Peter’s Route Planner and Stage Planner.

Peter's NPL planning tools

I am planning to hike through Norway in the summer of 2026. The start at the North Cape is planned for mid‑June. I hope to arrive at Norway’s southernmost point, the lighthouse at Lindesnes, after about 110 days.

Direct links to my tools:

The route planner is available at https://wieland.no/NPL/route_planner.php
The stage planner is available at https://wieland.no/NPL/stage_planner.php.
Be patient, it is a lot of data and the pages take a while to load.
The route splitter is available at https://wieland.no/NPL/route_splitter.php

Chapter 1: Route planning

When I started planning my route, I realised that there is no single standard route, but a large number of different ones. Apart from the fact that hikers walk in both directions, the different routes do not even all share Nordkapp/Lindesnes as same endpoints.

To be able to compare the various routes reasonably well, to see where popular and less popular lines run, and to identify possible smart alternatives for my own choice of route, I wrote the first version of my planning software. It shows routes from other hikers (together with their stages and the length of those stages) and allows any combination of different routes to be displayed on the map at the same time for comparison.

This route overview helped me to plan the route I wanted to walk.

Then came an additional topic: when various friends heard about the project, one or another had the idea of possibly joining me for part of the walk. To make this easier to plan, I extended my route planner with the “Companion” function.

The route planner is available at https://wieland.no/NPL/route_planner.php

User Manual for Peter’s Route Planner

1. Opening the page

After opening the page, the user sees an interactive map and a sidebar that shows routes, a POI list, a planning overview and a companion list.

2. Routes

Under “Folders” you will find various tracks that can be shown and hidden using the checkboxes on the left. My planned track is “Peter_Plan”, at the very top. That is the current version and can change at any time (also while I am on the way) – where I am is where I am, not necessarily where I was “supposed” to be.

The other tracks are similar routes from other hikers and are intended for comparison only. Functions 4–6 apply exclusively to the track “Peter_Plan”.

3. Points of Interest (POI)

These are locations that may be of interest (shops, accommodation, bus stops, campsites, etc.).
Points of interest are GPX waypoints that are grouped thematically in the corresponding directories (for example: cabin, shop, campsite).
You can upload as many new points of interest as you like. You can also create new groups (directories). The same point of interest can appear in as many directories as you like (for example, a place where you can both shop and camp).

4. Labels

Here you can switch on and off the display of the stage number, its estimated hiking date and the length of the stage.

5. Planning Overview (Schedule)

The planning overview lets you calculate expected hiking days. Only the route “Peter_Plan” is used for these calculations.
If you enter a start date and a starting stage, the script calculates the expected hiking date for every subsequent stage (stages before the starting stage are not given a date).
Using “Rest after … days” you can insert rest days after a chosen number of hiking days (buffer days or rest days if you do not plan to hike every single day).

As of November 2025, the plan is to start between 15 and 20 June at Nordkapp (segment 1), with one rest day every 15 days. This leads to an expected arrival in Lindesnes on 5 October.
However, a lot can still change in between!

Note: by default, the script calculates the stage days without any rest days and arrives at an expected finish date of 28 September.

6. Companions

By entering a name and clicking , you can create companions.

If companions are activated (checkbox to the left of the name), you can click on stages in the map on which they plan to join. A heart symbol to the left of the stage number, shown in the companion’s legend colour, indicates that I will not be walking that stage alone. For clarity, the active stages of each companion are also listed in that companion’s legend. Clicking on one of a companion’s active stages removes it again (the stage becomes inactive for that companion).

Chapter 2: Stage planning

The next task was choosing the stages. Again, I looked at a number of other hikers and saw that they usually created tables listing the start and end points of stages, stage lengths, and places along the route where you can buy various things (food, gas, equipment), where you can stay overnight, or where – if you wish – you can set up depots to have supplies posted to you. Maintaining these tables seemed quite time‑consuming to me, so I had some fun tackling the challenge of letting all relevant points along the chosen route be generated automatically.

To do this, I first had to collect as many points of interest (cabins, shops, etc.) as possible so they could be displayed along the route. This led to the creation of my stage planner.

The planner was then expanded with a function for planning overnight stops and – because not all stages can sensibly be walked from cabin to cabin – with a function to insert tent overnights.

The stage planner is available at https://wieland.no/NPL/stage_planner.php. Be patient, it is a lot of data and takes a while to load.

User Manual for Peter’s Stage Planner

1. Choosing a route and direction

In the stage planner you can choose a route you want to walk (and set the direction of travel, since a route always has a start and an end, and you may prefer to walk it in the opposite direction from the way it was originally recorded).

2. Choose max. POI distance

After that, you can specify a distance tolerance (in metres, up to a maximum of 5 km). The script then searches for all POIs whose distance from the chosen route is not greater than this value and lists them in the order in which these points lie along the route (including the distance between each POI and the total distance from the start).

3. Choose POI groups to display

You can switch POI groups on and off. Changes in the selection become visible when you click .

4. Mark POI as overnights

You can also mark POIs as overnight locations (checkbox on the left).
For better clarity, active overnight locations are highlighted in colour.

After making any changes you want to the overnight locations, you can save them as part of a trip.
(You can save as many trips as you like and create new ones at any time.)

5. Inserting tents for overnights

Finally, it is possible to insert tent overnights. This is done using the input field to the right of the overnight checkbox for the number of nights to add. Tent nights are inserted after (!) the POI you choose. So if you realise that the distance between A and B is too great without a tent overnight, you must insert the tent night at (after) A (even though the distance between A and B is displayed at B).
Immediately after entering the desired tent nights for a POI, they are inserted into the list of POIs at the corresponding place along the route by clicking . Newly added tent nights are, by default, activated as overnight stays (but can be deactivated at any time).

