Tromsø

As it is a different Christmas and we didn’t want to travel to Spain due to the corona situation, we take advantage of this time to go to Tromsø for a few days.

Tromsø is the largest urban area in Northern Norway and the third largest north of the Arctic Circle anywhere in the world (following Murmansk and Norilsk, both in Russia). Most of Tromsø, including the city centre, is located on the island of Tromsøya, 350 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle.

Because of its extreme latitude, Tromsø has a polar day (also known as midnight sun) during the summer and a polar night during the winter. These are periods of time when the sun is continuously above or below the horizon for more than one day. In other words, during the period we are there the sun never rises completely. Despite this, the temperatures are not very low and are very similar to those in southern Norway.

In Tromsø there is the possibility do many activities such as reindeer or husky sledding, whale watching cruises, snowmobile tour and of course chasing the northern lights. Besides the city has several restaurants, a great indoor swimming pool and its surrounded by spetacular mountains and islands. The best view is by taking the Fjellheisen Cable Car wich runs from Solliveien in Tromsdalen up to the mountain ledge Storsteinen (421 m above sea level).

We took the boat cruise to see the whales, which took us 80 km from Tromsø to near Kågen. We were quite lucky as there is no guarantee that the whales will be seen, we also saw an orca at close range. Here a video of the experience.

Although the journey was long and intense, due to the wind and heavy waves, we were able to enjoy good views with calm sea which allowed to take some pictures.

We also rent a car to move around and chase the northern lights.

With the northern lights we were not as lucky as with the whales, they were seen in a very weak and unspectacular way, although I was able to take this photo. I always think that the chance of seeing northern lights is pure luck and it’s like play in a casino.

In short Tromsø is a good destination to spend a few days and enjoy nature and photography.