Vardo town is the only town in Norway situated in arctic climate zone, this means that the average temperature per mounth exceeds 10 degrees celcius. This of course means a lot for vegetation and animal life. The worlds most northern fortress village. One of Norways oldest town status from 1789.
Vardo - in the far east of Varanger - is the most northerly fortress town in the world and the only town in Western-Europe which is in the arctic climatic zone. It is also Norway's most easterly town, Norway's oldest town, Finnmark's oldest fishing community, the town where the witch trials took place and the home of Pomor trading. The local municipality consists of the small community of Kiberg on the mainland and the town of Vardo on an island which is connected to the mainland by Northern-Europe's first undersea tunnel.
Vardo is the easternmost town in Norway, and it is actually east of Saint Petersburg, Kiev and Istanbul. The eastern part of Finnmark is in the same time zone as the rest of the country, even if it is more than an hour at odds with daylight hours.
The port of Vardo, on the Barents Sea, remains ice-free all year round thanks to the effect of the warm North Atlantic drift. Vardo is usually referred to as Norway's only mainland town in the Arctic climate zone, although this is not strictly correct since the town is located on an island about 2 km off the northeastern coast of the Varanger Peninsula. In July, the 24-hr average temperature is only 9.1°C, while the January average is a modest -5.1°C.
The island is connected to the mainland via an undersea tunnel (Norway's first such structure); the town's airport, Vardo Airport, Svartnes, and the settlement of Svartnes are located on the mainland opposite the tunnel entrance. Vardo is a port of call on Norway's Hurtigruten ferry service. The town is the northern termination of European route E75, which starts in Sitia, Crete.
