Two days left for the new year and I was going through our travel pictures of this year. I clearly remember the whole night where we chased the Northern lights and were able to experience the unbelievable views. I wanted to write about the whole experience but could not do so because of the work and my health. But this week, I was talking to one of my friend about the whole itinerary as she was planning for the Northern lights which made me feel to write about it.
Planning for the Northern lights and, the Journey
We booked our flights only two weeks ago through SAS airlines. And same day we also booked the “Chasing Lights” guided tour for Northern Lights during the same period. Our main target of the trip was the lights so we did not booked too earlier. As you cannot estimate the sky and the weather too much in advance. But generally in Europe , you should plan your trips well in advance to save your money. So the trip was an expensive one for us but we were able to see the beautiful lights on our first visit only.
After flying for five hours, we reached the Tromso Airport but we did not receive our luggage. So a lot of time was wasted in the whole process. You can check the below Instagram post for the whole story. We received our bags after two complete days of calling the airport authorities. It somehow effected the excitement that we had before. But we bought some clothes and other necessary thing s and continued our exploration.
Stay and Food
We stayed at the Hotel named “Scandic Grand Tromso” which we also booked near about 15 days ago from the SAS airlines only and we did get discount on our hotel booking. We paid almost 444 Euros for 3 nights including breakfast.
The location was excellent as it was at the City Center from where various guided tours start. It was accessible by public transport from the Airport. You can easily find good restaurant options nearby. The Hotel had an in-house bar , clothes store and a baggage room which can come very handy to keep your luggage after you checkout in case you want to explore more.
Restaurants that we explored are in the below video.
Itinerary
Day 1: Chasing the Northern Lights
Tour website Link: chasi.ng/bigbus
It was our first day in Tromso and I remember we were shopping the necessary clothes required for the chase. Thank god we carried our jackets in the flight and wore thermals. Otherwise that could cost us a lot. We bought some emergency stuff like gloves, socks and bathing essentials.
We had our breakfast at the Hotel and the lunch at a snack joint in a mall. People in Tromso speak good English unlike Germany . We were impressed. Then after doing rest, we started at 6 pm for the chase. The tour we booked was “Northern Lights Big Bus Chase” from Chasing Lights Agency which include up to 50 guests at a time. You can book the mini bus tours as well which costs more than this big bus ones but they also provide you a tripod. We boarded the bus from the City center and were dropped there only. It was a 7 hours trip which costs us around 200 Euros for two persons.
For the night to chase, you need good jackets which should be both wind and waterproof, mine one was from Decathlon with the specification of -20 degree Celsius . And it worked very well even at 3 am in the snow. For shoes, you can rent the spikes which are placed under your normal shoes , they can help with walking on the snow. But your normal shoes should also be waterproof and warm. You can rent the snow boots ,spikes, thermal suits from shops in Tromso city as you usually would never need them. We rented our spikes from Tromso Outdoor rental shop.
There was an onboard restroom. The tour guide was experienced and very interactive. He explained the phenomenon of Northern lights and how we can see them. In actual, you will not observe the lights as you see in pictures but some grey shadows. You need to chase for the clear and dark sky to see northern lights . In general, they appear grey if not in abundance but we were able to watch the little greenish and purple colours around TV midnight near the Tromso Finland border.
It was a little cloudy night in Tromso . We tried roaming around Tromso and stopped at one spot where there was a gap in the clouds in Norway only. There we clicked some pictures and had discussion with our fellows from different countries . We also enjoyed the bonfire in the snow and the hot chocolate at near about 3 am in the night. This was also included in the tour. Our guide also took our pictures with his camera and tripod and sent them to us later. One thing that disappointed us was that we could not click pictures of the lights with our tripod because tripod was in the missing luggage. And here the guide did not give us his tripod for a single click.
After enjoying there, the guide took us near the Tromso Finland border as it was clear in Finland that night. It was 3 am and the light were beautiful there. You can see the lights dancing in the sky with the naked eye. We were lucky to watch them on our first night in Tromso. Sometimes people are not able to make it due to unexpected weather conditions of this area.
Day2: Tromso Harbour and Fjellheisen Cable car
We reached our hotel late in the morning and just wake up for the breakfast and then again slept the whole day . We then went for enjoying the sunset at the beautiful Tromso Harbour . The view was amazing with the orange sky and the green water. After that, we had our evening meal at an Indian restaurant by the name “Elefant”. Dining is expensive here in general. Then we enjoyed walking the streets of Tromso city.
Around 9 pm, we went for the cable car on the mountain Fjellheisen . We decided to go in the night as you can see the Northern lights again from the top of the sky is clear. And we got lucky again to see them in the Tromso only.
There is a restaurant also on the top which serve hot chocolate. The cable car costs us around 53.12 for two. We reached the cable car station by public transport.
Day 3:Arctic Fjord and Landscape Tour
We also booked one tour for viewing landscapes after arriving in Tromso for this day. But we were informed after arriving on the spot that it was cancelled somehow. So we visited the Visit Tromso tourist information center for booking any available tour for viewing landscapes and they booked us one by the name “Arctic fjord and Landscape tour” by Amazing Arctic tours.
It was a 4-5 hours trip which costs us around 270 Euros for two persons as we did not book it in advance. We visited beautiful Norway Fjords around Tromso like Ersfjord, Kaldfjord, Blammansvika,Skjellsvika, Grotfjord and Tromvik. We also visited the fishing villages of Sommaroy and Hillesoy. I loved the Ersfjord in particular. They were magical. We booked the road trip for exploring fjords for the photographyl we but you can book the cruise for them also. Those were proper European villages with colored houses near the water and surrounded by mountains. There were paid washrooms which were very well maintained considering the location.
We were able to see reindeers as well on our journey. Though you can book tours for the reindeer sledge as well. If you have more time , you can explore the famous museums like The Polar museum, The Arctic university museum of Norway and the Northern Norwegian science center. We had to board our flight in the evening same day so could not explore more.
Checkout my other Europe travel itinerary :-
Planning a trip to Amsterdam https://www.theexplorerdiary.com/planning-a-trip-to-amsterdam/
Cool Memories 👌.
You got a very wonderful website, Sword lily I discovered it through yahoo.