From a home office to nearly 80 staff on 3 continents, a Nordic specialist built on personal conviction asks how it can bring more travellers along without losing what made it worth trusting. The new Classic Range is their answer. 

In 2010, Tietse Stelma and Jayde Kincaid left their careers in travel to build something they felt was missing. Working from their home in Melbourne, and drawing on Tietse's Norwegian roots, they set out to design Nordic journeys that reflected the region as they knew it, not as it was typically packaged and sold to international travellers.

The first itineraries were built slowly, by hand, drawing on personal networks across Norway that had taken years to develop. Nothing was templated. Everything was considered. The company they were building, 50 Degrees North, would come to be defined by that same care.

15+ years later, the company currently employs 77 people across offices in Norway, Australia, the United States and Canada. It has survived a global pandemic that brought the travel industry to a standstill, rebuilt stronger on the other side, and continued to grow its reputation as one of the most trusted Nordic specialists in the world.

And it is still asking the same question it started with. Only now the question has evolved.

The next chapter

The launch of the Classic Range, a collection of 20 new Nordic itineraries, is the company's answer to a challenge that comes with growth: how do you open up what you do to more people without changing the way you do it?

Classic itineraries follow the same design principles that have defined 50 Degrees North from the beginning. Routes are thoughtfully constructed by a team of Nordic locals. Local partnerships are chosen individually and with great care. Logistics are seamless, and the company's 24-hour support service runs across every journey in the range. What changes is the accommodation, centred on comfortable, well-located 3-star properties rather than the boutique lodges and atmospheric stays that characterise their Original, Premium and Luxury offerings.

It is a deliberate trade-off, and the company is honest about it.

"Classic is a different product for a different traveller," said Mari Räsänen, CEO of 50 Degrees North. "One who wants the same quality of planning and support, at a more accessible price. The journey is still designed with the same care. The trade-off is where you sleep, not the experience, quality, location or safety."

Where it began

The story of 50 Degrees North is, at its core, a story about what happens when travel is designed by people who genuinely know and love a place.

When Tietse and Jayde started the company, the Nordic region was rarely given the depth of attention it deserved in the international travel market. Most itineraries followed the same well-worn routes, stayed in the same well-known hotels, and moved too quickly to allow travellers to absorb the places they were passing through. The two founders believed there was a better way, and they had the local knowledge and industry experience to try it.

The company grew steadily through the 2010s, adding destinations, deepening supplier relationships and expanding its team. Then, in 2020, the pandemic stopped everything.

"The pandemic was genuinely devastating. We had built something over ten years that we were proud of, and then travel simply stopped. But the relationships we had built with our partners, our team and our clients held. We came through it, and if anything, it made us clearer about what we stood for and where we wanted to go," said Tietse Stelma, co-founder of 50 Degrees North.

The company emerged from the pandemic with renewed purpose. It rebuilt its team, expanded its operations and continued to grow its client base across Australia, New Zealand and North America. Today, with nearly 80 staff and offices on three continents, it remains headquartered in Øyer, Norway, rooted in the same geography that inspired it from the beginning.

What Classic means for the original vision

The Classic Range is not a departure from what 50 Degrees North has always done. It is, in the company's own framing, an opening: a way to bring more travellers into a way of experiencing the Nordic region that has always been guided by local knowledge rather than templates.

"When we started, every journey we built was personal and handmade. 15 years on, Classic is how we make sure that more people can be part of what we have spent these years building. The scale has changed. The instinct to do our region and our travellers justice has not," said Satu Vänskä-Westgarth, Director of Product at 50 Degrees North. 

The range spans 20 itineraries covering Norwegian fjords, Scandinavian capitals, Finnish Lapland, the Arctic and more, available across summer, winter and shoulder seasons. It includes both independent travel packages and small guided group tours.

Some of the journeys now available:

• Norway by Rail & Sea: 7 days, Oslo to Bergen via Lillehammer, Trondheim and an overnight coastal voyage
• Majestic Fjords by Rail: 6 days, Oslo to Ålesund via the Rauma Railway and Geirangerfjord
• Essential Scandinavia by Rail & Sea: 8 days, Stockholm to Oslo via Copenhagen
• Helsinki & Rovaniemi Glass Igloo Stay: 6 days, Helsinki to Finnish Lapland with glass igloo accommodation and aurora hunting
• Family Christmas in Lapland: 5 days, Saariselkä, including husky safari, reindeer farm visit and a Santa meeting
• Northern Lights Corridor - Tromsø to Rovaniemi: 7 days, guided group tour across two of the Arctic's most reliable aurora destinations (new for 2027)

Full itinerary details and pricing are available at https://fiftydegreesnorth.com/au/styles/classic 

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About 50 Degrees North

Founded in 2010 by Tietse Stelma and Jayde Kincaid, 50 Degrees North is a Nordic destination specialist with headquarters in Øyer, Norway, and offices in Melbourne, Minneapolis and Vancouver. The company designs travel across Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Svalbard and the Baltic States for travellers primarily from Australia, New Zealand and North America. As a Certified B Corporation, 50 Degrees North is committed to responsible tourism and actively collaborates within the industry to advocate for meaningful action on the future of travel and our planet.

For more information, visit fiftydegreesnorth.com.