Tromsø, Norway – “The Paris of the North” is a picturesque city in the north of Norway. From London, it is a three hour flight. With a similar distance from Paris, Germany and the Netherlands, you will see many visitors from these places as well.
I visited Tromsø in the last weekend of February 2025. I picked this weekend because it was a new moon during the peak of the suns 11 year solar cycle. The solar maximum means the Northern Lights should be at their most active state in 2025.
I loved it, and this is one of my favorite trips I’ve been on. While it was a bit expensive compared to most other places I have been (pretty much all of them, besides Switzerland), the experiences I had made it all worth it.
If you’re thinking of taking your own trip to the Paris of the North, here’s some information to help you plan.
Getting from airport to city center
Most of Tromsø is confined to an island surrounded by fjords and mountains. The airport is on the opposite side of this island from the city center, but it’s only about 15-20 minutes from one to the other.
There are a few ways you can get there. First, there’s the Airport Express. It’s a bit more expensive than the regular bus, but it is also faster and goes straight to most of the hotels. It was around $12 and I’m told you could buy a ticket on the bus itself.
Then, there is the normal city bus. You must buy a ticket before boarding. Each one way ticket is around $2, and they had a 24 hour ticket for around $10. Some bus stops had ticket machines, but a lot didn’t, so I found it easier to buy the tickets on an app called Svipper. Would definitely recommend this.
Finally, there are many taxis in front of the airport waiting to take you to your destination. We did this the night we arrived and it was about $25 from airport to hotel. This is comparable to the AirPort Express so you might consider this option.
Hotels in the Paris of the North
There are a good amount of options for hotels in the city center of Tromsø. However, your budget may require some flexibility.
We stayed at the Scandic Ishavshotel, which had lovely views of the Arctic Ocean and Tromsdalen across the way. It also came with breakfast included, and it was a great breakfast buffet, especially if comparing to typical US hotels. It was voted the best hotel breakfast in Norway in 2023
Next to us was the Radisson Blu, which also looked nice. Enter City hotel is another option in the city center. Depending on your wants/needs, you may be able to find a good home stay as well.
Northern Lights
While Paris may be the city of lights, the Paris of the North is famous for a different kind of lights. Since many people visit Tromsø to try and see the northern lights, many tour companies in the area offer excursions to try and accomplish this. If the lights are really strong, you’ll be able to see them, at least faintly, from the city itself. To get a better view, you’ll want to get out into the countryside.
You’ll see some places offer visits to their camp where they will hopefully be able to see the lights, but since clouds can easily block the lights, this can be tricky. We went with this option and got extremely lucky. We were able to see a beautiful corona where the lights were dancing and changing colors right in front of us.
What we learned from people at the camp though, was that the camp and Tromsø are often cloudy. So more people have success when they sign up for a ‘northern lights chase’. This is where you ride a bus or a van and go where the break in clouds is suspected to be. Typically, this leads people all the way to Finland, a couple hours away from Tromsø. You could also likely rent a car and chase them yourself, but it might add a bit of stress to the experience. Here are some tour operators that I can recommend:
–Camp Tamok (the tour we did).
–Tromsø: Aurora Borealis Tour (4.8 stars)
–Tromso: Northern lights photography tour by bus
Reindeer experience
Another popular activity, which we did, is to see reindeer. Reindeer are a bit like livestock to the Sami people, which are the indigenous people of Scandinavia. As such, there are farms where you can go and feed the reindeer, or go on a reindeer-drawn sleigh. They are quite small, somewhere between a cow and a sheep.
We visited a farm that had around 300 reindeer, and were given feed to give to the reindeer. Afterwards, we enjoyed a nice meal and learned about Sami culture. Some of these tours also provided opportunity for Northern Lights spotting by being in the evening. So, you could certainly do one of these and hope for the best. Here are a few options for meeting reindeer:
–Reindeer Experience at a Sami Camp
–Reindeer Feeding and Sami Cultural Experience
–Reindeer Feeding & Chance of Northern Lights Viewing
–Reindeer Sledding & Feeding with a Sami Guide
Pust Sauna
One of my favorite visits was to the Pust Sauna. This was a sauna on a dock in the middle of Tromsø. There were two saunas which held a total of 28 people. You could reserve a one hour slot in one for around $35. Since the sauna was on a dock in the Arctic Ocean, it was a great place to cold plunge to cool off. So, we would sit in the sauna for 10–15 minutes, jump in the 38° F water, and repeat. Even in the summer, the water only warms up to the mid 50’s F, so give this place a try.
The sauna also had views of the waterfront and mountains of Tromsø. I would definitelyrecommend this to anyone, especially to relax from all the traveling.
Arctic Cathedral
The Arctic Cathedral is a unique architectural feature of Tromsø. It commands the view from the city center across the water. It sits perched on a hill, surrounded by snow-capped mountains in the background, with the Arctic Ocean in the foreground. You can go inside to view the Stained Glass artwork in the back of it as well.
The day we visited, there was a funeral taking place, so we did not go inside. But, we did enjoy seeing it for much of our trip and it added a lot of character to the scenery.
Across the bridge from it, there is an art piece depicting the gateway to the arctic. This piece lines up with the Arctic Cathedral to create this stunning view.
To get there, take a bus over from Tromsø city center, it takes about 5 minutes once you’re on the bus.
Northernmost McDonalds in the world
Tromsø also boasts the northern most McDonalds in the world. You can go in and take a picture of the sign which proclaims this fact, or get some food as well. The menu items were not too specific to Norway, but they did have sweet potato fries which is a first for me at McDonald’s.
Polaria
If you want to get closer to some of the sea life, and an education on the sea life of the area, visit Polaria. This museum probably draws most of it’s visitors for it’s population of seals, but also includes other educational exhibits.
Museums in the Paris of the North
There are a few other fun (or informational) museums in Tromsø. The two we visited were the PolarMuseet, or Polar Museum, and the Troll Museum.
The Polar Museum recounts the stories of many arctic explorers and inhabitants of old Tromsø. It shows how hunters and trappers would have lived, and the Sami before them. It includes many exhibits showing the harshness of the area.
The Troll museum sheds light on Norway’s history with Trolls. You will notice lots of depictions of Trolls throughout your trip to Tromsø, particularly at the souvenir shops. This museum shows you why that is and is also a great choice for those with kids, as many of the exhibits are interactive.
Whale Watching, Snowmobiling, and other outdoor activities
If you still need to fill your time, you could consider going on a Snowmobiling or Dogsledding outing. These often take place at some of the same camps as the Reindeer and Northern Lights experiences. The camp we visited included both for example.
Tromsø is not just a winter wonderland. There are also things to do like whale watching in the summer. You will notice many different tour companies offering these excursions when you visit Tromsø.
My thoughts on the Paris of the North
My visit to Tromsø was one of my favorite trips I’ve ever taken. Getting to see the Northern Lights was a true bucket list item. We also enjoyed the local seafood, feeding the reindeer, and experiencing a true Nordic Sauna.
I hope this guide helps you plan your own trip to the Paris of the North. For more content like this please subscribe below and please feel free to leave any questions in the comments!
If you enjoyed this content, please check out some of my older posts:
–How to plan your first trip to Europe
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