NORWAY

The essence of Norway's appeal is remarkably simple: this is one of the most beautiful countries on earth. From precipitous glaciers to steep-sided gorges and crystalline fjords, Norway’s natural beauty is impossible to overstate. The unspoilt wilderness of the Arctic north is one of the few places where the sun shines at midnight during the summer and where the magnificent Northern Lights brighten the skies during the long winter dark. In the far north, the glacier-covered subpolar peninsular of Svalbard is one of the few areas where polar bears can easily be seen.It is the westernmost, northernmost—and in fact the easternmost—of the three Scandinavian countries.

About two-thirds of Norway is mountainous, and off its much-indented coastline lie, carved by deep glacial fjords, 50,000 islands.

Glaciers, grand and glorious, snake down from ice fields that rank among Europe's largest.

Norway is known as the land of the midnight sun, because certain areas of the country get 24 hours of sunlight for part of the summer.