If you are after an arctic getaway then look no further than Tromsø, Norway. This charming city is nothing short of a winter wonderland. Whether you are looking to chase the Northern Lights through the winter months, or see the Midnight sun in summer, Tromsø is a destination that has captured the hearts of many, including ours. Join us as we uncover the wonders of Tromsø and discuss all you will need to know to plan your magical getaway.
CONTENTS
WHEN TO GO TO TROMSØ
To know when to visit Tromsø, the question to ask yourself is ‘What do I want to see?’. If you are looking to hunt the Northern Lights, the best time to visit Tromsø is between November and February. During this time you will experience the ‘Polar Night’, which is where the sun does not rise above the horizon. You will experience ‘daylight hours’ for a few hours a day, but the sun doesn't appear during this time, instead, the sky is lit with hues of blue and purple. These extended night hours give you more opportunities to see the Northern lights. It is also prime time for activities such as dog sledding and other winter sports.
If you choose to visit in summer between June and August you will get to experience the ‘Midnight Sun’. This is where the sun never sets for several weeks so it is perfect for outdoor activities such as hiking and fishing. The weather is also a lot milder during this time, so if you are looking to experience Tromsø away from the harsh winter climate then summer may be the best time for you to visit.
We visited in January and got to not only experience the Polar Night and Northern lights but also got to experience Tromsø while it was still dressed for Christmas, truly magical!
ACCOMMODATION/ HOW LONG TO STAY
We opted to stay in Tromsø for 4 nights. This gave us many opportunities to see the Northern Lights and also fit in many winter activities that we were wanting to do. If you are looking for a similar experience then I would suggest staying for around 3 - 4 nights or If you are wanting to fit in all the main activities that Tromsø has to offer, I would suggest staying a little longer at around 5 nights just to make sure you have plenty of time to fit everything in.
We opted to stay at TotalApartments Vervet Apartment Hotel which was a fantastic location to easily access everything we needed to during our trip. It is also near to many shops, restaurants and cafes. We opted to stay in an apartment with kitchen facilities to allow us to cook from home without feeling the need to go out to a restaurant for every meal. The apartment was beautiful and offered some fantastic views of Mount Storsteinen which was an added bonus.
WHAT TO PACK
I have added this section if you are visiting Tromsø during the winter for the peak season between November to February, like us.
We were told that Norwegians have a saying ‘There is no bad weather, just bad clothing’ and it is true! The weather in Norway, if you are going during the colder months, can be brutal and fell to temperatures as low as -20 during our time there! However, it really didn’t bother too much as we planned out all the clothes we would need to make sure we were comfortable during our trip. Below I have listed the essentials that we packed on our trip to prepare for 4 days in the Arctic circle.
Thermals will be your best friend. If you can buy items with merino wool in them then this is even better as it will keep you extra warm. Also, try to avoid cotton base layers where possible as they can absorb water/damp and will then make you cold, particularly your socks. We bought most of our items from Mountain Warehouse, Sports Direct and Trespass.
Socks - 1 pair of liner socks and 1 pair of thick thermal walking socks for each day. Take spares in case they get wet from the snow as the damp will cause you to become colder.
Base layers - Thermal base layer tops and bottoms. Ideally prioritise these being merino wool if possible.
Jumpers - A warm jumper over your base layers.
Winter trousers - Trousers that are ideally waterproof and thermal lined.
Third Layer - Pack an optional third layer that you can take on and off, such as a warm fleece.
Winter coat - A waterproof winter coat that is large enough to fit over all the other layers you will have on.
Snood/scarf - A snood is helpful to pull up over your mouth if your face gets cold but a scarf will also work.
Gloves - 2 layers; a liner glove (touch sensitive for phone usage) and then a pair of thermal gloves over the top.
Wooly hat - Fleece lined is the best to add extra warmth.
Boots - Thermally insulated, waterproof hiking boots with a good grip. Fashion goes out the window here and if I can urge you to spend your money anywhere, buy some good hiking boots! If your feet get cold so does your whole body so it is important that they will keep you warm.
If you forget anything do not worry, many of the shops in Tromsø stock lots of these items.
GETTING AROUND
To get around the city we were able to primarily walk to many of the destinations on our itinerary. Also, when booking tours through providers, transportation was included and started from easily accessible locations in the city centre.
