Ferries from Sanna hurtigbåtkai

Sanna is the island with the cave. Kirkhelleren, a vast rock shelter on this island in the Træna group, holds settlement traces going back 9,000 years — the oldest on this coast — and the boat here takes 10 minutes.

Where the boats go

• Sandøya — about 5 minutes.
• Træna — about 10 minutes.

32 active sailings across the landing — a high count for an island with almost no permanent population, and a consequence of how tightly the Træna group is knitted together.

⚠ Getting to Sanna means getting to Træna first

This is the second leg of a journey. The mainland connection is from Stokkvågen or Nesna out to Træna, and that crossing is open sea, weather-dependent and infrequent.

Plan the outer leg around the inner one, not the other way round.

Kirkhelleren

The cave is cathedral-shaped and enormous, opening in the side of the island's rock wall. Excavations have found tools, bones and burials; people have been gathering in it for ninety centuries and still do, since the Træna festival uses it as a venue.

It is not fenced, ticketed or interpreted. You walk in.

The island itself

Sanna rises out of the sea in a set of sharp peaks — Trænstaven, the highest, reaches 338 m straight from sea level. That silhouette is what made the Træna group findable from a long way off, and it is the reason people came here at all.

There is a footpath up, and it is a real climb rather than a stroll: 338 m of ascent starting at zero, on an island roughly 2 km long.

Facilities are essentially nil. Bring water and something to eat.

Season

The boats run all year on a reduced winter pattern. Visiting in winter means short daylight, frequent cancellations and a cave that is very cold.