Two amazing Fjord cruise experiences in Tromso with Arctic Expedition:
Fjord cruise & Cultural heritage, and Northern lights fjord cruise.
It was our first time in Tromsø and we knew that going on a boat tour to see the fjords was a must thing to do! Going on a tour to search for the Northern lights was also on our list.
Luckily, Arctic Expedition was kind to offer us two of their tours that had everything we were looking for, and more!
Fjord cruise & Cultural heritage
We all met at the docks at 9:00 am where we boarded Leone. Leone is a "small" fisherman's boat that was refurbished to work as a touristic boat for these types of tours.
It has a small deck downstairs and a bigger one upstairs that goes around the captain's room. It also has a jacuzzi that you can use during the tour.
Inside the boat, everything looks cozy and rustic. Just like as if you are on a real arctic expedition during the 70s.
They serve cookies and warm coffee or tea for free, which let's be honest, will be much appreciated when you're on a boat during winter. At the bar you can also buy other types of drinks and packages of expedition dry food.
They also supply warm full-body suits, in case you are cold.
During the tour, we had the opportunity to meet the captain at the helm. He explained what all the different buttons and screens were for. It was very interesting!
The Fjords
When you start to sail away from Tromsø, you have a nice view of all the colourful houses in the port as well as the huge 1016 meters long bridge that connects the island of Tromsø to the Tromsdalen.
On the first part of the boat trip, the fjord is wide and you can see little houses at the bottom of the big snowy mountains. But the more you sail, the fewer houses and roads you see and the narrower the fjord gets.
Our tour guide was very nice and funny! She explained, among other things, that there was a Russian spy whale living in the Tromsø fjord. The whale is called Vladimir and it was found by the Norwegian marine entities, with a strange collar on its neck to mount a camera on. Since then it has been living freely in the fjord and was spotted many times during boat tours.
Unfortunately, we didn't see it.
During our tour, we also stopped closer to the shore to check out a secret submarine tunnel.
Cultural Heritage
This tour includes a visit to the Full Steam restaurant to taste some delicacies and to know a bit more about Tromsø's codfish industry.
So after we docked on the same spot where the strip started, we headed to the restaurant. The building is a very typical Norwegian timber house, painted in bright yellow. The interior is decorated with a nautic theme and gives you the feeling you are in a fisherman's house.
In the back, there is a big open room, kind of like a museum, full of items related to the cod industry. The tour guide explained to us how they used to fish, arrange, dry, cook and sell the codfish. We also tried some caviar, codfish skin chips and drank 100% pure cod liver oil.
Northern Lights fjord cruise
Tromsø is famous for its beautiful Northern lights! To be very honest with you, we thought we weren't going to see any because the weather wasn't the best. But we were wrong!
The Northern lights tour is also on a boat. A bigger and more modern one called Aurora.
For 4 hours, we sailed away from the city lights to wherever the northern lights were the most visible. The guide explained what are the northern lights, how they are formed and how to capture them on your camera.
They give you these full-body warm suits to wear and believe me, you will need them! Although the boat has these huge glass windows, we learned that you can only see the northern lights from the boat deck. This means you'll need to be outside the whole time looking at the sky hoping to spot an aurora, and outside is freezing cold!
Even with a cloudy sky, we managed to see the northern lights several times, with different shapes and intensities. So the cold was totally worth it!
It was a short trip but we loved Tromsø and will for sure come back to visit other parts of the city very soon!
This time we were there in March. Although it is very cold, I think Tromsø is worth visiting during winter. We decided to go during March because there was still snow but at the same time the days were longer and brighter.
ARCTIC EXPEDITION: http://bit.ly/3bROnFB
DISCLAIMER: Thank you Arctic Expedition for having us. All tours/experiences were gifted.
I did not receive payment in exchange for this video. All opinions expressed are my own and not edited by any companies mentioned. Some links above are affiliate links.
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