The Sims 4 Nordhaven World Guide

Nordhaven is the world that comes shipped with The Sims 4 Businesses & Hobbies Expansion Pack. This world has pre-established small businesses that your Sims can visit, or you can play as these households and run their businesses yourself. Nordhaven is also home to Hobby Meetups, where Sims with similar interests (or new interests even) can gather and share their passions (and their creations). This Scandinavian-inspired world is a good starting place if you want to learn the art of small business running, or you want to indulge your Sims in their hobbies. Nordhaven is certainly the hub of Businesses & Hobbies.

To get you better acquainted with Nordhaven, this guide has been put together to give you a complete tour of this world. You can learn about its residential and commercial lots, the Sims who reside there, what small businesses are already established, and other activities you can do there. We’ll also share extra features you might like to know about, such as the shady businessman who can sell you unique art pieces, and the bicycle parts you can hook out of the canals.

We’ve got other world guides for The Sims 4 if you’re interested, including these:

• Ravenwood (Life & Death Expansion)
• Ciudad Enamorada (Lovestruck Expansion)
• Tomarang (For Rent Expansion)
• Chestnut Ridge (Horse Ranch Expansion)
• San Sequoia (Growing Together Expansion)
• Copperdale (High School Years Expansion)
• Tartosa (My Wedding Stories Game Pack)

An Overview of Nordhaven

The world of Nordhaven is strongly influenced by real-life locations in Scandinavian, such as Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. In Nordhaven, you can find canals, lakes, mountains, forests, classic Scandinavian architecture, bikes, and small parks. While bustling with businesses and activity, it’s a very quaint and picturesque place.

Nordhaven has just two neighborhoods: Gammelvik and Iverstad. Gammelvik is a quaint town, while Iverstad is more industrial. You’ll find something different in each of these areas, but both include residents, small businesses, empty lots, and Hobby Meetup locations.

Nordhaven, as seen from the world map view.

Climate in Nordhaven (Seasons Only)

If you have The Sims 4 Seasons Expansion Pack installed, you’ll get to experience all four seasons in Nordhaven. For the most part, Nordhaven is a relatively mild world. You’ll get hot days in the summer and snow in winter when it gets colder, but you’re less likely to experience extreme temperatures or weather. This makes Nordhaven ideal if you don’t want your Sims to suffer from extreme conditions.

Resources in Nordhaven

If you like to gather resources by digging rocks and in dirt piles, you’re in luck. Nordhaven features rocks and dirt to dig in, as well as spots to go fishing. You can also find some wild plants to harvest flowers and produce from.

Here’s where you can gather resources in both of Nordhaven’s neighborhoods.

Collectibles in Nordhaven

Nordhaven includes two separate collectibles exclusive to this world: Bike Parts and Trashley Certified Art. Each of these are gathered in different ways, but can only be found in Nordhaven. These collections aren’t necessarily difficult to complete, but they are time consuming. 

Bike Parts

There are a total of 28 bike parts to be found in Nordhaven. These can only be found by using the Clean the Canal interaction on any fishing spot in Nordhaven, either in Gammelvik or Iverstad. This interaction isn’t indefinite, so you’ll need to manually get your Sim to repeat the action if you want them to continue. They’ll do it for a while each time.

Gathering bike parts works just like fishing, but instead of bringing up fish, your Sim will reel in bike parts (and maybe some other things as well, like upgrade parts). It will take a long time to get all the parts, as some are rarer than others. Your Sim can also collect more than one of the same bike part, but these can be sold for Simoleons.

Looking for bike parts? Search the canals of Nordhaven.

Trashley Certified Art

Trashley Reelpearson is an NPC unique to Nordhaven. Trashley offers the other set of collectibles available with The Sims 4 Businesses & Hobbies Expansion: Trashley Certified Art. These are mainly paintings, but there are also a few sculptures.

Trashley can be found down an alleyway located near to the Spilled Neon tattoo studio in Iverstad at night. 