For destinations that were further away we opted to use public buses. The buses were very easy to navigate and we pre-purchased our tickets using the Svipper app. This was very convenient as it shows all bus times available and allows you to purchase single tickets, day tickets or longer period tickets. We purchased the ticket that covered our whole stay and we were able to hop on buses whenever we needed to and reach our destination easily. We were also able to use this ticket to catch a bus from the airport to our accomodations, we took bus route 42/24 and headed straight into the city centre.
If you prefer, you can rent a car when in Tromsø. This will allow you to go Northern Light hunting much easier on your own as well as give you the freedom to visit the fjords without the need to book a tour. However, if you are not used to driving in snowy conditions I would probably warn against this as it can be treacherous and to top it off the native animals, such as reindeer, do tend to cross the roads which is also something to be aware of.
KEEPING THE COSTS DOWN
Norway is a very expensive Country and in particular, Tromsø, is not what I would call budget friendly. With that being said, there are some ways that we made our stay as affordable as we could while still making the most of our trip.
Eat at home
The biggest cost saver we used was to book a self-catering apartment for our trip and cook meals for ourselves. Eating out in Tromsø can be a very expensive experience, with a meal often ranging from around 200-300 NOK (approx £15-20 GBP) in casual cafes and 400-600 NOK (approx £30-45 GBP) in restaurants. This adds up very quickly if you are planning on eating out more than once a day. So, we decided to eliminate this cost and booked an apartment that had facilities for us to cook simple meals using ingredients bought at the local supermarket. To be honest, we loved doing this and will be doing it more often! We enjoyed seeing what the supermarkets had to offer and trying to make a meal from things we don’t usually include in our diet, in addition to a fair few frozen pizzas of course.
Limit alcohol
While we did allow ourselves a few drinks (a few too many is some cases), we did try to limit our alcohol consumption as it is very expensive in Norway. If you do have an airbnb/apartment consider buying alcohol from the local supermarket to drink at your accommodation to save costs.
Prioritise activities/ excursions
A huge cost of your trip to Tromsø will also be the activities. There are so many options including; reindeer feeding, whale watching and dog sledding. When carrying out research before going on this trip we saw people suggesting booking all of the above as well as a Northern Lights Tour on every evening that you are in Tromsø, to maximise your chances of a sighting. While this would be amazing, and if you can do this then go for it, it was not feasible for us as each excursion was approximately £150 per person and we could not justify paying for them all. Instead, we prioritised the excursions that we most wanted to do and booked one for each day of our trip. For us, this included the reindeer feeding, Arctic Fjord trip and a Northern Lights Tour. We only booked one Northern Lights Tour (we took a chance on the day) but booked through a fantastic company that provided updates on the weather conditions and offered the opportunity to refund/reschedule if the conditions were not favourable to see the Northern Lights. We also researched many spots that were good for seeing the Northern Lights on our own to maximise our chances but more on that later.
Take advantage of free/low cost activities
In addition to this, we also opted to do a lot of free/low cost activities in the city. Tromsø is such a beautiful place and while it is fantastic to do all these amazing tours and excursions, I urge you to not forget about visiting some of the local spots on foot and see what this stunning place has to offer. Many activities such as visiting Telegrafbukta Beach or Prestvannet Lake and even hiking up Mount Storsteinen rather than taking the cable car are free and have amazing scenery for you to enjoy. Also, other activities such as the Arctic Cathedral and Polar Museum are amazing additions to your itinerary and will only cost a small fee.
Use public Transport
As previously mentioned, we opted to use public transport to get around the city. The Svipper app allowed us to pre-book bus tickets and saved us spending money on expensive taxi journeys.
ACTIVITIES/ THINGS TO SEE
Listed here are some of the top activities to do while in Tromsø. Some of these we did during our time there and some are on our list for our next visit. In the itinerary section of this post, I further discuss our experience with some of the activities and if we would recommend them.
Northern Lights hunting
I would assume that one of the main reasons you are visiting Tromsø is that it is one of the best places in the world to see the Northern Lights! Located well above the Arctic circle and within the Auroral Oval, Tromsø gives you excellent opportunities to see the dancing lights. However, you still have to have many factors that line up in order for you to see them, this includes; solar activity, clear dark skies, minimal to no light pollution and to be honest, a bit of good luck. You can either opt to do a Northern Lights Tour with a guide, try to hunt them on your own, or both (which is what we did).
