Things To Do in Tromso
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Tromso Attractions
For the Midnight Sun or Northern Lights, the small-scale cable car Fjellheisen (tel. 77-61-00-00 for information) hauls sightseers in orange-and-red gondolas from a spot near the Arctic Cathedral in Tromsdal uphill to a small, not-very-exciting cafe and restaurant (Fjellstua Restaurant), 420m (1,378 ft.) above sea level. Your vertiginous trip is rewarded with a panoramic view from the restaurant that extends out over the surrounding countryside. The cable car operates in March Saturday and Sunday 10am to 5pm, April to September daily 10am to 5pm. Round-trip passage costs NOK95 ($19/£9.50) for adults, NOK45 ($9/£4.50) for children 6 to 16, and is free for children under 6. Round-trip transport of a bicycle (some bike and hiking trails originate near the cable car's upper station) costs NOK35 ($7/£3.50).
Full meals in the Fjellstua Restaurant cost around NOK250 ($50/£25) and include reindeer, dried cod, and fish. Although the tourist office tries to promote this as a big-deal kind of excursion, it's actually kind of tame. The cable car is a bit of a weak-lemonade replay of something the Swiss and Austrians do in ways that are flashier and higher.
Aurora Borealis: The Northern Lights -- The Northern Lights are one of nature's most spectacular and mysterious phenomena. In the right conditions, they can be seen in the night sky north of the Arctic Circle in winter. The most practical place to view them in Norway is Tromsø. If seeing these lights is one of your goals, plan to be in Tromsø for at least 3 days in order to increase your odds of getting the right atmospheric conditions. Anytime in the period from November to March is good, but the end of December, with its 24 hours of darkness, is best.
- Winery/Brewery/Distillery
Macks Ølbryggeri (Mack's Brewery)
Talk about cold beer. This is the northernmost microbrewery in the world. Launched in 1877, it's been going strong ever since. The brewery currently turns out nearly two dozen brews, including Haakon and Macks Pilsner. Tours are conducted of the brewery, and you're given a shot glass… - Religious Site
The Arctic Cathedral (also known as Tromsdal Church and The Boathouse Church)
North Norway's most distinctive-looking and controversial church rose from a location across the harbor from downtown Tromsø in 1965, requiring a transit of the town's longest bridge, completed in 1960, to reach it. Since then, its simple A-frame design has evolved into one of the… - Park/Garden
Tromsø Botaniske Hage
On the grounds of the University of Tromsø, the world's northernmost botanic garden is one of the most unique we've ever encountered. Arctic tundra and alpine mountain botanicals converge here in a landscape where plants have a shortened growing season and very low temperatures. The… - Religious Site
Tromsø Domkirke
One of Norway's largest wooden churches, this is a barnlike, yellow, "carpenter Gothic" monument in the heart of town that's difficult to heat in winter. It is the world's northernmost Protestant cathedral, lying 182m (597 ft.) from the harbor. Consecrated in 1861, it was the…
Tromso Nightlife
The bitter cold and an appetite-inducing position immediately adjacent to the blustery fjords of the North Sea seem to unite in a setting that's conducive to hard partying, hard living, and hard drinking in sybaritic Tromsø. This, coupled with a large student population and a passionate interest in all things sports-related, makes victory and defeat events whose joys or sorrows can easily be fueled or quaffed with drink.
Evocative of some Alaskan cities, nightlife here mainly consists of heavy drinking on a massive pub crawl. In Tromsø, the party goes on 24 hours a day, summer or winter: "In winter, you drink all night because of the darkness," said one local pub crawler. "In midsummer, we drink all night because the sun never sets."
