Tromsø, Norway | Christmas, Whale Watching, Aurora and Dog Sledding |

Close your eyes and imagine this scene as I paint a picture for you; a sea of white snow everywhere you look, snow-capped mountains in the distance, slight tint of blue in the sky, frozen lakes to your left, you take a breath in and the icy fresh air just awakens every corner of your soul.

Or this, you’re freezing out in the sub-zero temperature, there’s a slight breeze brushing past your skin, your fingers and toes frozen but you don’t care because right in front of you, the sky is dancing with bright green and purple hues; gaze transfixed at the sight of a starry aurora night.

This trip to Norway took place in Tromsø, the second time in one of my favourite country to visit, 1st trip to Norway blog entry Here. My friends and I left for Tromsø on the 21^st of December and the trip lasted for 6 magical days.

Below are some of the best (to my ability) moments captured in chronological order;
Links to places are at the end of the post.

Day 1 | Checking in and exploring |

We spent most of our time walking around town as light was scarce and it was cold, we explored the malls and walked around the water front watching boats drift with the ocean and lights reflecting off from the buildings above. The streets were decorated with Christmas lights and the yellow flickers coming from within the windows gave the town a sense of warmth in one of the darkest period of winter. We stayed at the Comfort Hotel Xpress Tromsø which was strategically located in the city centre, within walking distance from the nearest SPAR grocery store, the malls, restaurants and main streets. 

A random alley lit with fairy lights

Christmas Tree

Day 2 | Whale safari in freezing conditions |

On our second day, we woke up early in the morning for a Whale Safari Tour, our pickup location was at the Scandic Ishavshotel which was about 10 minutes’ walk from our hotel. We were met by the company representatives and got on a bus for a 45 minute journey to the safari location at an island called Kvaløya. On the way there, our guide gave us a very informative talk on the whales that we were going to see (hopefully), the evolution behind the whales and also lots of other details about migration and their behaviour. Finally we arrived at the location, we were given high visibility flotation suits which were far too big for me but it serves its purpose nonetheless. I chose the ‘ Rib safari tour with a marine biologist’ as it gave us a better opportunity to see the whales up close and just experience the sheer power of the open ocean and the elements of our surrounding. Unlucky for us, the weather was not on our side; it was quite dark and cold, windy as well as raining for most of the tour. Regardless, our very experienced guide manage to spot some Orcas in the distance within 10-minutes out in the rib. After approximately 2 hours, the safari was cut short due to the worsening weather but we were glad in a way because most of us were wet and freezing. Back at the hub, we were given some fresh and delicious hot fish soup which was an instant pick me up and immediately felt a whole lot more alive. I wish I had a better camera to capture the whales in the low light conditions, unfortunately the pictures I took came out really grainy but they’ll have to do.

The ribs that we were on

Orcas feeding

Day 3 | When plans don’t work out |

Day 3 was the day that I was super excited about because it was the day for Dog Sledding! Our pickup point was at the Radisson Blu Hotel which was also situated beside the Scandic Ishavshotel . Unfortunately to our dismay, we were given the bad news that the tour was cancelled due to lack of snow. To be honest, I was particularly bummed about it, we were all disappointed because who would’ve thought that of all places we’d run into this issue that there wasn’t enough snow? Apparently it has been one of the warmest few weeks that Tromsø has been experiencing and the continuous rain had melted away the snow. All we could do was to just go online, search for any available dog sledding tours that we could find and we called and called but everyone we talked to was fully booked out or the days available was just not suited for our schedule. Finally we got in contact with a local guide, there wasn’t much information online about the tour, but we were desperate and he sounded promising, however the probability of the tour was dependant on the snow condition. At this point we were just holding on to our last ounces of hope and so we just brushed this whole situation aside and went to collect our car which we rented from the company Avis.

