17 Epic Things to do in Tromsø, Norway

Looking for the best things to do in Tromsø? Tromsø is a delightful city on a Norwegian island above the Arctic Circle! From chasing the Northern Lights to museums and incredible bakeries, here are some of the best things to do in Tromsø:

Why This Blog? Hey there! My name is Maddy and I’ve ben working as an outdoor guide and writer since 2018. With hands-on experience working as a guide in the outdoors, I’ve made it my mission to help connect travelers like you to the best possible adventures for your skill and comfort level through honest reviews, on the ground experience, and well-researched guides.

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Incredible adventure ideas and things to do in Tromsø:

Tromsø is one of the largest cities above the Arctic Circle, and well-known as a travel destination for folks looking to chase the northern lights, feed reindeer, hike in the mountains and whale watch — not all in the same season of course! I visited Tromsø and the surrounding region for two weeks in Autumn 2026 and to date it’s one of my favorite places I’ve visited. There is something so special about the mountains meeting the sea!

Tromsø is the traditional and cultural homeland of the Sámi People, who still live and work throughout Sápmi (Northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Russian Kola Peninsula) today.

1) Book a fjord tour

One of the coolest things to do in Tromsø is to book a fjord cruise! This is a wonderful way to get out on the water and see the region from a different point of view with experienced guides. Enjoy a cup of hot coffee and pull out your binoculars to search for sea eagles and harbor porpoises!

This was personally one of my favorite things to do in Tromsø and a really great introduction to the Arctic. We did this on day two out of 14 exploring the area, and I’m glad we did it early. Keep in mind that on this boat tour as on any, it’s going to be a lot colder on the boat than it is on land. You’ll want to pack good layers.

We went with World Sea Explorers and had a great experience (five-star reindeer soup for lunch!), and similar experiences are available to book on the Hermes II or elsewhere with fishing options included.

2) Visit Polaria and watch the seal show

To learn about the wildlife of the Arctic there’s no better place than Polaria, the aquarium of the North. Here, you can watch the seals get fed and walk through a tunnel beneath the seal pool! We stood in the seal pool tunnel for nearly a half hour transfixed by the blubbery little guys swimming over the top of us. Very cool!

I was also a big fan of the “under the ice” exhibit (below, right). Here, you walk beneath simulated sea life and look up to learn what lives under the Arctic Ice.

Beyond the animal focused exhibits, I also really enjoyed the research exhibits which were super interactive and walked you through interesting and cutting-edge Arctic Research. We visited a total of five different museums in our time in Tromso and Northern Norway and Polaria was one of the coolest.

3) Tour the best bakeries in Tromsø

I ate a lot of cinnamon and cardamom buns in Norway, but the cardamom bun at Rørt in Tromsø was hands down the best. It was our last day of our trip and we’d spent the morning walking through drizzling mist to different museums. We’d just popped out of a bookstore when it started to downpour on us and we ran into this bakery.

Hair dripping wet but now armed with a hot coffee and a cardamom bun, we ate here and warmed up until the rain let up. It was an extremely cozy atmosphere and the cardamom bun was soft and moist and pulled apart perfectly and the perfect amount of sweet (just a little). 10 star memory, I’d recommend this spot to anyone and everyone.

4) Chase the Northern Lights

One of the coolest things to do when you’re above the Arctic Circle is chase the Northern Lights. Tromsø is an excellent place to visit if you’re looking for the Northern Lights, and aurora season runs from September- April, with the best conditions occurring in the months near polar night and into February. Keep in mind that in early autumn, you may experience cloudier conditions than in true winter, which can make spotting the Northern Lights challenging.

The best way to ensure you’ll have a perfect Northern Lights experience is to book a guided tour. In talking to locals, we learned that these guided tours are some of the best options for Northern Lights in Tromsø because your local tour guide has intimate knowledge of weather and the Northern Lights in the area.

On a guided tour, you’ll watch the weather closely and drive to the clearest skies and the best Northern Lights (or Nordlys in Norwegian!) show. Be sure to bring your passport! Sometimes this means driving across the border into Finland, which is closer than you might think 🙂

5) Take a hike

Norway has so many beautiful hikes and if you are visiting in the summer or fall, the world is your oyster! Hiking options include coastal walks, fjord views and even adventures to alpine lakes like the one pictured below. I highly recommend renting a car if you’re hoping to hike while in Tromsø as many of the best hiking trails are not accessible via public transport.

However if you don’t want to rent a car but still are hoping to hike, check out guided day trip options with shuttle and lunch included.

One thing to keep in mind when hiking in Norway is that Norway is NOT FLAT. Unless you’re doing a coastal hike, you’ll be going up and down, occasionally over challenging terrain. Norway rates hiking difficulty by color for ease of discerning difficulty. Green is a entry-level hike such as a flat coastal walk. Blue indicates longer length and more elevation gain, while Red signals a more demanding hike best attempted by experienced hikers with proper equipment. Black is considered expert level/ mountaineering. Do not attempt.

For reference, I work as an outdoor guide leading overnight coastal kayaking trips and tackle 4-5 longer backpacking trips a year. I found blue hikes to be totally manageable; the one red hike we did while in Norway was challenging, and I would not recommend it to anyone without hiking experience including exposed scrambles, route finding skills, and the ability to hike 10+ miles over challenging terrain with a positive attitude.

READ ALSO: Ultimate One-Week Northern Norway Road Trip

6) Sauna on the Harbor

A trip to Norway is hardly complete without a sauna session that ends with a jump into the ocean! In Tromsø, you can do that right downtown in the harbor with Pust sauna. For a different unique sauna/spa experience, check out the Vulkana Spa Boat, which takes you into the fjords on your spa adventure.

