The North Cape plateau rises 307 metres above the Arctic Ocean at the northern tip of Magerøya island, and most people who come to this part of Norway come specifically to stand on it. The famous steel globe sculpture sits at the edge of the cliff, and on a clear day the view north is nothing but open sea until the polar ice cap. The horizon is genuinely the Arctic Ocean.
The plateau itself is flat tundra — bare rock and low scrub, windswept even in summer. The Nordkapp Hall visitors centre is built into the cliff face below the plateau and contains a café, a cinema showing a film about the North Cape through the seasons, and a post office where you can get your passport stamped or send a letter from 71°N. The centre is busy in summer and closed or limited in winter, when the road from Honningsvåg is often blocked by snow and only snowmobile tours make it up.
The midnight sun is visible from the plateau from mid-May to late July without setting. In clear weather in winter, the northern lights appear above the cliff in curtains of green and sometimes pink. The standard tour combines both the plateau and the Kirkeporten rock arch in Skarsvåg for the full perspective on this stretch of coast.