We drove out across the bridge to the Arctic Cathedral ( Ishavskatedralen) and spent some time in the snow snapping away at this architecture marvel. After dinner, we just picked a point on google maps and drove into the darkness in search of the northern lights. With the little information we got from the local tour guides we drove up north for about 30-40minutes but snow was just incessantly falling and we knew it was impossible to see the northern lights in this condition; we turned back and this time we went down south and came upon a diversion which we just decided to explore as the sky started to clear up. During our drive we came upon a house and decided to stop by the road while we took out our cameras and nonchalantly pointed it at the dark sky, waited a few seconds as the camera clicked away, right then and there the LCD screen showed some faint greenish rays across the sky that we weren’t able to see with our naked eyes. After speaking to the home owner who was outside doing some chores, he pointed us to the direction of where we could see the lights clearer and so we set out with high hopes, safe to say we weren’t disappointed. We were surrounded by darkness and all we could see was the faint lights in the sky which our cameras were able to capture more clearly. We spent close to 3 hours just snapping away in the cold before deciding it was time to head back, by then it was close to 1am and all the morning disappointments were temporarily forgotten.

The Arctic Cathedral

Tromsø Bridge connecting Tromsdalen on the mainland and the island of Tromsøya

Day 4 | Road Trip to Svensby, Christmas Eve |

After checking out of the hotel, we stopped by at the local SPAR to do some Christmas dinner grocery shopping, we then loaded our car before setting off for a road trip passing through Fagernes towards the ferry terminal at Breivikeidet which took us close to 50 minutes. The drive was remarkable as light began to fill up the dark sky, we were immediately transfixed by the surrounding fjords, frozen lakes; snow covered roads and trees clothed in white. As we reached the ferry terminal, in the distance were the majestic Lyngen Alps; the scheduled ferry arrived at 11.40am and took us across the waters to the other side where we were going to stay for the remainder of our time in Tromsø. We checked into our holiday apartment in a private farm land and was amazed by the beautiful scenery as well as the cosy and modern interior of the house. The house was fully equipped with all the necessary cooking utensils; they also provided us with oil, salt and spices which I requested upon the reservation of this accommodation. We ended our Christmas Eve night with a full belly of instant noodles and watched ‘Train to Busan’ which I know, isn’t the most festive movie for the Christmas season but hey, we enjoyed it all the more.

Our cosy farm house

Day 5 | Christmas Day |

Started the day with a leisure drive to the nearest town Lyngseidet which was 25 minutes away, for the first time since our trip we had clear blue skies and this was the start of an amazing and unforgettable Christmas day.

After stopping by the quiet town, we continued on to Koppangen Brygger towards the left side of the Lyngen Fjord overlooking the sea with tiny red houses on stilts by the bay. The view as always was spectacular and breathtakingly gorgeous, soon the sun began to set and we made our way back to the farm while we enjoyed the bright orange and yellow hues in the horizon. As darkness fell, the Christmas dinner preparation began and we were all just buzzing with excitement as Christmas tunes filled our entire apartment. While waiting for the Chicken to roast we were caught off guard when the northern lights suddenly appeared in full glory, words can’t explain how remarkable the sight was, the sky above our apartment was just filled completely by the aurora and this time we could see it with our eyes, bright green purple blue hues dancing above our heads. The chicken, potatoes, vegetables were all just forgotten in the moment of pure wonder, thankfully nothing was burnt. I don’t know how long we spent outside staring into the sky when we finally went back into the warmth of the apartment for our Christmas meal and gift exchange! 

During this time we were keeping in contact with a Lyngen local dog sledding guide, Tommy Larsen whom we found the day we were frantically searching for an alternative as our first tour was cancelled. He was kind enough to invite us over to his place on boxing day to just experience what we can and meet his team of huskies, however we were told that it was impossible to do the complete sledding experience because there was still insufficient snow at the trails. Taking into account the fact that this trip wouldn’t be complete without a dog sledding experience, we took this opportunity and it turned out to be one of the best moments of my life. I’ll stop with the words and just let the pictures reveal this special Christmas day.