The alley where Trashley can be found is not far from Spilled Neon.

Trashley is usually hanging around the alleyway from 5pm onwards. You won’t find them during the day. They’re distinctive-looking in their big coat, hat, and covered face. 

Trashley appears to be a pretty friendly and approachable guy. Just watch your wallet!

You can buy items from Trashley with Ask to See Wares. If you want to complete the 16-piece Trashley Certified Art collection, you can get them in two ways:

• In Ask to See Wares, one of these artworks will be available. Only one is available per day.
• You can also buy one of Trashley’s boxes. There are 3 to get: Box, Better Box, and Best Box. You may get a Certified Art in one of these.

Make sure to pay Trashley a visit every day. Check their wares to see if a Certified Art is available that you haven’t got yet. Also, buy one of each box, as you might get another artwork. 

Along with other things, Trashley sells special boxes and unique art collectibles.

Lots in Nordhaven

Regarding Lots, Nordhaven isn’t the most populated. There are 12 Lots altogether; 6 in Gammelvik, then the other 6 in Iverstad. There are a mixture of Lots, including empty spaces waiting to be built on, residential homes, small businesses, and commercial buildings. We’ll take you through all of them and what potential they all have to offer.

Gammelvik

Gammelvik is a dense town with narrow streets and classic Scandinavian buildings, as well as long canals and bicycle lanes. It includes two empty lots, a small business, vacant residential lot, lounge, and museum.

Gammelvik.

Comfortably Canalside

Comfortably Canalside is one of the empty lots available in Nordhaven, specifically in Gammelvik. It’s situated south-east of this neighborhood. Don’t be put off by the fact that it’s only a 20 x 20 lot. It’s actually decent sized. This space has a lot of potential. It can be used to build a residential lot, or a small business venue, or both, with the new residential small business venue. You could also have a commercial lot here. Do whatever you wish with this space!

Comfortable Canalside.

Fisher’s Horizon

Here’s another empty lot just waiting to be built on. You can build or place whatever you like here. A small interesting note: the train seen in Gammelvik stops just outside this lot, if you’re into trains.

Fisher’s Horizon.

Koffieboon

The Koffieboon is home to the Loden’s small business. This is a good place to come if you want to work on your Writing Skill, as Writing Classes and Lectures can be hosted here. There’s also a coffee bar that you can either purchase drinks from or tend yourself. However, it seems that a lot of the time, as a visiting Sim, the bar isn’t available, so just be aware of that.

Because of the Convivial Lot Trait, you can expect a lot of Sims to congregate here. This makes it an ideal place to meet new Sims, make new friends, and work on your Sim’s Charisma, Comedy, and Mischief social skills.

Konst Modern

This museum is an excellent place to visit. Aside from the usual museum features such as artworks to admire, there’s a special wing where classes can take place and new skills can be learned and worked on. Namely, these are the Pottery Skill and Painting Skill. The pottery workshop is on the ground floor, while the art studio is upstairs. This makes the museum a good place to work on both these skills.

Old Torget House

This lot is Nordhaven’s sole vacant residential lot. Fortunately, it’s just about affordable as a starter home as well. Unless you want to build your own residential lot, this is the only available pre-built residential lot that’s not currently occupied by anyone. It’s a very well furnished and decorated home, great if you’re just starting out in Nordhaven, particularly if you’re considering starting a small business.

• Ground Floor: An open plan living space with a living room and kitchen. There’s also a small bathroom.
• Studio Space: The best feature downstairs is the studio space. This is an ideal space to use for your Sim’s trade, whether it be candy making, pottery making, tattooing, or anything else. It’s not currently set up as a small business venue, but it could be. It is a little on the small side though, so you might want to consider purchasing a separate lot as your business.
• First Floor: Upstairs is a bedroom with a study area, and a bathroom with a shower.

Old Torget House is a nice enough space for a starter family, but it’s best suited for single Sims and couples. You could possibly convert the study space into an extra bedroom, but this may only fit one or possibly even two children at most. If you plan to have a bigger family, build some extra space or look for a bigger property.