We booked a tour through NLT Guide Company on one of our nights in Tromsø and went on an immense 6 hour journey to chase the Northern Lights. If you head on a tour with a Northern Lights hunter then you will not only increase your chances of seeing the Northern lights but will get to watch as they plan out perfect routes, map the stars and find clear skies to hopefully give you a trip you will not forget. You can also search for the Northern lights yourself, some good places to see the phenomenon are from:
Fjellheisen (Mountain Cable Car) which will take you 421 meters high to the top of Mount Storsteinen. It will give you stunning panoramic views of the city as well as put you in a spot away from direct light pollution, therefore increasing your chances of seeing the lights. It is important to note that the cable car does stop running at midnight. You can also opt to hike to the mountain rather than take the cable car up. As a side note, there is also a lovely restaurant on the top of the mountain, called Fjellstua Café, where you can grab a range of meals and drinks including a delicious glass of mulled wine which is perfect to warm you up after being in the cold Norwegian air. This was where we saw the best Northern Lights display of our trip, but we'll get into that more later.
Telegrafbukta Beach - This is around a 15-20 minute walk from the city centre and again takes you away from the light population so is a great place to see the Northern Lights. If you are lucky and catch a sighting of the Northern Lights on a clear night, then this spot will add to the beauty as you may get a chance to see the reflections off the ocean.
Prestvannet Lake - A 20 minute walk from the city centre is Prestvannet Lake which is another great spot to see the Northern lights as it has minimal light pollution.
There are also many other spots that you can visit if you have access to a car including; Kvaløya Island and Skulsfjord.
Reindeer Feeding
One of our favourite activities in Tromsø was the Reindeer feeding excursion. We booked with Tromso Arctic Reindeer and enjoyed a Sami cultural experience on a Sami Camp with reindeer feeding, a talk about Sami History, culture and the importance of reindeer herding as well as hearing traditional Sami joik (song) and the chance to see the Northern Lights over the camp as we did our tour in the evening. The whole experience lasted around 3-4 hours and usually includes transfers and a traditional Sami Meal as part of your experience.
Arctic Fjords
There are many providers that offer Arctic Fjord tours or you can do this yourself if you have access to a vehicle. We opted for a tour with Northern Soul Adventures as there was no way either of us was trusting ourselves to drive on snow with wild reindeer walking about! The tours typically last around 4 hours and you may get to visit some of the most beautiful fjords and sights including Kvaloya Island and have the possibility to spot native animals including reindeer, moose and eagles. As well as transportation, most tours also provide a light lunch and professional photos which are an amazing keepsake from your experience.
Dog Sledding
Another popular excursion to do in Tromsø is dog sledding. Again, there are many providers who offer this such as the one linked here. On this experience you can expect to be taken among picturesque Arctic landscapes while guiding a team of huskies. You may also be able to control your own sled (depending on the tour you choose). These experiences usually come with a warm meal and drinks as well as an opportunity to learn more about the huskies. Keep in mind that these tours do book up months in advance, so if you are wanting to include this as part of your trip then make sure to make your reservations well in advance.
Whale Watching
Get aboard a boat to take to the seas and head to prime whale spotting locations for a chance to spot some of nature's most majestic creatures. You will also see some fantastic Arctic landscapes and learn some information about these incredible creatures. These tours usually last around 6 - 8 hours depending on where the whales are and they may only be suitable at certain times of year as November to January is usually the peak season for whale spotting. Linked here is a Whale Safari experience aboard one of Norway's finest speedboats, MS Gabriele. We opted not to do this experience during our trip to Tromsø purely because we couldn't do everything the city has to offer in 4 days, but it is high on our list of things to do for the next time with visit.
The Arctic Cathedral
This beautiful and unique cathedral is a must see spot when in the city. It is known for its architectural design that draws inspiration from the natural beauty of the Arctic. It resembles an iceberg or mountain peak that can be seen in Tromsø. You can pay a small fee to visit inside the Cathedral and marvel at the beauty that is the large stained glass window. In the summer, the sun reflects beautifully through these windows but it is still breathtaking in the winter.
Tromsø Cathedral
This is another landmark that you need to see when visiting Tromsø as it is the northernmost protestant cathedral in the world. The cathedral is usually open for visitors during the day but also has special events and concerts showing regularly so it may be worth having a look at what is showing when you are in the city.
Tromsø Harbour
Tromsø Harbour has stunning views of the mountains and fjords nearby and it's beautiful to take a walk along during your time in Tromsø. There is a range of waterfront cafes and restaurants where you can enjoy food and drink overlooking the harbour and it is also home to several historical buildings such as the Polar museum.
