Tromsø, Paris of the North

Tromsø, Paris of the North, is the biggest city in the North of Norway. This beautiful city, situated above the Arctic Circle, is the place to experience Polar nights, the Northern Lights, dog sledging and many more spectacular phenomenons. Because of this, Maarten and I decided to spend Christmas in Tromsø. Tromsø would be the start of a two and a half week trip through four cities in Norway and Denmark.

Northern Lights

In Tromsø will you barely see any light between the end of November and January because of the Polar nights. But if you visit between May and July, you will be amazed by the Midnight sun. Tromsø is therefore advertised as the place to see the Northern Lights  or, as the locals call it, the Aurora borealis in the winter. The Aurora can appear in many colors, but pale green and pink are the most common. Shades of red, yellow, green, blue, and violet have also been reported. The Aurora is a tricky lady because she is only visible when she want to be seen.

Since I saw the Northern Lights in Ålesund I was okay with not seeing the Aurora during my stay in Tromsø (but I was still secretly hoping and got my wish). The best time to see Aurora is in the winter, but that is not the only thing you need to take into consideration. During my stay in Tromsø have I learned from one of the locals that if you are going to hunt for Northern Lights you should check two things; one is the weather forecast, it should be a night with clear skies, and secondly the Bz gauge (this is some theory about the magnetic field of the sun, do not ask) which should be in the minus.

If you are not in the north the KP is important because this determines if the Aurora is low enough to see in your country. The website aurora website has a good explanation about the scale of KP index. A quick search in the Google Play store/App Store also gives you multiple applications that alarm you when the change of seeing the Northern Lights is high.

Tours

Not only the Northern Lights are a big hit in Tromsø, but also all the activities and museums. Since the temperature drops in November the chance of snow increases. From mid-November it is therefore possible to book dog sledding, snowmobile trips and reindeer sledding. But you can also visit the dog yards or go whale watching if you do not have any snow. Populair touroperators where you can book an excursion are; Lyngsfjord Adventure, Tromsø Safari, Arctic Adventure Tours or Tromso Villmarkssenter.

Dog yard

We arrived in Tromsø with no snow because we had the pleasure of having one of the mildest winters in forever. So our hopes of going dog sledging and snow scootering vanished. But as my friends would say I am one lucky girl and during our visit to the dog yard, where they breed the dogs for the dog sledging, the snow started falling. The dog yard we visited was called Villmarkssenter. The dogs here are really friendly and have been in contact with people from a young age, this can be different from other yards. The dogs in other yards are not that close to Tromsø and therefore only have contact with people during the dog sledging and not because people want to pet them and book a trip to do this.

Snow scooter

The snow continued our whole stay in Tromsø so in the end I also went snow scootering. Let me say that this was one of the best things I ever did! After getting into the proper clothes, getting an instruction on how to handle the scooter, it was finally my time to drive. Most tour operators give you the chance to share a scooter with someone else so you can switch when you have a break. I did this with Maarten so we both could enjoy driving.

Walks

We also made some long walks through Tromsø and explored all the shops and buildings. The city was decorated with Christmas lights and other decorations, such as big reindeers of light before the mall.

Food

But since it was Christmas we mostly enjoyed the Norwegian Christmas food (Julemat). Traditionally Norwegians eat Pinnekjøtt or Ribbe during Christmas. In the west it is mostly Pinnekjøtt and in the south it is Ribbe. I am not a fan of lamb so I played it safe with my food, but Maarten did order Pinnekjøtt and I should have done the same because it was good! The restaurants we visited during our stay where; Kitchen and Table, Egon and Roast. Kitchen and Table is based in the Clarion Hotel and is a fancy restaurant with really nice waiters and good food. Egon is a chain of restaurants and because we had eaten there before we knew the food would be good, especially the burgers. Roast is situated in the Scandic Ishavshotel and was a little bit disappointing but still a nice experience.