The Rouge Note

If your Sims need somewhere chill to unwind, relax, and grab a drink after a day’s work, why not head to The Rouge Note? This lot has three floors, including a basement. On the ground level you’ll find the bar and lots of places to sit and chat with other Sims. The restrooms are upstairs. In the basement, your Sims can play the piano, and there are plenty of guitars to go around.

Iverstad

Iverstad can certainly be considered the industrial area of Nordhaven, with all the old warehouses and the big train station. However, this area feels more open than Gammelvik, with small parks to visit. In Iverstad, you can find two more empty lots, a large vacant small business venue, two small businesses, and an occupied residential lot.

Iverstad.

Inked Inlet

Inked Inlet sounds like a good name for a tattoo studio – but it isn’t. This is actually another empty lot just waiting for something to be built on. Being empty, this property is also very cheap, so if you wanted to buy it that way as a small business and then build on it, you won’t at least have to spend so much money on the plot of land.

Inked Inlet.

Lighthouse Lookout

This is the final completely blank lot in Nordhaven, as well as the biggest. Being a bigger lot than the other empty ones, you have lots more space to build something here. A mansion, huge venue, or placing down a different commercial lot like a spa, restaurant, or bowling alley. With this big space, make it count!

Lighthouse Lookout.

New Harbor Park

This lot is also unoccupied – but it’s not empty. This lot is essentially a business venue that was being built, but later became abandoned. It’s been that way since, and is now looking for a new buyer. Could that be one of your Sims? You’ll need plenty of money to buy this place up. If you don’t want to graft your way up the hard way, use the “motherlode” cheat to give your Sims some quick funds.

This place has a lot of potential. As well as the derelict unfinished building, there’s a big outdoor space. Feel free to use your imagination and let your creativity take this place over, transforming it into whatever you desire. Bring life to this potential goldmine!

Spilled Neon

This lot is a tattoo studio, owned by the Sarpong household. It’s both a residential lot and a small business venue, and it’s got three floors!

• Ground Floor: Downstairs is a well-established tattoo studio, complete with a tattoo table and office with a digital sketchpad to design tattoos with. There’s a restroom down here as well.
• First Floor: From the first floor up is the residential part of this building. Starting with the first floor, you can find a well-furnished living room and kitchen/dining room. There’s another bathroom here too, with a shower and bathtub.
• Second Floor: You’ll find a bedroom, as well as a small study area and even a balcony.
• Third Floor: Up one final flight of stairs is a very cool space, complete with a bedroom and rooftop garden.

Even though the Sarpong’s and their tattoo studio is here, don’t be shy in booting them out if you want to move someone else in. You can also redecorate to reaccommodate this space and make it into something else if the tattoo studio isn’t what you want to do. It might be a tad on the small side for setting up a classroom, but the backroom might just be big enough if you want to give it a try.

Terra-Potta

Terra-Potta is a good example of what a pottery studio should look like. It’s big and spacious, with the studio downstairs and living space upstairs.

This is probably the best place to go to for learning pottery because of the many pottery wheels, kilns, and the whiteboard. Plus, there’s a shop in the next room, if you want to buy or sell pottery creations.

Upstairs is an ideal and spacious living area. A family could easily live here. It’s already occupied by the Koopman’s, but kick them out if you want to move another family in.

The Old Foundry

The last lot to explore in Nordhaven is a residential. It’s occupied by a household of Sims already (but you can give them the boot if you really want). This is a nicely designed lot, complete with three floors and plenty of rooms.

• Ground Floor: Downstairs is the living/dining/kitchen area, plus bathroom. There’s also a small parlor room, which you could convert into an extra bedroom if you wish.
• First Floor: On the next floor up, there are two bedrooms; a big one and a smaller one. There’s also a large landing space and a balcony.
• Second Floor: Up the next flight of stairs, there’s one more big bedroom, and a bathroom.
• Third Floor: There’s one final floor on the rooftop, which contains a small patio area complete with seating and a telescope, perfect for hanging out with friends while enjoying the beautiful views of Nordhaven.

