Tromsø – gateway to the Arctic

Welcome to the unofficial capital of the Arctic – and of the Northern Lights. Set beside glacial waters and ice-capped peaks, the ‘Paris of the North’ has a lively cultural scene that blends traditional Sámi culture, Norwegian heritage and Arctic influences.

Here, you can browse art galleries in the morning, whoosh through the forest on a dog sled in the afternoon, and chase the aurora in the evening.

Humans first set foot on Tromsøya island’s shores some 10,000 years ago. The area was originally inhabited by the indigenous Sámi people, who lived off fishing, reindeer herding, and hunting.

Norse settlers arrived around the 12th century, and the town began to grow as a trading post. By the 1800s, Tromsø had become a hub for Arctic hunting and an important base for expeditions to the polar regions.

In the 19th century, Tromsø gained prominence and prosperity thanks to its strategic location for Arctic whaling. The town also became a center for scientific exploration, hosting renowned Arctic expeditions led by figures like Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen, who made their pioneering journeys to the North Pole and Antarctica.

By the 1900s, it had become a cultural and educational hub, with institutions such as the University of Tromsø, founded in 1968.

Today, Tromsø is a hive of Arctic research and adventure tourism. It’s also experiencing a revival of Sámi culture, with joik (throat singing), duodji (Sámi handicrafts) and language classes and support from the Centre for Sámi Studies at The Arctic University of Norway.

People visit Tromsø year-round. Thanks to its location north of the Arctic Circle, you can witness the magic of the Northern Lights in winter and the 24-hour Midnight Sun in summer.

The city holds titles for the world’s northernmost university and botanical garden, and offers an eclectic mix of festivals, such as Tromsø International Film Festival, The Northern Lights Festival and Bukta rock music festival. The city’s dining scene is impressive too, awash with fresh, locally sourced seafood.

In Tromsø, it can snow for over half the year. Winters are long and very cold. From late November to mid-January, Polar Night descends, plunging Tromsø into a twilight zone where darkness is punctuated only by a few afternoon hours of purple haze. These seemingly endless nights are the perfect inky backdrop for the Northern Lights.

November to January is also peak herring-hunting season for minke, orca, and humpback whales – which also makes it prime whale-watching time.

Summers are short and usually cool, though record highs of 29°C have occurred in recent years. From mid-May to late July, the never-setting Midnight Sun beams on the city and Tromsø brims with activity, often until the early hours of the morning.

To celebrate these two extremes, Tromsø hosts a marathon during both the summer solstice and the Polar Night.