Tromsø's two-month long summer provides you with all the time in the world to explore the beautiful landscape around the city.
Hiking
The gentler coastal mountains around Tromsø represent safe and easy walks with fantastic panoramas of the open sea. The Lyngen Alps, rising 1,800 metres from the fjord, are altogether more challenging. Guided mountain hikes as well as glacier walks are available, but you can also hike on your own, as there is a mountain for every level of fitness around Tromsø.
Kayaking and canoeing
Sea kayaking can be done in the sheltered waterways around the Island of Tromsø, in the fjords and among the hundreds of skerries and islets facing the open Atlantic Ocean. The inland rivers of Signaldalselva and Skitbotnelva are excellent for canoeing through silent woodlands.
Whale safaris
Humans are not the only ones spending their summer holiday in the north. Male sperm whales feast on squid and Greenland halibut at the edge of the continental shelf off Tromsø all summer, and can be seen on daily on whale safaris.
Fishing
The seas off Tromsø are among the richest in the world, and you virtually always get cod, saithe, halibut and haddock, either from the shore, in a rented fishing boat or in an organised fishing trip. A more solitary, quiet experience altogether is fishing for trout and char in rivers and lakes.
Golf
Playing golf under the midnight sun at Tromsø’s golf course is in itself a distinctive hole-on-one. This 18-hole golf course, of course the world’s northernmost, enjoys a fantastic panorama towards the Lyngen Alps.
Year-round culture
Tromsø’s cultural scene offers quality, professionalism and ambition.
The city’s professional theatre plays in the musical language of the north. The symphony orchestra plays high quality music and is not afraid to perform outside the concert halls.
The Art Museum of Northern Norway and the Tromsø Gallery of Contemporary Art display art inspired by the light and shapes of Northern Norway.
Numerous festivals enlighten long winter nights, such as Tromsø International Film Festival and the Northern Light Festival.
The National Reindeer Racing Championship uses Tromsø’s main street as a racecourse.
The summer festivals take place outdoors, such as the Bukta Open Air Festival, which draws the latest names in Norwegian and international rock.
The National Fishing Championship in Sommarøy attracts deep-sea fishermen, whereas the Riddu Riddu Festival in Manndalen celebrates indigenous peoples from around the world. The fittest visitors of course run the Midnight Sun Marathon.
Last updated: 17 December 2008