Wir fahren nach Norden.

Fahren usually means to go/travel by vehicle or to drive/ride.

In Wir fahren nach Norden, it most naturally means we are traveling north or we are heading north.

It does not always mean that we are personally driving a car. It could also mean:

• going by car
• going by train
• going by bus
• traveling in some other vehicle

So fahren is broader than just to drive in English.

German often distinguishes between:

• gehen = to go on foot, to walk
• fahren = to go by vehicle, ride, travel

So if the idea is that the group is traveling north, fahren is very natural.

If you said Wir gehen nach Norden, it would suggest we are going north on foot or possibly we are walking north.

Nach is commonly used to show movement toward:

• a direction
• a city
• a country without an article

So nach Norden means northward or toward the north.

Compare:

• nach Berlin = to Berlin
• nach Deutschland = to Germany
• nach Norden = north / toward the north

In this sentence, nach marks the direction of travel.

In this kind of directional expression, German usually says nach Norden, not nach dem Norden.

That is the normal idiomatic pattern:

• nach Norden
• nach Süden
• nach Osten
• nach Westen

So even though der Norden exists as a noun meaning the north, after nach in this directional sense, German normally uses the bare form Norden.

Because Norden is a noun, and German capitalizes all nouns.

So:

• der Norden = the north
• nach Norden = northward / toward the north

This is different from English, where north is often lowercase.

There is a small but useful difference:

• nach Norden = northward, in a northerly direction
• in den Norden = to the north, into the northern region/part

So:

• Wir fahren nach Norden.
  We are heading north.

• Wir fahren in den Norden Deutschlands.
  We are going to the northern part of Germany.

Nach Norden focuses more on direction.
In den Norden focuses more on destination/region.

Not necessarily.

It often just tells you the direction of travel, not the exact place.

So it can mean:

• We are heading north.
• We are traveling northward.

If you wanted to name a destination, German would usually add one:

• Wir fahren nach Hamburg.
• Wir fahren in den Norden Deutschlands.

Yes. German word order is flexible as long as the finite verb stays in the correct position in a main clause.

The neutral version is:

• Wir fahren nach Norden.

You can also say:

• Nach Norden fahren wir.

That version puts more emphasis on nach Norden.

In a normal main clause, the conjugated verb fahren still stays in the second position.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

• Wir ≈ veer
• fahren ≈ FAH-ren
• nach ≈ nahkh
• Norden ≈ NOR-den

A few helpful notes:

• w in German sounds like English v
• fah- has a long a sound
• ch in nach is the throaty sound heard in Scottish loch
• o in Norden is short

So the whole sentence sounds roughly like:

veer FAH-ren nahkh NOR-den

Yes, you could say:

• Wir fahren nordwärts.

That also means we are traveling northward.

But nach Norden is usually more common and straightforward for learners.
Nordwärts is correct, but it can sound a bit more formal or literary depending on context.