The story of Reine

In the late 1970s, Allers, the largest weekly magazine in Norway, chose Reine as the most beautiful village in the country. A photograph of Reine taken from the mountain Reinebringen, 448 metres high, has since appeared on the front pages of several tourist brochures and books. For a long time that viewpoint was hard to reach: the mountain was considered steep, muddy and difficult to climb, until a stone staircase built in 2016–2019 made it easily accessible.

Reine has been a trading post since 1743 and was a centre of the local fishing industry, with a fleet of boats and fish processing. Its history also holds a painful day: in December 1941, the Germans burnt part of Reine in reprisal for a raid on the Lofoten Islands by British troops. In 1999 the painter Ingo Kühl set up a temporary studio in a rorbu here to paint the harbour.

And in January 2015, around 200 of the 307 residents gathered outdoors in midwinter when Coca-Cola launched Coca-Cola Life in Norway here.