Andenes sits at the northern tip of Andøya, the outermost island of Vesterålen, where a deep submarine canyon runs close to shore. That canyon is the reason the town exists as a destination at all: it draws squid, and squid draw sperm whales, which feed here year-round rather than passing through seasonally as they do almost everywhere else whales are watched. For a town this small and this far north, that's an unusual claim to fame.
Whale safari boats leave from the harbour through the summer season, and sightings are reliable enough that operators have run trips here since the late 1980s. The same waters and cliffs hold Bleiksøya, an offshore islet a short boat ride from the fishing village of Bleik, packed with nesting Atlantic puffins, razorbills, and guillemots through the summer.
The town itself is modest — a fishing and fisheries-research settlement with a lighthouse, a small aviation and space museum tied to the nearby rocket range, and long Arctic light in summer that makes for good late-evening walks along the sea wall. Andenes is also one of the more reliable places in Vesterålen to see the northern lights in winter, away from the light pollution of larger towns.