Tromsø City Centre
Somewhere I feel is often overlooked is Tromsø City Centre. It is one of the most enchanting areas we have ever been to, offering a range of lovely shops, restaurants and cafes. As we visited near Christmas time, the city was full of twinkling lights and decorations that made it feel like walking through a winter wonderland. Something we were also surprised by was how good the bar scene is here, who knew? Though expensive, the pubs and bars are charming, with amazing atmospheres, friendly staff and delicious drinks.
Museums
Tromsø has many museums that you can explore as part of your trip. Popular ones include the Polar Museum which focuses on the history of Arctic expeditions, the The Arctic University Museum of Norway which looks at the natural and cultural history of the region and the Troll Museum which looks at exactly that; trolls, which are mythical creatures from Norwegian folklore. There is also Mack Brewery that is the northernmost brewery in the world and you can partake in an experience that not only includes the history of Mack Brewery and the beer making process but also allows you to sample many of the beers as part of the tour.
ITINERARY
This section will detail exactly what we did on our 4 nights and three full days in Tromsø. Read on to see what activities we chose to do, how we hunted down the Aurora Borealis and what our overall experience was.
Link to download our editable itinerary:
DAY ONE
We began the day by traveling to Manchester Airport to board our 3 hour flight to the city of Tromsø. Let me start by staying, we were extremely lucky here, but on the flight the skies were very clear and we managed to catch a glimpse of the Northern lights through our plane window! The whole plane was buzzing and everyone was leaning towards the windows to capture their photos. Once we arrived, we took the public bus from outside the airport and headed to check into our apartment.
After our experience on the plane, we knew the Northern lights were active and we wanted to seize the opportunity to see them properly while we could. We threw our bags in the apartment and quickly grabbed a few essentials from the shop and opted for a speedy frozen pizza in the oven (which did you know is actually a staple meal in Tromsø?).
We went off our original itinerary plan and opted to head up Mount Storsteinen via the Fjellheisen (Mountain Cable Car). We did originally plan to hike the mountain to the viewpoint to save costs but since we were in a rush and had a last minute change of plan we decided to pay the 545 NOK (approx £40) for the tickets. The Northern Lights were so incredibly strong that we could even see them right above our heads from the bus stop where we were waiting for the #26 bus to take us to the base of the mountain (see the photo below). We then headed up the cable car to the viewpoint where we were rewarded with the most beautiful viewing of the Aurora Borealis. She was dancing in the sky right above us without a cloud to cover our view. Unbelievable! The viewpoint from Mount Storsteinen also offers stunning panoramic views of the city and we were met with such breathtaking sights. We then stopped at Fjellstua Café at the top of the mountain where we were able to warm up with a glass of mulled wine and delicious sweet treat. The whole experience was phenomenal and we feel really lucky to have had such an amazing start to our trip.
DAY TWO
Day two began bright and early as we headed to meet our guide for our Arctic Fjord tour. Our tour planned to take us to Kvaløya island and stop at many of the beautiful Fjords along the way. We saw the most incredible views and even managed to spot a few wild reindeer on our trip. We stopped at Sommarøy for lunch and we were provided with a delicious sandwich and hot drinks while we marveled over the views of the Arctic beach. This tour even provided us with some fantastic photos that truly capture how beautiful it really was. The whole tour lasted around 4 hours and I would highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting.
For the afternoon, we then headed into Tromsø city centre and visited the Tromsø Harbour and Tromsø Cathedral. We were blown away with how enchanting the city centre was and the Christmas lights attached to every building made it so much more magical. When researching Tromsø before visiting we did not have high expectations of this area as there are very minimal photos or information on what it is actually like. We absolutely loved it and even though the photos we took cannot reflect how it felt to be in a place so beautiful I hope it gives you some idea of what to expect.
Our evening plans were changed as we did originally plan for day two to be the day we visited the Storsteinen Viewpoint, so instead, we chose to spend a bit extra time enjoying the city centre and partaking in a few drinks at the local bars. We then headed to Prestvannet Lake (which to warn, is quite a treacherous journey to walk from the city centre) for another chance to spot the Northern Lights.
