Postcard from Tromso

A few months ago, I took a trip way up north. To be specific, Tromsø towards the top of Norway.

As we were travelling by sea and the weather had been quite inclement for the previous few days, the captain had taken a rather circuitous route to approach from the North, reaching a maximum latitude of 70° 41’, very slightly beating my previous record, but making our arrival a little later than intended and reducing the duration of the visit.

Thankfully, the skies had cleared, and it was a lovely sunny day by the time we floated into port. Tromsø is on an island, connected to the mainland by both a bridge and a road tunnel. Docking slightly out of town at the commercial port (we were too tall to fit under the bridge) I declined the offer of a shuttle-bus ride and opted to walk instead. It was a couple of miles, but having had limited fresh air & exercise for a couple of days my legs were in need of a stretch and it was interesting to see some of the less touristy areas. A locals’ supermarket was noted as a place to call-into on the way back to pick up a bottle of fresh milk.

Arriving in the centre of the city, the first item on the agenda was to cross the bridge to Tromsdalen and visit the Arctic Cathedral, known locally as the Tromsdalen Kirke. Built in 1965, it is quite a striking concrete and aluminium building, triangular in section with huge full-height windows at each end, stained glass ones behind the altar.

There is a sightseeing cable car not far from the Cathedral, but unfortunately this was out of service during my visit, so it was another 1,200 yards back over the bridge into the “Sentrum” for a very nice pastry and a cup of tea before exploring further.
There were several other much older churches in the city, mostly of wooden “stave” design whereby the split logs comprising the walls are set into the ground vertically rather than stacked horizontally as one might expect in a modern log cabin or barn.

Tromsø lays claim to several “world’s northernmost” titles, including its planetarium, an outdoor swimming pool, a golf course, a university, and branches of both Burger King and McDonald’s.  Note that I didn’t try any of these personally.

The afternoon comprised a slow trek back to the ship including a wander around the marina and visits to some very nice shops along the appropriately named Storgata.

Just like previous experiences of Scandinavia, everything was spotlessly clean and the locals were very friendly – most of them spoke perfect English. As an added bonus, once we sailed off into the darkness I went up onto the top deck and saw the Northern Lights dancing across the sky.

Will I be back? Definitely. Possibly as part of the Coastal Express route, which is firmly on my to-do list and will give the option of a longer stopover.
 

© text & images except where indicated Snotsicle 2026