Exploring Tromsø

21/09/2025

Before we left the car park at Blåisvatnet we were approached by a British woman who was struggling to start her car. Her, her friend (and her lovely dog) had been wild camping in the mountains near Blåisvatnet and her car battery was flat.

A good deed

We didn’t have any jump leads so Paul suggested that we should try to bump start the car. So we found ourselves pushing a car up and down the car park until the engine finally started. While the engine idled we got talking to the car’s owner and her friend (who had the messiest campervan I have ever seen, which made me feel much better about our van). She was living in Tromsø and as it was our next destination we wondered if she had any restaurant or food recommendations. Her friend rolled her eyes, it turned out that she didn’t have a high opinion of Norwegian restaurant food and advised us not to waste our money. Not as helpful as we’d hoped.

We drove to the ferry terminal on the western shore of the Lyngen peninsular, following the car we had helped to start. Of course Paul went fishing while we waited for the ferry to arrive.

Free parking near Tromsø

On the other side of the ferry journey we had another mountainous peninsula to cross before reaching Tromsø. While we were driving and looking at the scenery I was also trying to decide where to park so that we could visit the city. There didn’t seem to be many park ups close to the city so we ended up out at the Alpin Park where there were a couple of large car parks. We found ourselves a flattish spot and parked up for the evening to plan a day trip to the city.

That evening we had yet another Aurora experience. Even with the light pollution from nearby homes we were treated to a good, but short, display.

Aurora at Alpin Park Tromso

The following morning we drove down to some free day time parking closer to the city. The city centre of Tromsø is on an island, with some overspill to the ‘mainland’, connected by a high arched bridge. We were on the mainland side of the bridge by a marina and cemetery. On arriving we found a number of motorhomes who had been parked there all night. It looked as though one side of the parking space had restrictions and the other side was unrestricted and available to park overnight.

A walk around Tromsø

After a visit to the Arctic Cathedral (not actually Tromsø cathedral or a cathedral at all) which looked like the peak of a snow capped mountain with it’s white concrete and aluminium structure, we crossed the bridge to the main part of the city.

Norway has many of these tall looping bridges that are high enough to allow the largest of ships to pass underneath. Crossing them is like climbing a hill with views to match. We made sure that we selected the right side of the bridge for the direction we were walking as the path is shared with cyclists and you don’t want to create a blockage. On this beautiful blue sky day we had splendid views and could see the cruise ships in the harbour.

We followed a self guided walking tour around Tromsø. The modern city developed in the 18th and 19th century. Unlike the towns further east, which had been completely razed by the Germans in their retreat, Tromsø is replete with older buildings from those early days cheek-by-jowl with the post war architecture.

During the 19th century Tromsø was a centre of fishing and arctic hunting. This was very much emphasised in the Polar Museum which we nick-named the Museum of Death. The information conveyed by the museum should have been interesting. Life in the arctic and arctic exploration are both things that we’re very much interested in. However the amount of taxidermy animals, seal skins and the generally unapologetic glorification of the 19th century massacre of arctic species just seemed out of tune with modern understanding of the environmental impact of large scale hunting. Yes, we understand that hunting was necessary for survival and was a significant part of the global economy of the time, we just felt that this context wasn’t explored. It didn’t help that there was a contingent of cruise ship passengers giggling as they took selfies with stuffed polar bears and walrus. Making it seem more like a theme park than a museum.

Despite our disappointment with the museum, we had a lovely day wandering around Tromsø, sampling pølse (hot dogs) from the famous Raketten kiosk, and buns from the bakeries. As it was Saturday and sunny, we were able to sit in the newly redeveloped Vervet shipyard area, just relaxing and enjoying the atmosphere, before we returned over the bridge.

Tromsø campsite and van chores

After a long day walking around we returned to the van and tried to decide where to go next. We knew we wanted to refill our gas bottle so we took the van to Tromsø, under the sea tunnel this time rather than over the bridge. The gas supply was on an industrial estate on the northern end of the island. The problem with gas bottles is that there is no effective way of judging how much gas is left in them without taking them out and weighing them. It had been nearly four weeks since our last top up and we were down to about a quarter of our supply so we were pleased we’d made the effort and made a note in the diary for four weeks ahead to remind us to find somewhere to fill up again.

Then we spotted a large supermarket and decided to stock up the cupboards. By this time we were ready to settle down for the evening but still hadn’t decided where to stay. We could have gone back to the parking we’d stayed at the night before but we’d got into the groove with our household chores so decided we’d opt for the comfortable option of Tromsø campsite where we could also do some laundry.

We turned up in the early evening to a busy campsite, taking the last ‘proper’ pitch (rather than the overflow area). There were many families in caravans on seasonal pitches. Some appeared to be here for the local junior football tournament which was taking place in the sports centre just beyond the campsite. We could hear the tannoy announcements while we sat out in the sun for the remaining few minutes it was on our pitch.

That evening we washed our laundry and caught up with the women’s rugby reflecting on the day we’d spent in the city. It was definitely a lovely place to visit on a sunny day and we can see why many people make it their base for a trip to Norway’s north.