Best Things to Do in Tromsø in Winter: Your Guide To The Arctic Capital

I went to Tromsø expecting icy landscapes and auroras – I left with memories of warmth, whales, and a city that feels unlike anywhere else in Europe. If you’re planning a trip to Northern Norway, this guide covers the best things to do in Tromsø, from Arctic adventures to cosy city highlights.

Planning a Trip To Tromso? Here’s Where You’ll Find Things

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Is Tromso Worth Visiting

Perfect for … ❄️ Arctic adventures • 🌌 Northern Lights & winter magic • 🏔️ Fjords & mountain views • 🐋 Ethical wildlife encounters • ☕ Cosy cafés & Nordic charm

I’d wanted to visit Tromso since childhood. The strange name, the striking triangle shaped cathedral and the remote arctic location definitely had had something to do with it. Previous trips to Norway had been a blast, so it seemed inevitable, I would eventually make it to Tromso.

When I checked out flight prices and found I could get to Tromso for less than £100 return from the UK, I booked. I expected to go on my own, but my husband Martin and eldest son, James wanted to join me. So here’s our account of what we found and our best things to do in Tromso. We were not disappointed.

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Where to Stay in Tromsø

There’s no getting away from it, accommodation in Tromso is expensive and the smart hotels near the harbour area prohibitive.

The main tours and activities all have pickups in the harbour area in the centre so choosing a central hotel is important. We picked the Enter Backpack Hotel, which was one of the most budget friendly central hotels and it worked very well for us. It was definitely more ‘hotel’ than ‘hostel’,

💡Top tip for finding cheaper accommodation in Tromso. Book early!

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Things to Do in Tromsø

For me, seeing the Northern Lights and whale watching were my two ‘must-do’ activities. With both of these, nature will ultimately decide on how much you say, but Tromso is a city where your success rate, is as good as almost anywhere. And the good news is there’s lot’s more to do in this beautiful small city.

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Northern Lights Tour in Tromsø (Big Bus Option)

It’s possible to look up in the winter night sky and see the northern lights in Tromso, without going into the arctic wilderness to find them. But it’s not the same! If you’ve made it all the way to Tromso, you absolutely should go with an expert, who can find the lights for you, help you take pictures, or better still, take professional quality ones for you. Plus make sure you are safe and protected from the elements too.

👉 I took this exact tour: Northern Lights Big Bus Chase and it turned out to be the best decision we made on the trip.

So here’s the detail, and why this particular tour turned out to be such a good choice.

I picked a trip on a big bus rather than a little minibus because it was considerably cheaper! Once on the bus, I didn’t have regrets! There were definite benefits of being on a comfortable warm coach with a little more space. There were practicalities to consider too. We were out for a number of hours in the wilderness, I was grateful to know there was a toilet on board! On the night we went, the minibuses gathered in the same places, to see the lights, as our bigger bus, so the ‘lights’ experience was probably pretty similar. I don’t know if that would be the case, if the lights had been harder to find that night.

With no guarantee of seeing the lights, I picked a company who would let us go on multiple nights, if we were unlucky on the first night. As it was we had exceptional good luck and once was enough, but booking this trip on the first night of our trip, with the option to repeat, what a great fail safe option.

The pickup point was in the harbour area in central Tromso for our Chasing Lights Big Bus Chase. Our tour guides came prepared with professional cameras and equipment. We were offered guidance on how to take the best shots with our own phone cameras, but the best advice we received was to put our phones and cameras away and enjoy the show.

We headed west to the island of Sommarøy where there were clear skies. This was a stunning backdrop for the lights. While our trip went west, some trips may go east and over the border into Finland. It all depends on where the guides think the lights will be on that particular night, avoiding areas of significant cloud cover..

We arrived back in Tromso just before 3am in the morning. This was early enough for us, to get some sleep and make the most of the following day, albeit with a much later start in the morning.

Pictures and videos were sent by the guides, the morning after the trip. This is just a small selection of what they sent. The guides also included a trip report which detailed our route. I would definitely recommend Chasing Lights if you plan to see the aurora in Tromso.

Questions and Answers About The Northern Lights Big Bus Tour

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Whale Watching in Tromsø: Humpbacks & Orcas

So with limited time and budget, I asked my Norwegian friend which activity I should do in Tromsø. He said ‘whale watching in Tromsø’ without hesitating, so that’s what we did. After a previous failed attempt to see whales in New Zealand, I was sceptical. But the silent hybrid catamaran in Tromsø looked warm, comfortable, and less likely to be seasick-inducing — so I booked it.

