Tromsø General Tips by FletteMette

Favorite Thing: Tromsø is situated 400 kilometres to the north of the Arctic Circle - and the further north you get, the longer the season of the midnight sun. In Tromsø the sun never drops below the horizon between May 21st and July 21st. The photo you see here was taken just after midnight, in early June - on Sommarøy island near Tromsø.

Find somewhere to sit by the sea (facing northwards), enjoy a bottle of wine & watch the orange sun glowing just above the horizon at midnight.... magic...:o)


Leave a Comment

Favorite Thing: Tromsø is situated to the north of the Arctic Circle - and between November 21st and January 21st the sun doesn't rise above the horizon.

Many people think it stays pitch-dark for two whole months - but there are actually some hours of soft, bluish daylight in the middle of the day. When the weather is nice, it gets quite light - with beautiful, glowing, reddish colours on the sky to the south.

The 21st of January, when the sun again can be seen from Tromsø city centre, is celebrated as "Sun Day". If you're in Tromsø on this date, go to a bakery and buy yourself a "solbolle" ("Sun bun") and celebrate the day as the locals do... :o)

The people of Tromsø found it very appropriate that the new little Norwegian princess, Ingrid Alexandra, was born on January 21st (2004) - now their "Sun Day" is an official flag-flying day... ;-)


Leave a Comment

Favorite Thing: This is the Arctic, but the climate is still relatively mild due to the warm waters of the Gulf Stream. Tromsø is situated on an island by the North Sea, and the Gulf Stream has a modifying effect on the temperatures here - after all the town is on about the same latitude as Alaska and Siberia..! (The temperatures of the inland this far north in Norway is a different story, and can occasionally reach as low as -50°C.)

The average temperature in January, which is the coldest month of the year, is approximately 4°C below zero - but remember that if it's windy, the effective temperature is significantly reduced - so be sure to pack those thermals. The all-time low in January is -18°C. Summer weather ranges from 5°C and rain, to brilliant sunny days with temps reaching almost 30°C - the summer weather this far north can best be described as quite unpredictable.

The first snowfall might happen in September, and the last snow usually melts some time during May. Tromsø does usually get *a lot* of snow, and in the spring of 1997 there was still 240 cm of snow on the ground in late April. Norway does have 4 seasons, but in Tromsø spring is usually very short - it seems to shift almost directly from winter to summer.


Leave a Comment

Favorite Thing: Will there be snow - this is one of the questions most commonly asked about Tromsø in the travel forums. (The other one being "will I get to see the northern lights?";o)

The weather has been rather odd the past few years (I blame the global warming) and we have had milder weather than usual. In a *normal* winter Tromsø will be snow-covered at least between December / January and late March. The autumn's first snowfall might happen in September, but the snow normally won't stay for more than a few days that early in autumn.

The really heavy snowfalls will normally come in January / February, and the last snow usually melts some time in April or May. The mountains surrounding town will of course remain snow-covered longer.


Leave a Comment

Favorite Thing: Well, this tip certainly doesn't fit very well with the VT template - can't say the polar night is a favourite thing of mine, but I'll put the tip here anyway... :o)

The polar night lasts from late November until late January - and many find this time of the year quite challenging. The lack of daylight might make you feel depressed, you might lack energy, your sleeping patterns might change (insomnia is quite common - which surprised me, I expected to go into hibernation...) If you're staying in the Arctic for a while during the polar night, this is how to beat the midwinter blues...:

How to handle the polar night:

€ Don't stay awake during the night and sleep during the day, go to bed at your normal bed-time.
€ Try to go for a walk during the lightest hours of the day, to soak up what little daylight there is.
€ Take vitamin D supplements. Norwegians are told that we should take "tran" every day of every month with an R in it (September through April.) :o) Buy your tran at any supermarket - tran is cod liver oil, also available with lemon flavour, and as capsules for those who can't stand the taste;o) Another option for those who don't want "tran" is the "Ekstra-lett" milk (semi-skimmed milk fortified with vitamin D). Vitamin D is produced in your body when your skin is exposed to sunshine - and as we know there's no sunshine during the polar night... :o)
€ Eat healthily. Many experience increased appetite and weight gain during the polar night. Eat lots of fruit & veg and take vitamins, to boost your energy levels... :o)
€ Be active, spend time outdoors. Exercise *will* make you feel better, I promise...! :o)
€ Light therapy / phototherapy is an option for those who experience problems. Talk to your doctor if you're struggling, you might suffer from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder).
€ Try to enjoy the what the season has to offer - the polar night is the perfect time for candles, muffins & tea... :o)


Leave a Comment

Favorite Thing: Norway really *is* a quite long country, and Tromsø is in the far north of it. The Arctic Circle is at 66° 33' north, and Tromsø is about 400 km to the north of the Arctic Circle, at almost 70°N. Tromsø is situated on the coast in the northern part of Troms county, which is the second most northerly county of Norway. (Finnmark is the northernmost county.)

Just to give you an idea of the distances:
Going all the way up to Tromsø by car from southern Norway will take a couple of days, and going by train is not even an option, as the railway line stops somewhere near Bodø. (The train ride from Oslo as far north as Bodø will take about 18 hours.) .


Leave a Comment

Favorite Thing: For some reason, most bakeries in Tromsø don't seem to know how to bake good bread. In fact, there really is only one place to go if you're looking for decent bread in Tromsø - the bakery called Steike Godt. (The bread they bake here is not only passable, it actually tastes, smells and looks great!) "Steike Godt" is an expression meaning something like "darn good" - but "steike" can also mean "to bake". See? Even the bakery's name is great:o)

Located in a 150-year-old wooden house right in the town centre (address: Vestregata 25), this little bakery/shop offers tasty, if a little expensive, bread - made in a specially-designed wood-fired oven. (Supposedly the world's northernmost wood-fired bread oven;o) Every evening the bakers light a birch-wood fire in the oven - which the following morning holds temperatures suitable for baking. The result is perfect bread with a delicious crispy crust. Price around 30-35 NOK for a large bread.

Be here early, the bread from Steike Godt is popular, and you don't want to risk them being sold out, as the bread you find in ordinary Tromsø supermarkets is barely suitable for bird feeding.


Leave a Comment