Tromsø Things to Do

You do not really expect to find a botanical garden when you look around Tromsø, but there it is, on the premises of the Tromsø University Museum. Like everything i Tromsø, this one is also labelled the northernmost in the world. You will find planmts from all continents.
You'll be surprised at the flora diversity and interesting plants here during the right season, anyhow. Forget it during winter. Self-exlanatory via boards and signs. Open 24 hours, no admission fee.
There is an old and defunct Planetarium nearby (at least defunct when I was there) which you aim at, then walk through some shrubs and hit a Geology Walkway and you'll be there.

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Polarmuseet i Tromsø - The Tromsø polar museum - is a little gem of a museum, and contains a lot of interesting and unique historical materials. This is the place to go to track the explorations of the Arctic (and to a lesser extent the Antarctica). The museum is housed in a longish old harbour warehouse, and outside is the little park-like fortress ruin Skansen, some lined up whale guns. You can spend a lot of time in this little museum, well worth it.
There is a small gift shop with some souvenir stuff and pedagogical materials as well as clothing items for sale.

Tromsø is in a perfect location to view the Northern Lights. You can come here and expect with a degree of uncertainty to experience this incredible phenomenon. Try to get away from the city lights, either by your own or join some kind or tour arrangement into the wilderness. I was in Tromsø now in early march and the lights were splendid.

The best way to see the northern lights is simply to make sure you stay as much as possible outside at night (all wrapped up of course).
Dog sledding is really good fun, and gives you the chance to get away from most of the light pollution in town.
Hiring some cross country skis and venturing out into the free lit slopes on the island is another cheap and fun activity.
If you are really set on the northern lights, and don't have much time, a guided northern lights hunt with someone like Guide Gunnar is a good option. They will take you out of town, and even go as far as the Finnish border with you to find the lights.

Otherwise - the best thing is to allow for more than one or two days- a week or longer obviously increases your chances.

Another good idea is to go on one of the many northern lights cruises. Onboard, the captain will let you know over the loudspeaker if there is northern lights activity - which means you don't have to stay outside in the cold all evening :)
Here's a good overview of what northern lights packages are available: http://iglobetrotter.com/norway/northern-lights/northern-lights-holidays

Nordic Lights / Aurora Borrealis
that is a 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 clouds
2) 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 weaker
The 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.
The best time for the Northern Lights are :
October + February & March
the 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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Storegatan means "big street" and thats what it is with a lot of great shopping opportunities, cafes, restaurants and a lot of lovely old houses. You will still see a lot of wooden houses there and even an art-nouveau cinema, read more about it in my tips "off the beaten path"

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These buildings used to be the customs-building between 1833 and 1970 and now they are a part of the Polar-museum of Tromsoe and while you have to stick to the opening-hours when you would like to see the interior and the exhibitions there, you can go and see this part of the museum, any time, day and night and will see some lovely old, wooden houses and various harpunes that were used for whale-hunting.

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Polarmuseet : The Polar-museum
Dont confuse this museum with the Polaria-museum!
This Polar-museum is about the everday life of arctical explorers and early settlers, polar hunters and about expeditions into the Arctic and Antarctic.
The Polar Museum was built inside of the former customs-building,dating back to the year 1830 and the museum was opened on a very special day : In June 18th, 1978, as this was exactely 50 years after Roald Amundsen had left Tromsø for his last expedition, in order to search for Umberto Mobile and the airship ”Italy”.
Polarmuseet is open for visitors:
March 1st till June 15th :11am – 5pm
June 16th till August 15th :10am – 7pm
August 16th till September 30th :11 am – 5pm
October 1st till February 28th :11 am – 4pm