Following the Lights

Arrival at Tromsø Airport, upon arrival at the airport individual transfer (not included) to Tromsø center, the beautiful arctic city, by Flybussen (Airport Shuttle) or by taxi..

Check in at your hotel. This day is at your own leisure to explore Tromsø. Sights of interest include the Polar Museum, Northern Light Planetarium and Tromsø Museum. The arctic city of Tromsø is the most northern university town and the largest city above the Arctic Circle. The city lies between the sharp craggy peaks of the Lyngen Alps, and combines wild scenery with urban life. Due to the city’s location right in the middle of the planet’s Northern Light’s belt, Tromsø offers the world’s best chances of spotting the Northern Lights.

Breakfast at the hotel and morning at your leisure to discover the Arctic’s Capital including the visit of the Polaria museum. This museum is just five minutes’ walk from the center of Tromsø and you will discover more about the Arctic nature. In the evening, departure for your excursion. You will be picked up in Tromsø and you will go on a chase for the magical Northern lights. The guide with good local knowledge will find the best area for the lights. To find a clear sky you will drive as far as needed. During the evening your guide will tell you interesting information about the Northern lights, both the science and the folklore. We will also show you how to adjust your camera settings for pictures of the northern lights, and we will take pictures of you with the lights for you to take home to show your family and friends. For some extra fun in the snow we also bring our “butt boards”, just in case we find some nice hills to sleigh down! We may also visit our lavvo (our modern Sami shelter) and sit around the nice warm bonfire, and roast marshmallows (if we are within reasonable driving distance from the base camp).

Breakfast at the hotel. Day at leisure in Tromsø before checking in for your next adventure – the Hurtigruten. Enjoy a beautiful north cruise along the spectacular Norwegian coastline. As the journey to Kirkenes hugs the coastline you visit remote settlements which rely on the Hurtigruten ships to maintain contact with the rest of Norway. Departure from Tromsø at 18:30. Overnight and dinner on board Hurtigruten in unspecified outside cabin (2 nights).

After a short stop in Hammerfest, your journey will continue to Honningsvåg. Breakfast on board Hurtigruten. At 11:45 arrival in Honningsvåg – from here you will join an excursion to mainland Europe’s most northerly point, North Cape. This is a wild and windswept headland where the cliffs rise dramatically 300 meters from the sea, and we gaze out with nothing but water between you and the frozen wastes surrounding the North Pole. Sailing on, you bear east, and eventually reach the sheltered harbor of Kirkenes, a mere 10km from the Russian border.

Breakfast on board Hurtigruten. While you sleep the ship continues sailing east along the Varanger peninsula, past Båtsfjord and Vardø. At 09:45 you will arrive in Kirkenes. At 13:00 you are met by a fisherman, you will be provided with warm clothes, boots and mittens before you set out to be a fisherman of king crabs for the day. The big catch, the king crab will be served as lunch at a home of one of the fishermen. The duration of the tour is four hours. After the tour you will be met and transferred to the Kirkenes snow hotel.

Overnight and dinner at Snow Hotel.