Why I love visiting Tromsø in summer – activities and itinerary

When you think of Tromsø, you immediately picture snow, dog sledding and the northern lights dancing in the dark. That’s true, and it’s magnificent. But if I’m honest, there’s a season that gets far too little attention and yet is one of my favourites up there: summer. And this will make you laugh: I’d never thought of writing about Tromsø in summer until… now, with the heatwave and the 40°C we’ve had in Paris for the past few weeks. And I realise I have just one wish, to be up there, and not only for the cool air 😀

In summer there are no auroras, that’s true. But a light that never goes out, mountains finally free of their snow, deep blue fjords, white-sand beaches (yes, above the Arctic Circle we have some fantastic ones), and hotel prices that almost make you smile when you know the winter ones. In short, a region you completely rediscover.

I’ll explain why I go back with the same delight as soon as the days grow longer, and why it’s a completely different experience from winter.

The endless days: the midnight sun

It’s THE thing that changes everything in summer in Tromsø. At this latitude (we’re at around 69° north, well above the Arctic Circle), the sun simply no longer sets from late May to late July. June 21, the solstice, is the peak: the longest day of the year, and an excuse to celebrate pretty much everywhere.

And even outside that peak, the light stays around permanently: it never really gets dark from mid-April to the third week of August. In practice, that means you’re never in a hurry again. You can set off on a hike at 9pm, have a drink facing the fjord and realise it’s 3am and still broad daylight. It’s disorienting the first few days (well, the following ones too), and we love it. You sleep when you’re tired, not when it’s dark, because it’s never dark.

One piece of first-hand advice all the same: bring a good sleep mask and check that your room has real blackout curtains, otherwise your body clock will go haywire. Because don’t forget that Norwegian houses have no shutters and most often no curtains. Sometimes louvred blinds if you’re lucky. So expect to wake up in the sunshine, at 3am, full of energy.

In the photos below, you have the first midnight sun of the season. It arrives in mid-May, due north; you see the sun going down and poof, it stays above the horizon to slowly rise again and hide behind the mountains. And it really is midnight/1am.

Those famous pinkish colours

So let’s be precise, because people often mix everything up. In the heart of summer, around the solstice, the sun circles the horizon without ever dipping below it: the light stays a little flat, golden, but fairly constant. It’s already very beautiful.

Where it becomes magical for me is from late April and again in early August, when the sun finally starts to set again, but not too much. Suddenly the real golden hours return, the sunsets stretch out (reckon on nearly 2 hours up there, versus a few minutes at the equator) and the sky takes on those pink and orange hues over the mountains and fjords. Honestly, it’s one of the most beautiful times of year for photography.

And the icing on the cake: as soon as the first more-or-less dark nights appear, the very first auroras can be visible, generally from the last week of August (hey, technically it’s still summer!).

So you can have a T-shirt hike in the afternoon and a faint aurora at night on the same day. The perfect split, and I talk about it in more detail in my article on the northern lights in autumn.

Nature finally free of snow

It’s one of the real reasons to love summer here. In winter, everything is white, everything is superb, we get our fill of snow (which I love, mind you) for months, then it melts for 2 months. In summer, the region becomes a huge playground. The snow is gone, the trails are open, and we can finally climb those mountains we only photographed from afar the rest of the year.

Hiking really is the season’s number-one asset: the best window runs from late May (it can still snow now and then) to mid-October, when you make the most of nature. The mountains plunge into the fjords, the lakes are utterly calm when there’s no wind, the waterfalls run at full flow with the melt, and you come across free-roaming reindeer without even looking for them.

A small detail so you’re not caught out: in July, in the north and inland, the mosquitoes can be pesky near lakes and wetlands. Some repellent in your bag and the problem is (more or less) solved.

Temperature-wise, we’re still in the north, so we’re not talking about a heatwave: reckon rather on 10 to 20°C during the day (that’s when it’s warm), and cool nights around 8 to 12°C. The rule in Norway, whatever the season, is always the same: you play with layers. A fleece and a waterproof jacket in the bag, and you’re ready for the famous “four seasons in one day”. But it will be damp in any case!

And if you want the finest view over the town and the fjords without breaking a sweat, there’s the Fjellheisen cable car. In summer, you can go up in the evening and stay up there admiring the midnight sun over the whole bay. Simple, but unbeatable.

