Introduction
Having grown up in Australia, snow was not a common occurrence. In fact, the very first time we saw snow was when we moved to NYC. There’s nothing quite like the first snowfall of the season. The city hushes as flicks of white flutter down. However, as the years have gone by, snow has fallen less and less in NYC. 😦 Last winter, to get our annual snow fix, we flew to Northern Norway. Specificaly, we visited Tromso and the Lofoten Islands, both of which are situated above the Arctic Circle. Here’s a list of the best winter tours that we did there, and our favourite Norwegian dessert. 🙂
The best winter tours in Tromso and the Lofoten Islands
1. Feed the reindeers
Where? Tromso.
How to book? We booked with Tromso Arctic Reindeer. See link here.
Our absolute favourite tour that we did during our time in Norway was visiting the reindeers. The tour operates during the day and also evening, and we chose the latter because of the chance to possibly spot the Northern Lights. You get a chance to feed the reindeers (be careful of their antlers!), have a light dinner of reindeer stew (the reindeer meat is almost like lamb, a little gamey and tough because only very old reindeer are cooked), and hear stories about Sami life and culture.
2. Mush the huskies
Where? Tromso.
How to book? We booked with Tromso Villmarksenter. See link here.
To see the Arctic landscape, you can go by car or the more fun way, is to jump on a sled and mush an energetic team of husky dogs. We were initially quite unsure about this activity, as we are not typically adrenaline-chasers. But, it became one of the most memorable things we did do in Tromso! If you are like us and filled with anxiety, don’t worry, you are suited up in a thick thermal suit, you receive some training and instructions, and it takes about 5-10 minutes to get the hang of driving the sled. You won’t be travelling at supersonic speed because it’s important to the welfare of the dogs not to do so, but it is an exhilarating experience nonetheless.
3. Snowshoe hike the Arctic
Where? Tromso.
How to book? We booked with Wandering Owl. See link here.
If you gave these Dessert Correspondents a choice between a hike or a beach, we would choose a hike hands down. Gotta burn those excess calories from all that dessert eating, right? 🙂 We had never tried snowshoe hiking before Norway, but gosh, it’s so fun! You strap on what seems like tennis racquets with spikes onto your feet and this contraption allows you to glide across a mountain covered in hip-deep snow. The mountain air was so crisp, and the snow was like granulated white sand the higher up the mountain we went. We were exceptionally lucky with the weather, and even more lucky to spot a very rare phenomena called the “solar halo.” It’s when ice crystals in the sky refract light in a certain way so as to form a halo around the sun. The next time we snowshoe hike though, we would not wear a thick winter puffer (you will start sweating within 10 minutes), and we will bring sunglasses and layer on the sunscreen (the sun from the mountain top turned our face into a red lobster).
4. Road trip through the Norwegian countryside
Where? Tromso and the Lofoten Islands.
How to book? We booked with several different providers, including this one.
Taking a road trip is not our ideal type of holiday. However, if someone else is driving, that’s a different matter. 🙂 In Tromso, we took a mini bus tour that traversed Kvaløya Island’s rugged coastlines and undulating mountain roads, and included lunch on a snowy beach. In Lofoten, the scenery was more memorable, stretching to the far western end of the archipelago and passing by small red-painted fishing villages. It is a more relaxing way to see Norway compared to the adrenaline required to snowshoe or mush the huskies.
5. Cruise the fjords
Where? Lofoten Islands.
How to book? We booked with Brim Explorer. See link here.
What to do if a snow blizzard has ruined your plans for a road trip or other activity? Take a cruise. A mega snow blizzard caused all the roads to the blocked on one of the days we were in the Lofoten Islands, and as a consequence, many tour activities were cancelled. The only activity in operation was a cruise through the fjords. Not wanting to be trapped inside the hotel room more than necessary, we took the afternoon cruise. The boat skirted along the coastline and into Trollfjord, a fjord supposedly famed for its narrow 100 metres opening. In truth, the fjord itself was underwhelming to us — if you want a really narrow fjord, cruise the fjords along China’s Yangtze River. But the boat ride to and from Trollfjord was spectacular, lined with majestic snowy mountains and a horizon that glistened amber and platinum in the setting sunlight.
6. Find the Northern Lights
Where? Tromso and the Lofoten Islands.
How to book? We booked with several different providers.
In writing this post on the best things to do in winter in Norway, you might have expected that we would list the Northern Lights as “number one.” That was, after all, the main reason for which we visited Norway. But it actually became our biggest disappointment. Chasing the Northern Lights was, for us, as underwhelming as seeing the Mona Lisa or Niagara Falls. You would be hard pressed to lure us back again for it. There are many variables involved to find these elusive lights. You will need absolutely dark skies, clear from clouds and rain, and you will need the magnetic field to line up in a way such that the lights might appear. We had all of these factors on each evening we went out, and yet, we only saw a glimmer each time. To be precise, a glimmer of pale grey to the naked eye, almost like a wavy cloud or mist. The colours you see below, by contrast, are what the camera saw, and not just any camera…a camera sitting on a tripod for several minutes, with a USD $1000+lens attached to it, and an increasingly irate person behind it. 😛
The best Norwegian dessert to hunt down
Although we did not visit Norway for its food, as dessert bloggers, we of course tried to find some local dessert delicacies to sample. 🙂 Of all the sweet treats we tried in Tromso and Svolaer, the one that stands out is the Norwegian “skolebrød.” It is a soft bun, lightly scented with cardamom, filled with custard and encircled by dessicated coconut flakes. There’s something very interesting about eating – in a country covered in ice and snow – a bun rimmed with dried fruit typically from an equatorial country basking in tropical heat .
Dessert adventure checklist
☑ Dessert destination: Tromso and the Lofoten Islands, Northern Norway.
☑ Budget: $.
☑ Sweet irresistibles: Skolebrød.
☑ Travel notes:
How long? We recommend 2-3 full days in each of Tromso or Lofoten. If we were to redo Tromso, we would spend more time there than Lofoten.
When to visit? We travelled in mid-late March during the week of the Spring Equinox. The most ideal viewing time for the Northern Lights is said to fall around the equinox.
How to get there? Tromso is easily accessible, sometimes via Oslo or via a direct flight from another city (e.g. NYC or London). By contrast, to get to Lofoten, we flew from Tromso to Bodo, and then caught another flight to Svolaer. Make sure to pre book your Lofoten taxi transfer; we were almost stranded at the airport, which is little more than a one-room space. By contrast, taxis at Tromso were readily available.
Where to stay? In Tromso, we stayed at the Clarion Hotel, which is a somewhat minimal, waterfront hotel that comes with breakfast and dinner, and is 5-minutes walk from the main bus stop where most tours depart. In Lofoten, we recommend the Thon Hotel Lofoten. It offers more plush furnishings, sea views and an incredibly extensive breakfast buffet more typical of hotels in Asia than in Europe. It’s also very close to where the Hurtigrugen docks.
