Vadsø is a town on the bleak Varanger Peninsular, right at the very northeastern extremity of Norway. It stands facing south into the Varangerfjord and on the E75 route on the way to its terminus at Vardo. Vadsø is a small place but serves as the administrative hub for the whole of the Finnmark region. If you hire a car in Vadsø you'll soon find that the peninsular presents an inhospitable landscape of Arctic tundra with mountains rising above 2,ft. The Vadsø area is the mildest however, and allows the growth of occasional trees. Much of the peninsular is protected as part of the Varangerhalvøya National Park.
Most of Vadsø stands on the island of Vadsøya, which is connected to the mainland by a road bridge. The town's history involved hosting famine refugees from Finland and today Finnish is still spoken widely in the town. Hire a car in Vadsø to explore fully. You'll find some attractive 19th-century wooden houses and the austere modern concrete church. Visitors can still see the airship mast used by the 1920's polar airship explorations, including the tragic flight of the Italia in 1928. The modern airport is just to the east of the town and the Hurtigruten coastal service calls at Vadsø port regularly.
