Tromsø, Norway - Magic of the Northern Lights
Personal Blog - Norway - Auroras - Northern Lights - Mountains - Snow
Our entire motivation for this trip was to make up for the failure to spot the Northern Lights in Rovaniemi. We had started planning this trip almost immediately after our failed Northern Lights hunt in Finland, and departed one day after returning home from Switzerland. We could have never expected that Tromsø, Norway would be one of the most magical places that we had ever been. Everything from gazing up at the Northern Lights each night, the grandeur of the snowy fjords, and the quaint peacefulness of Sommarøy finally gave us full closure on the late winter of 2022.
To read about the Northern Lights Hunt immediately, skip ahead to Day 3.
Itinerary
Day 1
Our journey to the remote city of Tromsø required us to take a connection in Oslo, so air travel took up the entire first day. Looking back, there seems to be a direct flight from London to Tromsø on WizzAir, and we may have overlooked it.
We got to our AirBnB at around 7:30PM. The driveway into the drop off point was completely frozen, so much so that the taxi could not drive up! We carefully stumbled up the icy slope with our two luggages, nearly died, and finally reached our second story apartment.
This AirBnB was absolutely gorgeous, from the view of the river and Tromsø Bridge, the aesthetic kitchen island, the living room space vibes, and the glass-walled balcony. We still think about this place until today, noting it as one of our best travel choices we’ve made.
Check out this amazing property on AirBnB! → Apartment in Tromso with amazing view!
We ordered in some pizza for dinner and stocked up on groceries too, enough for the rest of our stay because the actual city of Tromsø was a 20 minute bus ride across the bridge. We enjoyed a long relaxing night of Netflix and chill before hopping into the comfy bed.
Day 2
Our trip to Norway has been much too close to our other snowy adventures. As such, we spent a good part of the first day sitting around the apartment getting some of our schoolwork completed. A huge plus about having such a nice living space is that you can sit around anywhere and get productive work done.
Every once in a while we would hop onto the the balcony in our flimsy PJs and snap some photos, lasting only a few seconds before the freezing temperatures pushed us back into the toasty apartment.
We took Bus 28 from our AirBnB to the Fjellheisen Cable Car in the evening, about an hour and half before sunset. A round trip to Storsteinen station at the top will cost 395 Norwegian Krone ($36 USD) for an adult above 16 years of age, and 200 Krone ($18 USD) for any children between the ages of 3 and 15. In addition to the station, the top features a large open area to walk around, take pictures of the surrounding mountains, or take in the panoramic view of the city of Tromsø itself.
Day 3
It took until the night of our second full day before attempting what we tried to do in Finland: see the Northern Lights. We booked a highly rated group tour by Arctic Breeze AS on GetYourGuide. We paid approximately 97 GBP ($120 USD) per person for this tour, and it is worth every cent.
You may be tempted to rent a car and try to seek out the Northern Lights yourself, but there are many advantages to booking a tour like this one. The guides are local to the area, meaning they have seen the lights more than any guest partaking in the activity, so they innately understand the signs of when and where the lights could possibly appear. They know where the best viewpoints are and how to get to them when driving in the black of night. They will often have light snacks and refreshments for the tourists. They will stop at any location when they feel that the lights will appear, even just the side of the road. Lastly, they will both take pictures of you with their cameras and teach you how to set up your phone camera to do the same. This is very important because the Northern Lights require very specific settings to capture them properly.
Looking for the full Northern Lights experience? Book here on GetYourGuide! → From Tromsø: Aurora Borealis Tour
Our tour met up at the Scandic Ishavshotel though this could be subject to change. We got onto the tour van with about 6 other people and drove off to our first destination. After moping around in the snow for about 20 minutes, the first streak of light appeared. We were absolutely shook having finally accomplished our goal.
The lights will appear white to the naked eye, and only show up green on your camera or phone. Even so, watching the lights move and dance on their own was an incredible experience.
We then went to the top of a mountain to seek out some more, but shortly after we settled at a beach area looking out into the snowy mountains. A campfire was prepared for everyone to stay warm, and we waited for what felt like another hour or so while the guide shared his past tour adventures. And then, as if from thin air, the most incredible display of lights ever known appeared in front of our eyes.
For about 30 minutes, the Aurora Borealis was in full effect. The shimmering lights grew continuously and formed incredible wavy patterns that left everyone in a state of awe.
Eventually, clouds started to come in and block the lights, at just the right time when they were dying out anyway. The tour guide was also willing to cross the bring and drop us off at our apartment after everything was set and done. Because of this experience, we went ahead and booked another tour on AirBnB as soon as we got back to our couch.
Day 4
There are two things that everyone recommends seeing when traveling to Tromso: the Northern Lights (check!) and impressive views of the fjords. Per Wikipedia, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs created by a glacier. We hired a private tour guide who brought us, and another group of two, to different fjords in the area. The waters were super calm and the mountains on either side made for a very aesthetic backdrop.
The final destination of the trip was Sommarøy, a quaint fishing village located on an island nearly 60 kilometers away from Tromso. The view here was fantastic as now expected from Norwegian hotspots. From here, you can see all the minor islands in the Tromso area. The houses come in all kinds of colors, and their shape reminds me of the “classic” house that a child would be expected to draw.
It was a one and half hour drive back to our apartment from Sommarøy. We rested up for a couple of hours before heading into town to meet up for our second Northern Lights hunt.
We went into town an hour or two earlier than our meet-up time because we wanted to actually explore the city after all this time. We wandered around for a little bit before entering Tromsø Tourist Shop to get a few souvenirs.
We had high hopes for this hunt because of the previous lights display, even though each night can have very different outcomes. After trying out a few spots with no success, we eventually ended back up at the same beach spot as before.I think that it took another two or three hours of waiting in the cold before the Northern Lights started to make their appearance. The beautiful wavy lights stayed active for about 30 minutes before dying out for the night.
One hugely positive thing that we have noticed about Northern Lights hotspots is that the guides are very enthusiastic and determined to get everyone to see the lights, since they know it may be people’s’ only chance in their lifetime.
When we reached back to our apartment, the guide was kind enough to inform us that the Northern Lights had decided to have an encore. They appeared directly above us and were extremely bright and active. It was beyond magical being able to watch the beautiful display of one of nature’s greatest phenomena right from our balcony.
I am convinced that there was no better way to end our trip than that. After a restful sleep until a generous 2PM late checkout, we departed from Tromsø and concluded our wintertime travels for this season.
Gallery
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