You should then save this set of overnight stays with before moving on to the next changes.
Tent overnights that are not marked as “Overnight” will not be saved.

After saving, you should reload the POI list, including the newly added tent overnights, by clicking .

Tent default distance

Tent overnights are inserted at a default distance of 25 km from the POI at which they are activated. This default can be changed in the header menu item Default distance when inserting new tents.

Changing tent distance after interting

After new tents were added and the overnights were saved, This distance can be adjusted (shortened or lengthened) in the distance field after the tent entry. If you have several tent nights in a row, all those that follow are shifted accordingly when you change one.

Example:

Cabin 1 <- 25 km -> Tent 1 <- 25 km -> Tent 2 <- 36 km -> Cabin 2
After changing the distance between Cabin 1 and Tent 1 from 25 to 30 km, it looks like this:
Cabin 1 <- 30 km -> Tent 1 <- 25 km -> Tent 2 <- 31 km -> Cabin 2

The positions of the cabins are, of course, fixed; in the example above this means that the distance between Tent 2 and Cabin 2 is automatically reduced from 36 km to 31 km.

Once you have changed tent distances, you should save the overnight stays again, otherwise the changes will disappear the next time you update the list or insert new tent nights.

Final Tip: mostly tents

If you want to “mostly camp”, you can deselect all POIs (except start and finish) and then insert only tent overnights between start and finish (and save them!). If you later display the POIs again, you can mark cabins as overnight locations and freely choose tent overnights nearby – and save that combination!

Chapter 3: Split routes into stages

Now that you have converted a route into a hike and defined the overnight stops, you may want to divide the route into individual stages. For this, the route splitter is made..

The route splitter is available at https://wieland.no/NPL/route_splitter.php

User Manual for Peter’s Route Splitter

1a. Split by overnights

You can choose a trip and split the route into stages based on it's overnight locations.

1b. Split by days

As an alternative you can simply divide the entire route into a desired number of days. The splits are made so that the lengths of the daily stages are approximately equal (length of the route / days).

2. Download or save as new route

Once the route has been divided, you can either download the individual stages as GPX files to your computer or save them as a new route on the server. If you choose to save and then select an existing route, a backup of the existing route will be created before it is overwritten. The at the bottom finally carries out the defined operation.

Explanation of Terms

Routes

Routes are tracks in GPX format. They can be your own tracks or tracks from other hikers. You can upload as many tracks as you like. For uploading, a folder is created that identifies the track. A track can consist of one or several GPX files (stages). If a track in a folder consists of several files, the file names must be alphabetically sortable so that they can be linked together into one continuous track. If a track consists of several files, the starts of the stages are marked as such in the map view and the stage length is written next to the track. In the map view, tracks can be shown or hidden by clicking their names.

Trips

Trips are hikes along a specific route with a specific assignment of overnight stays, depots and power‑supply points.

Points of Interest (POI)

These are locations that may be of interest (shops, accommodation, bus stops, campsites, etc.).
Points of interest are GPX waypoints that are grouped thematically in the corresponding directories (for example: cabin, shop, campsite).
You can upload as many new points of interest as you like.
You can also create new groups (directories).
The same point of interest can appear in as many directories as you like (for example, a place where you can both shop and camp).

Cabins

The most important points of interest I created (and the most common ones used by other hikers) were cabins.

There are a lot of cabins in Norway. In absolute numbers over 1700 - more or less accessible for you and me. Many are maintained by the Norwegian Trekking Association (DNT). They are either staffed, locked with a standard DNT key, or left open. In addition, there is Statskog, a state organisation that maintains mostly unstaffed cabins, which are usually open. As a third group there are numerous private cabins, often maintained by local associations.
Many of these private cabins are either staffed or locked (and can be rented). Because renting private cabins in the context of a long hike usually only makes sense spontaneously (not booked in advance), I concentrated mainly on DNT and Statskog cabins (and only on those private cabins whose coordinates were easy to obtain). To be able to make geographically use of the cabins as POI, I had to find their coordinates (GPX). After some effort, I was able to gather coordinates for around 1350 of the 1700 cabins (including 100% of all DNT cabins).

Across these three ownergroups there are mainly four types of cabins:

  • Staffed cabins that can be compared to hotels in the mountains. There is a reception, meals, and accommodation, mostly in shared rooms with bunk beds.
  • Self-service cabins, where there is a provision store with a small selection of food that can be bought and paid for on site.
  • Unstaffed cabins, which do not have a provision store, but do have beds for overnight stays, a fully equipped kitchen for cooking your own food, a wood stove and toilets.
  • Shelters and day‑use cabins that are not intended for overnight stays (usually without beds), but provide a place to seek shelter or take a break.

Additionals like shops, campsites, bridges, etc.

After integrating the various cabins as POIs, I dove into additional information from other hikers who have already completed the NPL and created extra POIs for it or along the way. The main sources were Lukas & Kim from Sweden, Roy from Norway, and Sarah from England. Thanks a lot for your valuable input and help!

Anything can be of interest: the condition (or absence) of bridges, shops or other places to buy supplies, overnight accommodations, or places to wash laundry. Some of the POIs overlapped, while others differed. Because of this, I decided to assign the POIs to their respective sources (hikers) and generate a separate POI group for each one, whose visibility can be switched on or off as needed. This applies both to the route and the stage planner.