DAY THREE
We had a later start to the day as we needed to catch up on sleep from the Northern Light hunting on the previous nights. We headed across the Tromsø Bridge towards the Arctic Cathedral. This Cathedral is like no other building I have ever seen and we were enamored by the beautiful stained glass windows that cover one side of the Cathedral. After staring at it (for quite a long time), we decided to head instead and have a look at the building's beautiful interior. We paid a small fee to enter and enjoyed marveling at the stained glass windows again from another viewing angle.
We then decided to spend this afternoon before our Northern light tour visiting Ølhallen, Tromsø's Oldest Pub. The atmosphere in the pub was extremely welcoming and they had 72 different Norwegian Beers on tap all brewed by Mack, the northernmost brewery in the world! If you are up for it, you can even take a tour around the brewery and sample some of the incredible beers. We really enjoyed our time here and it seems that many people in Tromsø love to take games into pubs, such as cards, and we were happy to partake as we enjoyed our drink.
Our Northern Lights tour headed out at around 7pm and we set off on a journey to chase down the Northern Lights. We could have technically canceled these tours as we had been lucky enough to see them already but we wanted to experience chasing them with a Northern Light hunter. Finding the Northern lights this night was tricky as there was a lot of cloud coverage so we would not have seen them local to Tromsø centre as we had on previous nights. We headed out on a long journey (around 6.5 hours in total) to find clear, dark skies and managed to see them right at the end of the night! It was such a different display compared to the nights before but was equally as beautiful. At early hours in the morning the sky completely cleared and we were even able to snap this picture of the Milky Way!
DAY FOUR
Our final day in Tromsø was actually my birthday! So we had a lovely morning in the apartment before we headed out shopping to buy some treats. We found a charming little jewellery store called Mestergull, that stocked the most beautiful items and I even picked out an Aurora Borialis inspired necklace to remember this amazing trip. After a morning of entering every shop that Tromsø has to offer, we warmed up in a local cafe called ‘Svermeri kafe og redesign’ and enjoyed drinks and delicious cake.
We did originally plan to visit the Polar Museum this afternoon but got swept up in the beauty that is Tromsø and may have had a few too many celebratory drinks in some local pubs. We were happy with our choice as we had a lovely afternoon and by this point we had already decided we had every intention to return to this beautiful city to do even more activities that we didn’t have a chance to do this time.
Our excursion for the day started at 6pm and we headed off on a coach to the Sami Camp for our reindeer feeding experience. We opted to do this in the evening as the Sami Camp can be a good spot to see the Northern Lights and we wanted to give ourselves every chance we could to see them one more time. The whole experience was fantastic from start to finish. We got to feed the reindeer and then we were served a delicious traditional three course meal consisting of salmon salad, bidos (reindeer stew) and chocolate cake.
Right, I know what you are thinking… reindeer stew after feeding the reindeer, you can’t do that! I was of the same opinion before I went to be totally honest, but when you listen to the Sami people talking about how it is just their way of life and how the reindeers are an essential part of their cultural identity, I came round to the idea. They do however offer vegetarian options if this is something you would prefer. To end the evening we listened to stories from the Sami people and even enjoyed a joik (traditional Sami song). Then the Northern Lights even made an appearance over the Sami Camp; another perfect end to our day in Tromsø.
DAY FIVE
Our flight home was in the afternoon which meant we had around 2 hours to soak in a little bit more of Tromsø before we left. We opted to stay local in the centre and walked along the Tromsø harbour to marvel at the views one last time. We then stopped in a cafe to try ‘glögg’ which is a traditional Scandinavian spiced mulled wine with raisins and almonds - absolutely delicious and snacked on some Norwegian waffles served with brunost (brown cheese) which was equally tasty and strange at the same time. It is caramelised giving it a sweet and savory flavour and is paired beautifully with the soft heart-shaped waffles.
I would be lying if I said I didn't shed a tear when I left this city and it will always be one of our favourite places.
SUMMARY
Tromsø really surprised us in more ways than one. We did not expect to fall in love with a place that is covered in snow and the sun never rises but we did! The cold did not bother us nearly as much as we anticipated and if I could, I would book a flight tomorrow to head back and enjoy even more of this beautiful city. I have spoken to so many people that said that they wouldn’t visit because it is ‘too cold’ and it really has opened our eyes to the opportunities that can be missed if you are not willing to try. I will be recommending everyone I know to book a trip to Tromsø and that is not just to see the Northern Lights but to experience all the wonders it holds.
Until our next exploration.
-Lauren and Dan
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