Our trusty ride

Koppangen

Day 6 | Final day & Boxing day, dog sledding with team Lyngen |

The final day, we woke up early in the morning and had some fresh milk from the cows at the farm and after a hearty breakfast, we cleaned up the house before driving about 30 minutes to Tommy’s place in Karnes. As we arrived at his cosy house, we were greeted warmly by Tommy and after chatting for a bit we found out that he was a local musher from Lyngen and has competed in several races with his team of 13 Alaskan Huskies. We were provided with some warm clothing and snow boots before we went outside to the kennels to finally meet these remarkable athletic dogs. The introduction was very simple as the dogs were very friendly and comfortable with strangers, we felt right at ease with 14 dogs running around, greeting us with kisses and paw bumps. Tommy explained how the sled worked then we were each assigned a dog where we helped put on the harnesses, the dogs were very well trained and once the harness was on it was as if a switch was flipped and the dogs were focused and ready for the task ahead.

We went out to an open field where we were given the demonstration of how to control the sled and then it was our turn to ride, each of us had several tries taking turns to handle the sled. The experience was definitely exhilarating and I could feel the sheer power of these dogs as they pull the sled across the open field. After several rounds with the dogs, we spent another hour or so just talking and playing with the dogs watching them run around the enclosure. Tommy then brought us to a hut he personally built which overlooked the Alps and sea; the view was amazing and we had a lovely time listening to his experience and learning about Norway over a warm cup of tea/ coffee by the fire. The conversation had to be cut short due to the fading light and the push for time as we had to drive back to Tromsø city, return the car and make our way to the airport to catch our 7pm flight.

It was a packed full on day but definitely a great end to an amazing trip.

That view tho.
(Photo by CK)

 Back Left (Buster), Back Right (Diko)
Middle (Lisa), Front Left (Mille), Front Right (Mie)
(Photo by CK)

The little hand built hut
(Photo by CK)

The KK Squad (Photo by CK)

Important Information & Links

1. Visit Tromso website
There's literally everything you need to know

2. Comfort Hotel Xpress Tromsø

Booked through Booking.com; 

Pros: Very responsive to emails, lounge area includes hot water, free coffee and tea, mini convenience store, Wifi, rooms are very comfortable and the toilet has heated floors!

Cons: On the pricey end; no cooking facilities/ electric kettle in the room

3. Solheim Fritidsgård

Booked through Booking.com; 

Pros: Very responsive to emails, the owner is super friendly and helpful and lives in the farm as well, has a dog named Molly( such a cutie), fresh milk from the cows, beautiful scenery, check out their website to learn more about the accommodation options that they offer.

Cons: -

4. Car Rental – Avis

I would recommend checking out other car rentals instead eg. Europcar

5. Whale Safari, Tromso Friluftsenter

6. Dog Sledding with Team Lyngen

The whale safari and dog sledding in my opinions was one of the best experience I've had and they both have great reviews online. There are dozens of tour companies available so be sure to just research more and make comparisons to see which suits you best. 

7. Ferry Schedule ( Breivikeidet to Svensby)

There's an alternative route that takes approximately 2 hours instead of taking the ferry; The highlighted route in Blue includes a Ferry ride which would cut short the journey time. 

8. Aurora Forecast

9. Weather forecast 

 The Aurora forecast and weather forecast links provide very useful information for those of you who are keen on hunting your own Northern lights like we did.

Budget:

ESTIMATED COST
Flight (Norwegian)	186.70£ pp
Accom. Tot	130£ pp
Tours: Whale Watching	121.65£pp
Tours: Dog Sledding	40£ pp
Car Rental & Fuel	57.04£ pp  (Cost was shared among 4 people)
Extras & Food	200£ Food, groceries, fuel, etc.
Total Approx.	~735,40 £

Lastly,

Check out my travel video!