Tromsø
The busiest aurora town in the Arctic, the least open sky in Norway, and the best machinery for escaping it
More aurora tours leave Tromsø on a January evening than leave any other town on earth. That is a mixed blessing. The competition has pushed a seat on a large coach below 100 EUR and produced a class of guide who reads three weather models before dinner and knows which valley clears first when the wind turns southwest. It has also produced pull-offs where six vehicles park together and forty people stand in each other's photographs.
And it sits on the least open sky in Norway. Eleven seasons of reanalysis give Tromsø a usable sky on 25.4% of season nights, against 32.9% at Bodø and 29.3% at Alta, both of which beat it in all seven months. This is the coast, the Gulf Stream keeps it warm and wet, and the cloud is the whole business.
Which is exactly why the tours here look the way they do. The 74 departures divide into four kinds of night, and the difference between them is not really the price. It is how far the vehicle can go and how quickly it can change its mind. Everything else, the thermal suit, the campfire, the reindeer sausage, the free portrait, is a variation on comfort while you wait.
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Northern Lights Experiences in Tromsø
Tromsø Aurora Hunt with Bonfire, Hot Meal, Thermal Suit and Photos
The light pollution of Tromsø is the first thing this tour leaves behind.
Tromso Aurora Hunt with Campfire and a Professional Photographer
The Green Adventure Team has been running aurora hunts around Tromsø for years, and this one comes with photography included.
Tromso Aurora Magic Tour by Bus with Professional Photos
The operator puts last season's numbers at more than 10,000 visitors and a 98% success rate, which is high enough to be worth reading carefully: it counts…
Tromso Aurora Tour For All, Accessible Northern Lights Chase
The evening starts at the meeting point, where the guide explains how the night will run and which direction the group is heading.
Tromso Aurora Tour with a Free Portrait, Bonfire and Marshmallows
Local guides who chase this sky for a living take the group out from the meeting point, away from the city lights and into the fjords and mountains.
Tromso Electric Boat Northern Lights Cruise on the Fjords
An aurora hunt by boat, out into the dark of the Arctic fjords during the polar night.
Tromso Express Aurora Hunt with a Guaranteed Four Hour Return
The short version of the aurora hunt, with a fixed end time: back in Tromsø city centre 4 hours after the start. That constraint shapes everything.
Tromso Fjordland Aurora Chase by the Arctic Sea, Maximum 8 Guests
A small group fjord expedition for people who want the aurora badly enough to drive for it.
Tromso Northern Lights Bus Adventure with Onboard Toilets and Photos
An aurora chase across the country around Tromsø with a local guide, in the operator's large buses.
Tromso Northern Lights Bus Hunt with Arctic GM and Viewing Guarantee
Arctic GM call themselves the Original Aurora Hunters, and the family behind the company has lived under these skies for 20 generations.
Tromso Northern Lights by Minibus with a Warm Dinner and Free Photos
Northern Lights in Focus run small groups, guided by people who live here and can read this sky.
Tromso Northern Lights Chase, Classic Coach or Small Group Minibus
Two versions of the same chase, and the choice between them comes down to a toilet and a thermal suit.
Tromso Northern Lights Chase with a Hot Meal, Bonfire and Photos
A chase led by a local guide who takes the group out into the Arctic country around Tromsø, among mountains, fjords and valleys, looking for the clearest sky…
Tromso Northern Lights Chase with a Photo Package Included
An aurora chase by bus with two people working the night: a professional driver and an experienced aurora guide.
Tromso Northern Lights Chase with Arctic Breeze, Photos Included
Arctic Breeze are among the original aurora operators in Tromsø, with decades behind them and more than 50,000 guests taken out.
Tromso Northern Lights Chase with Photos, Snacks and Thermal Suits
An aurora chase by bus from Tromsø, with guides who are also aurora photographers on board.
Tromso Northern Lights Hunt in Italian with a Photographer, Max 8 People
An aurora hunt guided in Italian, for a maximum of 8 people, built for travellers who would rather spend the night away from the coach crowds.
Tromso Northern Lights Hunt with a Local Guide and Private Basecamp
An aurora hunt with Tromso Travel, a local family business, guided by people who know this region and where its skies open up.
Tromso Northern Lights Minibus Chase, Small Group with Portraits
Arctic Explorers have been guiding aurora tours since 2012, and the awards have piled up: 9 TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Awards, Hall of Fame status and…
Tromso Northern Lights Minibus Tour with Expert Guides, Max 18
An aurora chase by minibus across the country around Tromsø, with a group capped at 18 and thermal suits provided.
Tromso Northern Lights Minibus with Skycam, Toilet, Meal and Photos
Arctic Circle Tours Tromsø is a local operator running small groups, capped at 15 guests, which keeps the evening closer to personal guiding than to coach…
Tromso Northern Lights Safari by Bus with Expert Guides and Photos
A bus safari out of Tromsø into the fjords, mountains and islands around it, chasing the aurora wherever the night puts it.
Tromso Northern Lights Tour with Full Arctic Gear and Reindeer Sausage
Most people come to Tromsø with two or three usable nights, which is what makes the choice of tour matter more here than it does anywhere else.
Tromso Northern Lights Tour with Viewing Guarantee and Unlimited Mileage
This one is built for people who care about the aurora and nothing else.
Ratings collected by Viator and Tripadvisor