This lot is great for bigger households, whether families or housemates sharing, like the Sims who already live there. This lot also has potential for adding more bedrooms and bathrooms if needed.

Things to Look Out for in Nordhaven

There’s more to Nordhaven than just its businesses and other properties. You should look out for these other activities going on.

Hobby Meetups

Hobby Meetups can take place in either Gammelvik or Iverstad, in their respective designated meetup locations. Different meetups take place on different days, at different times and locations, so make sure to check the notice boards for more information. You can also use these boards to learn what meetup is currently taking place, or where, when, and what the next one is.

Here is a complete list of all the Hobby Meetups, along with their activities, days, times, and locations.

Train Watching

Do you enjoy watching trains? It’s a popular pastime, and in Nordhaven, you can do just that. In Iverstad, there’s a huge train station at the north end. Selecting this building gives you two options. You can travel to another location, or just sit and watch the trains go by with the Go Train Watching interaction. Your Sim will then head over to one of the benches at the station and blissfully watch the trains go by for a while. This gives your Sim an Inspired Moodlet.

Iverstad isn’t the only neighborhood with trains. In Gammelvik, there’s a train line that runs through the neighborhood. Now and again, a train will appear and trundle back and forth along the track. You can’t use the train watching interaction here, but it gives you something extra to watch anyway.

Sending your Sim train watching at the station gives them a positive moodlet that lasts for hours.

Gammelvik Church

In the heart of Gammelvik, there’s a church. Your Sims can head inside and do a tour for a while, giving them an Inspired Moodlet. Just select the church and choose Go on Historic Tour.

Why not stop by the church in Gammelvik and take a tour?

Other Notable Landmarks and Interesting Sights

There’s plenty more to see in Nordhaven, such as these sights:

Residents of Nordhaven

You’ve got to know your way around Nordhaven. Now let’s meet the Sims who are already living there. There are four pre-made households residing in Nordhaven’s properties, whether they’re residential small businesses or just residentials. It should be noted that most of these Sims have established small businesses already, so keep that in mind when you go to play as them. However, these Sims also have traditional careers of The Sims 4 as well as small businesses.

Koopman Household

Residence: Terra-Potta, Iverstad

Funds: §33,423

The Koopman’s are made up of two Sims: Gert and Jolanda, both elder Sims, and married to each other. Jolanda runs the pottery studio and shop Terra-Potta.

Gert Koopman.

Gert Koopman might be unemployed, but don’t mistake him for a layabout. You can get him to help his wife Jolanda with the business Terra-Potta. He already has level 5 Pottery Skill, so he could make himself useful and be a mentor or teacher to visitors. However, his high Charisma Skill might come in further use. Perhaps he could persuade customers to come to the shop? Currently, his relationship with Jolanda isn’t great, but that can be remedied with some positive social interactions.

Jolanda Koopman.

Jolanda is the proud owner of her small business Terra-Potta, located in Iverstad. She’s already mastered the Pottery Skill, so you’ll have no problem crafting the highest-level ceramics and selling them for a tidy profit. Not only that, but she also has the Final Touch Skill Mastery Perk. Make sure you use this on finished crafts to get them to an even higher quality, and value. Jolanda’s Aspiration suggests that she would rather focus on passing down her knowledge of Pottery, so get mentoring!

Loden Household

Residence: Koffieboon, Gammelvik

Funds: §55,000

The Loden’s are the biggest pre-made household in Nordhaven and are made up of five Sims; Gramma Hattie, Dahlia, Nora, Freya, and Erik. They all live at the Koffieboon small business. Nora is the owner and Dahlia is officially an employee. Look out for these two if you ever drop by to visit. Dahlia is especially good at mentoring Writing.

Dahlia Loden.

