I've Bean Travelling

For the second leg of our Scandinavia trip following a few days in Denmark, we headed north to the Arctic Circle. We spent five days in and around northern Norway, basing ourselves in the city of Tromso.

Tromso is the largest city in Northern Norway, known as the “Gateway to the Arctic” for its location 350 kilometres above the Arctic Circle. In mid-May when we were there, we got to experience the midnight sun with 24 hours of daylight.

We stayed at Clarion Hotel The Edge which was conveniently located by the waterside in the city centre. However, Tromso is not a very exciting place and for tourists primarily serves as a launching point for nature excursions outside the city. The only attraction we visited here to pass time was the Troll Museum, which was very small and overpriced. Food was unremarkable and expensive.

To break up our trip, we rented a car and went on a two night stay on Senja Island, at a very nice Airbnb in the village of Fjordgard. Our friends went hiking in the area while we lounged around with Teddy.

On the way back to Tromso, we took the ferry over to Sommarøy, a fishing village and island known as the “Caribbean of the North” with white-sand beaches and turquoise waters, although much too cold for swimming.

I don’t think Norway was a great fit for our travel interests so we likely won’t be back, but it was a beautiful place!