rechecked, passages sailed again in different conditions and seasons. That long memory gives the Guide a depth that cannot be assembled quickly.

A Guide that Evolved

From its early focus on parts of the coast, it grew in the 1990s to include North Norway, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, eventually covering the entire route from the Swedish border to the Russian frontier and into the high Arctic. In 2006, it was among the first major cruising guides to appear as an interactive eBook, opening new possibilities for linked navigation and digital planning. Each development has had the same purpose: to make the Guide more useful to those actually sailing these waters.