Truly a once in a lifetime trip…….The quest for a sight of the Northern Lights got us to Norway and to a small, chic town of Tromso in the Norther parts of the country.

General Information / Travel Suggestions

Tromso is almost on the northern tip of Norway and is considered one of the best locations if you want to go and see the Northern Lights or otherwise known as the Aurora Borealis.

We flew in from Zurich and our kids joined us from different parts of the world for a short trip to this amazing city. It has an international airport and if you plan on visiting Norway, may we suggest you start at the top of the country and work your way south all the way to Oslo.

It was snowing as we crossed the clouds and I have never experienced snowfall while descending and so it was a little daunting and exciting at the same time. Mountains are visible from both sides of the aircraft. None of them majestic but certainly beautiful. We landed on November 1st and so everywhere we looked it was complete white.

Things to Do

Before I get into the experience of Aurora Borealis; there are a lot of other activities to do in Tromso. We relied on visittromso.no as our guide on what all we could see in a short span of 2 days. We would have liked to stay at least one more day and ideally 2 more. The best way to get around the city is by renting a car. Tromso has great public transport but driving yourself saves a lot of time. Do be careful if you have no experience of driving on snowy/ icy roads. I had none and so drove much slower than I normally do.

Unfortunately due to heavy snowfall on the first day; we could not go out much so decided to venture to the centre to grab some food. Some of the flyovers are beautiful, sleek and long. However they are a scary experience for the driver as they are quite narrow and a single lane per side. On top of that snow makes the roads slippery and so I had both hands on the wheel at all times!

What we did get to see was an impressively designed church covered with snow. Lights coming out of the sides through strategically designed roofs made the visit well worth it.

Aurora Borealis – The once in a lifetime experience!

NO picture or video will ever do justice to the spectacle of the Northern Lights. In all likelihood you would not have seen anything grander than the Northern Lights.

It snowed all day and we were sure we would never be able to see the Lights. It was snowing when we gathered outside the Radisson. There must have been at least a 100 people waiting outside the premises. We chose to book with Green Gold of Norway. Found them to be extremely professional and courteous. I kept messaging them a day earlier and on the morning of to ask them if the plan was still on and they kept assuring me that it is on.

There are multiple options available for anyone who wants to go on this excursion. You can hire a private vehicle which would be the best option if budget is not a concern. On the other end of the spectrum is getting on to a large bus which would be the cheapest option. We had been advised to opt for a small van which seats a maximum of 8. There were 4 of us and hence another family of four. We now have friends in Bangkok.

Our Tour Experience

The tour operators gave us a thorough briefing on the proceedings for the evening and explained how they will attempt to find the perfect spot for us. They showed us multiple maps and satellite images to assure us that the chances of seeing the Lights is definitely a strong possibility.

As a part of the package; they have an exhaustive inventory of clothing and gear that I strongly suggest you take with you in the vehicle. You will need to use all of it when standing outside in sub 0 temperature looking at the lights through your mobile camera! We took the snowsuits, the heavy, waterproof boots, the heavy gloves and anything else that they had to offer!

Our guide was really friendly and spoke perfect English. Over the course of the next one hour or so, he kept communicating with the other guides to try to find the best location. Suddenly he stopped the van and asked us to get out to see the Northern Lights!

Breathtaking Photos of the Northern Lights

These are all taken by our mobile cameras! Just to be clear……. we saw nothing with the naked eye! There were these huge gray cloud types that in itself were impressive! We were told how to make changes to our cameras so as to get the best results! However, once that is done and you see through your mobile, it’s like the skies have changed, completely! Leaves you spellbound! Finally what we had heard about for so long was in front of us!

We stayed there for a good 45 minutes and it was a continuous dance amongst the stars, or as they call it a solar storm and the cameras just went clicking and more people from other vans kept joining.

We had never seen so many stars and so that in itself was a marvel for us!

Where to stay/ What to eat

We got extremely lucky with the property we got for the 2 nights we were there. I tried to extend our stay but the property was booked till the day we got there and was booked from the day we left. If you have your own transport then you can opt for properties outside the centre. However; if you are going to use public transport, I would highly recommend staying in the centre of the city! It will save a lot of time!

Norway, overall has amazing food options! There is no one particular place in Tromso that we would recommend. However what we can tell you from experience is that you better book in advance otherwise you will not get space! Some of the restaurants that we googled and visited could not accommodate us and so we had to rely on the average eatery in the middle of town.

Tromso. Incredibly beautiful. Great food. Amazing air quality. Tons to do (although we didn’t end up doing much) and if you are lucky you will get to see something that will remain in your memory for a lifetime!

Do read the other blog which covers places like Oslo, Flam, Gudvangen, Bergen! The Norway in a Nutshell Tour!