Arctic Things to Do

 
by globetrott
 
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Reviews from VirtualTourist Members

Chasing the Northern Lights

by Durfun

Hi, Please ensure you pick a time when it's a moonless sky. Check the moon (lunar) calendar for help.Rather than the heart of winter, do consider the shoulder periods - March & October can be very good times for a sighting!As for a 'tour', yes, there are 'Northern Lights hunting tours' which I do recommend. You will need to head for the wilderness, away from the city & it's lights, as you need no 'noise pollution' to improve your chances. And these tours will often drive you 1 to 2 hours away into the wild nature, using their weather analysts!You need to be above the Arctic Circle, so in Norway for instance, aim to go to Bodo or further north! A good airline for economical fares is www.norwegian.comAlso refer to the weather forecast - don't want a cloudy or rainy period!Finally, because it's a heavenly phenomenon, there are no guarantees for a sighting, just ways of maximising your...

Arctic Nature watching --Great Crested Grebe

by Ekahau

The Delta of the Lena happens to be by far the largest delta in the Artic Ocean and it entirely tundra covered. The Lena delta is also the riches wildlife are in the Artic regions of the world in term of breeding and total number of species. In the short summer mid June to mid August they have counted as in 1 2 3 4 – 17 types of mammals and 79 different birds. In fact so many birds that they now have birder tours costing real money to see this beautiful wildlife area

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Northwest Territories: the arctic circle sign

by call_me_rhia

between dawson city in the yukon, and inuvik in northwest territories there's a wonderful lone road surrounded by the most perfect scenery one could wish for. About hald-way along the road you cross the Arctic Circle, and there's a not-too-nice sign there just to remind you of it.As far as I know there's no public transportation along the Dempster but there's a company based in dawson city that organises tours along it, as far as the arctic cricle sign: it's the gold city tours company.

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Tromsoe : a giant bridge & the Ice-cathedral

by globetrott

Tromsdalen Kirke / Ishavskatedralen Artic Cathedral / Eismeer-KathedraleThere are different names for one of the most spektacular churches in Norway ! Some people think it is a tourist-trap but I think it is worth seeing from outside and that it is also worth to take a look inside, although it is just a modern church. From outside it looks a bit like an iceberg or maybe like a whale and it is interesting how the windows were made between the rips of that whale.Ishavskatedralen was built in 1965 by the norwegian architect Jan Inge Hovig .Get inside and have a look,the church is mostly open for a few hours daily, whenever the Hurtigruten-ships are in Tromsoe ! The interior is simple but also interesting and the large window facing the port has the largest glass-mosaique in Europe. There is a small entrance-fee to be payed there and they have a souvenirshop there as well.The Arctic...

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Kirkenes - at the end of the Hurtigruten-cruise

by globetrott

Kirkenes is the endpoint of the Hurtigruten-ships . It is an interesting outpost close to the russian border, the next russian town is Murmansk.Hurtigruten offers an excursion to the russian border, you will see a bit of the landscape plus this very special point at the border that had a lot more sense to go in the times of the Cold War of course. It was a nice excursion, but you will miss to see the town of Kirkenes, except for a few minutes, when you are driven through some roads.I had the hope to see the distance-pole that way that they show in many brochures of Kirkenes, but that place is not so easy to get to.What we saw as well was the "Jet d'eau" of Kirkenes: it looks a bit deplaced out on a lake and surrounded only by empty landscapes, but all citizens of Kirkenes seem to be very proud of it and this is why it is also shown on each and every sightseeingtour there (my 2nd pic).The...

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Hammerfest : the northernmost TOWN on earth

by globetrott

Hammerfest is the northernmost town on earth ! Of course there are lots of villages on earth that are further north but Hammerfest is the northernmost TOWN ! All of the town looks very modern and there is a sad reason for that : In the very last days of WW II the german troups, who had occupied Hammerfest during the war, left this place and burned down all of the houses and only a small wooden chapel on the cemetery has survived, simply because it was surrounded by a lot of graves and the flames did not reach this tiny chapel (my last pic!).This chapel was built in 1937 and is now the oldest building of Hammerfest.--------------------------------- Every day 2 Hurtigruten-ships will come to Hammerfest:The NORTHbound ship will dock from 05.15am till 06.45amand the SOUTHbound ship will stay there between 11.15am and 12.45pm,so in both cases you only have about 90 minutes to explore the town...

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The Northcape / Nordkap

by globetrott

The Northcape / Nordkap is the very northern end of Europe - at least it was believed to be untill someone found out that the real northernmost place is a bit further and quite hard to go there, so they sticked to the wrong place they call the Nordkapp and Millions of tourists are going there each year. The North Cape Hall is a large building that offers shelter in nasty weather and a great view from lots of places, restaurants and observationhalls, there is the postoffice, a selfservice restaurant, souvenirshops and even some museums, a church, a thai temple etc.Nordkapphallen is open all year long, but the opening-times vary a bit during the wintertime.In 1873 the king of Sweden and Norway, Oscar II travelled to the Nordkapp and inside of the Northkapp-Hallen you will see some scenes of this travel shown by small puppets of the king and other noble travellers, while hiking through the...

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The Nordic Lights

by globetrott

The Nordic Lights are also called Aurora Borealis is a very special natural phenomenon that you can watch mainly in wintertime and you need to have a perfect combination of various situations:1) the sky has to be without clouds2) the sky needs to be dark, so you are able to see the reflections 3) you need certain activities of the sun, that are sometimes stronger and sometimes weakerThe way that I understood this is that these activities of the sun will happen all year long, but in summertime you cannot see them because of the bright sky.Hurtigruten has several theme-cruises especially forwatching the Nordic Lights / Aurora Borealis----------------------------------------------The best time for watching the Northern Lights are :October + February & Marchthe best frequency is between 6 pm and 1 am.avoid the times of the Fullmoon, it will not be dark enough then !

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Midnight-sun at Northcape: May 14th till July 29th

by globetrott

Most tourists prefer to come to the northcape / Nordkap during the summertime, in order to see the so-called "Midnight-Sun" ! In the Arctic summertime the sun is shining almost all day long, day and night.For about 2 months you will see the sun to never totally disappear and that is the time of the Midnight-Sun. The time of the Midnightsun varies of course and the further north you get the more days that time will last. Get on a large hill or directely to the Northcape and watch the sun going down between 11.00pm and midnight and you will see that before touching the ocean the sun will start raising again.----------------------------------------------------You will NEVER see the real midnightsun on Northcape at midnight, when getting there by a Hurtigrutenship, because the Northbound ship is docked in Honnigsvag:for 3,5 hours from 11.45am till 03.15pmand Southbound you will get there in...

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Arctic Bird watching Goosander

by Ekahau

This is a really beautiful sawbill duck that loves the Lena Delta and lives in fresh water. They have a bright red bill, green head, dark black back all on a shade of light pinkish white body. When you watch them dive the seem to be underwater for ever would love to see how far down they go.

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Questions and Answers

sheherezad profile photo

Q:  I suddenly mused that it might/should be more interesting to check out the Canadian North, the Inuits etc instead of checking out... 

Bothwell profile photo

A: Sheherezad, I think “Into the Northwest Passage” tour is definitely unique and is the kind of tour that you’d remember for the rest of your life. I’d say, go for... 

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