👉 We took this exact tour: Silent Whale Watching. The hybrid catamaran was warm and comfortable, and we saw plenty of humpbacks and orcas.

We boarded the catamaran and sailed further north to the islands where the waters are rich with herring. These are the feeding grounds of the humpbacks and orcas. We saw whales in large numbers. The orcas were aggressive feeders and we watched them work in teams to surround the much larger humpbacks and chase them away.

The catamaran had a large viewing platform with room for everybody. It could get close to the whales as it was so quiet. The catamaran didn’t seem to bother the whales. It was in full electric mode while we were whale watching and reverted to using a regular motor for the journey between Tromso and the feeding grounds.

We were definitely glad we saw the whales. The Arctic coast was spectacular. The marine scientists leading the trip were friendly, attentive and extremely informative. and the whales definitely made an appearance!

Questions and Answers About Silent Whale Watching

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Fjellheisen Cable Car: Best Views of Tromsø

The view from the top platform of the Fjellheisen Cable Car is spectacular. I expected Tromso to be grey and dark in the winter, I had not prepared myself for the beauty of the pink tinged skies set above the stunning arctic scenery.

It was 415NOK (around £32) return. Not cheap, but definitely something you can’t miss if you visit Tromso. The base of the cable car is a short walk from the centre of Tromso and you can hike up or down, the mountain to enjoy the view, if you prefer!

🌍 Looking For Travel Inspiration?

Here are more ideas and destinations worth adding to your itinerary:
• Beyond Duty-Free Shopping – 21 Best Things to Do in Andorra
• Things to do in Carcassonne – Here’s what I did, what I skipped and what I wish I’d known
• Chisinau to Bucharest Sleeper Train: Europe’s most Unusual Rail Journey

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Arctic Cathedral (Ishavskatedralen)

The Arctic Cathedral, and Tromso bridge are the most striking structures in Tromso, especially with the backdrop of the Tromsdalstinden mountain, The cathedral is normally open to visitors in the afternoon and we took the opportunity to see the impressive triangular stained glass window from the inside. There was a 70NOK (around £5) entry fee per person.

We also walked across the bridge spanning the Tromsøysundet strait which joins the city of Tromso on the island of Tromsøya with the Norwegian mainland.

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More Arctic Adventures to Try

There’s a wide range of trips and activities from Tromso. If you’ve chased the Northern Lights, said hello to the whales and you still have time, here’s some more fun activities you can book.

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City Centre and Harbour Area

Tromso is pretty. We arrived just as the Christmas lights were going up and space was being cleared ready for the Christmas market.

Here’s some things to see and do in the city centre, we didn’t have time for, but maybe you will?

• Troll Museum
• Polaria The Arctic Experience Centre. This is the world’s northernmost aquarium
• Visits to see the husky dogs and dog sledding
• Visits to see the reindeer and reindeer sledding
• Sami Culture Tour
• The Polar Museum
• Tromso city library and archives
• MS Polstjerna – a historic sealing ship
• Hiking, skiing and trips in nature

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Food and Drink in Central Tromsø

Tromso is a city where you can eat well. We were particularly impressed by the craft ale scene. It was expensive, so we interspersed our ‘splurges’ with bread and cheese and some basic cooking in the apartment, but here’s some of our highlights.

Olhalen Brew Pub

As lifetime CAMRA members, we were not going to pass up the opportunity to go to the most northerly brewery in the world run by MAC brewery. It also claimed to have one of the largest selection of taps in Europe. 72, to be precise, Olhalen was certainly characterful and the beers were excellent, but over £30 for 3 drinks!. We limited ourselves to one round, said goodbye to the arctic friends who had been watching us and left in search of something we hoped might be more reasonably priced

Blarock

In search of food, we found Blarock which describes itself as ‘Northern Norway’s only proper rock ‘n’ roll venue’. It was dark and pink. We had 3 exceptionally good burgers and 3 beers and left £80 lighter. This was definitely better value.

Cafe Sann

When you are confronted with a choice of beers and you don’t know which one to pick, then Cafe Sann comes to the rescue, offering flights. This was another characterful bar.

You could choose whether you want to sit in the light and bright section in the middle, or go ‘dark and moody’ around the edges. I naturally headed for the darkest corner! Here you get to see your’ three ‘Tromso testers’.

Skarven Kro

We visited Skarven Kro twice, The first time we found the incumbents drinking mulled wine and singing traditional Norwegian Christmas carols, It was very full. We moved on.