Dahlia works as an employee at her wife Nora’s small business Koffieboon. She’s the ideal candidate for mentoring other Sims in Writing, so if you go to Koffieboon for classes or mentoring, seek out Dahlia. She’s also got ambitions of her own, planning to be a bestselling writer. She also works as a Freelance Writer. It would be silly to ignore her obvious talents in the Writing Skill, and if she punches out a few assignments and stories, as well as classes, she should make a good profit.

Erik Loden.

Erik is the youngest in the Loden household. He’s an artistic Sim and has already begun to develop his skills in Pottery. He might find himself working at Terra-Potta instead of Koffieboon one day.

Freya Loden.

Freya is a teen with a keen interest in keeping fit. Her Fitness and Dancing Skills are already well-established, so she might end up in the Athlete career.

Gramma Hattie Loden.

Gramma Hattie is the oldest Sim in the Loden household. This isn’t her first appearance in The Sims, having been a featured character in the handheld version of The Urbz: Sims in the City. She’s an excellent cook (and baker, if you have The Sims 4 Get to Work Expansion), so she might be able to set up her own business with that. Maybe a candy store, or a bakery? If you are going to cook or bake something with Gramma Hattie, make sure to use her Secret Spice Skill Mastery Perk to improve its quality.

Nora Loden.

Nora is the owner of Koffieboon, the library/coffee shop small business. Interestingly, despite her business focusing on Writing, she is a competent chef. Perhaps not as established as Gramma Hattie, but she and Hattie could run their own food-centered business if they wished. Her Esteemed Entrepreneur Aspiration might inspire you to fulfil this dream for her.

Sarpong Household

Residence: Spilled Neon, Iverstad

Funds: §22,000

The Sarpong is a two-Sim household, a mother-and-daughter duo. Nia Sarpong runs the small business Spilled Neon, which is a tattoo studio. 

Nia Sarpong.

Nia Sarpong has her hands full, being the owner of the tattoo studio Spilled Neon, alongside looking after her daughter Lerato. Nia doesn’t have a partner to help her, so it’ll be a juggling act between running a business and being a mother. Her Tattooing Skill is very high at level 8, but could she master it?

Lerato Sarpong.

Lerato is Nia’s daughter, and they only have each other. Still, they seem happy enough together. While Nia is busy running her business, Lerato is up in her bedroom on the top floor, watching the stars.

Urbane Housesharers Household

Residence: The Old Foundry, Iverstad

Funds: §40,000

The Urbane Housesharers are a household in Nordhaven made up of Sims house sharing. Three Sims live here: Cannonball Coleman, Ollie Mark, and Crispin Black. Also, Ollie and Crispin are father-and-child.

Cannonball Coleman.

Cannonball Coleman is an accomplished musician. He’s at retirement age but still swinging, working in the Entertainment business. He has high skills in Guitar, Piano, Singing, and Violin. He’s also very good in Charisma, making it much easier for him to win over other Sims. He’s also not a bad cook, or mixologist. Additionally, like Gramma Hattie Loden, Cannonball Coleman appeared in The Urbz: Sims in the City handheld. He also appeared in The Sims 2 on DS.

Crispin Black.

Crispin Black is another alumni member of The Urbz: Sims in the City, and he too has made his way into The Sims 4 via the Businesses & Hobbies Expansion Pack. He’s a respected art critic but has ambitions to be an Esteemed Entrepreneur, so maybe he’ll want to set up his own small business. He’s a talented Sim in multiple skills, but something creative like art or music may be his best way to go.

Ollie Mark.

Ollie is non-binary, using they/them pronouns. They already have some pre-established interests, particularly in computer skills such as Programming and Video Gaming. They’re also talented in Logic and Cooking.

That rounds up everything you need to know about Nordhaven, the world of The Sims 4 Businesses & Hobbies Expansion Pack. With this guide, you should now know more about the Lots, sights to see, activities to do, collectibles to find, and Sims you can find there.

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