Helgeland is the stretch of mainland coast and offshore archipelago that runs along the northern Norwegian coast between Trøndelag in the south and the Salten/Lofoten region in the north. Administratively it is part of Nordland county. Geographically it covers approximately 17,000 square kilometers of coast and inland mountains, with a permanent population of about 80,000 - a low population density that is part of what gives the region its particular slow-travel character.
The defining geographical feature is the strandflat - the low coastal platform of thousands of small islands and skerries that runs along most of the Norwegian western coast but is at its widest and most distinctive on Helgeland. This produces both the calm inland coastal waters that make the Kystriksveien coastal route rideable on a bicycle, and the unusual bird-and-marine ecology of the outer islands.
Helgeland holds two major internationally recognized sites. The Vega archipelago - designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004 - is recognized for its 1,500-year tradition of sustainable eider-duck farming, in which the women of the islands maintain wooden nesting houses for wild eider ducks and harvest the down the females shed onto the nest. The Trollfjell Geopark - designated a UNESCO Global Geopark in 2019 - covers a broader landscape including the Seven Sisters mountain range, the Torghatten arch, and several other distinctive coastal rock formations.
Other notable features: the puffin colony at Lovund (approximately 200,000 birds nesting on the cliffs above the village every spring); the historic trading posts (gamle handelssteder) at Forvik, Husøy, Ylvingen and Træna, several of which now operate as small atmospheric overnight accommodations; the Polar Circle which crosses the coast at the small village of Stokkvågen, marked by a small monument and a brief ceremony for travelers who notice it on the ferry. We arrange both cycling and slow-coastal trips through the region. See The Helgeland coast by bicycle.