If it’s your first time at sauna, be sure to drink plenty of water in the hours leading up to your sauna session and sauna with care. I recommend going with a buddy. Jumping from a hot sauna into the frigid Arctic waters is exhilarating, but definietly not risk-free. Know your limits and sauna with care!

7) Buy a Norwegian Sweater

Personally I love a good souvenir, and there’s no better way to remember your trip to Norway than with a Norwegian wool sweater. I got the Dale of Norway Albertville Sweater on my second day in Tromsø, and wore it nearly every day for the remainder of my two-week trip!

To find the best sweaters in Tromsø, I recommend visiting Snarby sweater shop and/or knitting studio, which is located right downtown on Storgata street.

8) Visit Tromsø’s oldest bar

Also on Storgata street, you can find Raketten Bar & Pølse, an adorable little hut that is also the oldest bar in Tromsø! Here you can eat a reindeer-meat hot dog and enjoy a glass of warm mulled wine.

For us, this was a fun little stop and a great way to duck out of the cold while exploring throughout the city. Personally I thought the mulled wine was a little too sweet, which was a little surprising given typically Norwegian sweets aren’t as overpoweringly sweet as the American sweets I’m used to. Nonetheless, still a great experience overall.

9) Learn about the North at the Polar Museum

Head down to the Polar Museum on the harbor to learn more about the Arctic and what lies North of Tromsø! This museum is excellent for anyone interested in the Far North who loves a good story. Personally I think this was the first museum in a long time that I’d been to that fully immersed me in the stories inside.

I was especially thrilled at the stories of Wanny Woldstad, a woman Arctic hunter who overwintered on Svalbard. After two weeks of museums highlight primarily the lives of men throughout the Arctic, it was really refreshing to see an exhibit highlighting the experience of a woman, that women were in the Arctic too, surviving and hunting. What I found especially interesting about Wanny’s story is that in addition to hunting polar bears, she also took care of the homemaking, baking bread for her hunting partner.

I am reminded of the recent research paper titled Winning the Bread and Baking it Too. (Not of course, to imply that her hunting partner wasn’t quite progressive for inviting her to the Arctic and teaching her to hunt).

10) Visit the Sámi Shop

Visit the Sámi Shop downtown to peruse Indigenous-made treasures to bring home for your friends and family! Here, I got some reindeer jerky for my parents and my Husband got bone needle holders for his sewing back home.

11) Go Whale Watching

One of the most magical things to do in Tromsø in the winter is to head out whale watching in the fjords! In Arctic Norway, from the end of October through January orca whales migrate north to chase herring making for excellent whale watching in the pale “day time” light of polar night. In addition to orcas, humpbacks and minke whales are occasionally sighted in these northern waters.

Outside of this season it is extremely unlikely you will see whales while visiting Tromsø.

Other tour ideas near Tromsø:

• Have a local cultural experience reindeer sledding and feeding while learning about Sámi culture
• Experience a dog sledding adventure and mush through the Arctic Wilderness
• Snowmobile and reindeer sled to the Three-Country Border

12) Buy Norwegian Wool at Snarby (or handknit mittens, hats and socks!)

If you love to knit, crochet or fiber arts, you absolutely cannot miss the Knitting Studio at Snarby in downtown Tromsø. This was perhaps my favorite stop of an entire two-week trip in Norway and I’m genuinely embarrassed to say how much yarn I purchased BUT it was much cheaper here than in the US so if you think about it I was saving money. Girl math.

They have so many great brands and colors here and even if you don’t knit, it was just really fun to walk through and appreicate all the variety in front of you.

13) Check out the University Museum

If you’re up for a long walk to another museum, check out the Arctic University Museum of Norway. This was about a 1.5-mile walk from our hotel for us, but we were glad to stretch our legs. This was a really cool museum if you’re interested in the science of the Northern Lights, Sámi culutre, or the geology of Northern Norway.

14) Eat Authentic Arctic Cuisine

When visiting any new city one of my must-dos is to make sure I check out the local food scene. While we were here we were visiting my husbands family who are from Tromsø, so most of the best Norwegian food we ate was home-cooked.

That said, there are so many great restaurants to choose from in Tromsø! Check out options on Trip Advisor, and I recommend making sure to order a creamy fish soup at some point, and a reindeer steak at another.

15) Visit the Gateway to the Arctic Ocean Mosaic Arch

Completed by Tromsø artist Marit Bockelie in 2024, this mosaic is one of the most iconic pieces of Tromsø art that you can visit. It’s location is soon to change, so visit here at the waters’ edge while you can!

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16) Explore Senja Island

Not far from Tromsø, find the beautiful Senja Island! Just a few hours drive and a ferry ride away, you can explore epic hiking trails, historic fishing towns, waterfalls and even a National Park.

We spent five days on Senja Island hiking, relaxing, exploring and getting to know one of the lesser-known but nonetheless incredible destinations in Northern Norway. While most visitors flock to the Lofoten Islands, Senja is a little quieter but just as lovely.

READ ALSO: Best Things to do in Senja, Norway

17) Adventure to the Lyngen Alps

My favorite place we visited in our time in Northern Norway was the four days we spent in the Lyngen Alps. If you’re the type of person who likes a quiet getaway away from the tourist path somewhere beautiful and rugged, Lyngen might be the right place for you.

There aren’t a ton of places to eat out in Lyngen, so we cooked at home in our rental cabin and spent the days exploring the many excellent hiking trails in the region.

READ: Ultimate Guide to Norway’s Lyngen Alps

Planning your next big adventure? Here’s some inspiration:

• Visit this remote US National Park and discover island ruins
• This bucket-list backpacking trip has visitors paying nearly $500 just for the permit. Find out why.
• Visit one of the most reliable places to see whales in North America

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