With its location near the harbour, we wandered in again after our whale watching trip. We had strict instructions from the marine biologists to leave the whale meat alone. We heeded their advice and enjoyed some exceptional (whale free) fish stew.(£20 per person).

Reindeer Hotdogs!

This cute little kiosk with a fire pit and reindeer skin covered benches, acted as a meeting point to discuss the activities of the day with fellow travellers and also fill us up with Rudolph in a bun! The best Rudolph in the world apparently!

Tromsø Mikrobryggeri

Our final craft brewery was Tromso Mikrobryggeri. It was the last night, and we picked the 16% Nordic noir! Possibly unwise, but these hardened travellers, managed it back to the apartment, won at following detailed rubbish sorting instructions and were ready at 5am to leave for the airport. Definitely a result!

Thanks go to my husband as I may have stolen from his beer blog while completing this section.

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Practical Tips for Visiting Tromsø

Snow arrives in early November in Tromso. If you want to do the full range of winter activities it would be best to arrive after that. Peak aurora activity is from January through to March., although you may see the lights from late September to early April. You are most likely to see whales from November through to February as the whales follow the herring who migrate to the islands just North of Tromso at this time of year..

Norway is an all year round holiday destination and there is plenty to see and do when it is warmer!

We opted to use the budget airlines to take us to Tromso from the UK.. I set myself a challenge to find the lowest price flights from the UK. We caught a WizzAir flight from London, Luton to Gdansk, then Ryanair to Tromso. We returned on a direct Norwegian Air flight to London, Gatwick. It worked out at £86 per person return. That’s the basic price with no extras. There were regular public buses from the airport to the city centre.

There are also internal flights from Oslo to Tromso, for those arriving into Oslo. If you want to go overland to Tromso from Oslo, you can catch the train via Stockholm and go as far as Narvik station. There are buses North for the last 4-5 hours. In total you are looking at a 30 hour+ journey

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Packing for Tromsø in an Underseat Bag

I have a complete packing list for 4 season travel which I use for every trip. I’ve paired things down to the point where my pack weighs around or just under 6Kg including a small laptop, no matter the season, no matter the trip. It’s worked comfortably in zero and a little colder than that, but I did need to beef it up a little for the arctic, in the winter!

I’ll be honest, I was anxious about the cold temperatures in the arctic. I feel the cold. I’m the sort of person who’s often wearing a jacket or cardigan even if it’s hot! It turned out the modifications were actually pretty straightforward – and everything still fitted in an underseat bag which qualified as a Personal Item, on Wizz, Ryanair and Norwegian, which were the airlines I used for this trip.

• short sleeved items were switched to long sleeve
• thick thermals (from Uniqlo)
• thicker hat, scarf, gloves and socks
• added a down vest to wear under my puffy jacket (which is not the thickest)
• swapped my regular boots, which work in snow, for some dedicated snow boots with a thicker sole.

That’s it really. With multiple layers worn together it worked!

As I packed my bag to leave, I couldn’t help comparing Tromsø with another place I’ve loved in the far north – Iceland. Here’s how they measure up.

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Iceland vs Tromsø: Which Should You Visit?

Both Iceland and Tromsø make incredible northern adventures – easy to reach from Europe, well connected by flights, and unforgettable once you’re there. They’re also similar in more ways than you might expect: both are famously expensive, both offer world-class Northern Lights and whale-watching opportunities in winter, and both have striking triangular cathedrals that have become city icons.

But the experiences themselves are quite different. Tromsø feels far more remote – a compact Arctic city that’s perfect for a short winter break. It’s small enough to explore on foot, surrounded by mountains and fjords, but limited in day trips once you’ve ticked off the main highlights unless you’re there to ski or prepared for long, potentially difficult, journeys.

Iceland, by contrast, is a whole island to explore. I’ve visited in summer and travelled as far as the northern fjords and Akureyri, where long daylight hours open up endless options – from driving the Ring Road to snorkelling between tectonic plates, visiting geothermal pools, waterfalls and black-sand beaches, or simply enjoying Reykjavík’s food and culture. Some activities you can only do in the summer, all activities are easier and more pleasurable when it’s warmer!

So my hot take? Visit both. Tromsø shines brightest in winter, while Iceland is at its best in summer – two sides of the Arctic experience that couldn’t complement each other better.

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Have you been to Tromso (or Iceland), what’s your experience? Or maybe you’re planning a visit? Drop a note in the comments, I’d love to hear from you.

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