Kvaløya, nature right next to the city

If there’s one place that sums up why I love this region in summer, it’s Kvaløya. It’s one of the most beautiful islands in the country, and it’s right next to Tromsø: you just cross the bridge beside the airport. A concentrate of Norway, with mountains, fjords, valleys and beaches, all reachable in a day.
My must-see is Ersfjordbotn, the island’s classic fjord, ultra photogenic, where you can either climb for the view from above or stay quietly by the water. But my summer favourite is the road to Sommarøy: there, you’re truly in paradise, with white-sand beaches, crystal-clear water (at 15°C, let’s not kid ourselves, but clear!) and hiking paths everywhere. The Sommarøy bridge, best done on foot, offers the Kvaløya mountains on one side and those of Senja on the other. Perfect.
And for those who want the wildest spot, head to Tromvik and especially Grotfjord, a magnificent, deep fjord where you sometimes spot seals and otters. As for walking, there’s no shortage of trails: Brosmetinden and its view of Senja, Ørnfløya above the Sommarøy archipelago, or the lovely Rekvik hike, that one a treat outside winter, precisely.

And the reindeer are out

Especially on Kvaløya, in summer you can see very many free-roaming reindeer. After the bridge, a little to the right or on the road heading south, they’re in the fields by the sea, but you often see them on the road and even in people’s gardens. They’re the main cause of traffic jams here, but nobody honks; you wait and take photos!

You just mustn’t get too close so as not to frighten them. Because they don’t look before crossing.

Senja, my favourite, in its summer version

You’re starting to know me: I talk non-stop about my Norwegian favourite, my second home, the island of Senja. In winter it’s fabulous, but in summer it turns into a huge hiking playground, and you can finally enjoy it without snow and without closed roads. From Tromsø, it’s easy to reach, notably via the Tromsø–Senja ferry which takes cars and vans without a hitch.

The island’s thread is Route 862, known as the fjord road, perhaps my favourite in all of Norway. You go “wow” at every bend. The must-sees follow one after another: Tungeneset and its view of the “devil’s teeth”, those jagged mountains plunging into the sea; Bergsbotn and its walkway suspended above a perfectly round fjord; the village of Fjordgård, nestled at the foot of the famous Segla mountain, from where the island’s two most beautiful hikes set off. Not forgetting the strange little fishing village of Husøy, perched on its tiny islet, not to be missed.

For all the details, I’ve listed the most beautiful places in Senja, but know that in summer there are added pleasures you don’t get in winter: the paradisiacal beaches of Finnsæter or Bøvær, the turquoise water around Hamn, and kayaking between Hamn and Skaland, where the water is most beautiful. And the best part is that you can drive for hours on these roads barely crossing anyone. The far north all to yourself.

When I visit Senja and the weather is nice, I love settling at one of the many campsites to work quietly by a fjord; it’s just a perfect spot!

The Lyngen Alps, the great glacier spectacle

If Kvaløya plays the beach card and Senja the fjord card, the Lyngen Alps (Lyngsalpene) play in another league: that of the high mountains. East of Tromsø, on the Lyngen peninsula wedged between two fjords, rises a chain of sharp peaks, snow-covered a good part of the year and bristling with glaciers. It’s raw, it’s vertical, it’s frankly spectacular, and yet barely more than an hour’s drive (plus a ferry) from Tromsø.

You get there via the Breivikeidet–Svensby ferry that crosses the Ullsfjord, a magnificent trip in itself as you see sharp-peaked mountains in several places. Impressive!

On the other side, you reach Lyngseidet, the peninsula’s little hub, and from there the whole playground opens up. The peak that dominates it all is Jiehkkevárri, 1,833 m, the highest in all of Troms, entirely ice-covered. You don’t just climb it (it’s mountaineering, reserved for guided rope teams), but simply seeing it from the valley, with its hanging glaciers, is humbling.

The favourite hike here is Blåvatnet, the famous blue lake, probably one of the most beautiful walks in the whole region. At the end of the trail awaits a lake of an unreal turquoise, almost fluorescent, fed by the Lenangsbreen glacier descending just above. That colour is “glacial flour”, those fine rock particles ground by the glacier and left suspended in the water. Reckon about 8 km round trip from Sør-Lenangen: it starts easy and flat, then the last part climbs through a chaos of big boulders and scree (good shoes are earned a little towards the end). The lake is only at 189 m altitude, but the scene is worth a thousand metres.

To get closer to the ice, there’s the Steindalsbreen glacier, south of the range. From the Steindalen valley (between Oteren and Lyngseidet), a trail goes up a pretty valley lined with birches, passes a hut set by the river, and leads to the foot of the glacier. Reckon on half a day (about a dozen kilometres round trip). You can admire the glacier front up close, but to walk on the ice you must absolutely go through a guided outing; a glacier is not something you visit solo. Above all, outside summer you must strictly follow the guides’ advice because of the many avalanches.

And around here, there’s enough to fill days: dozens of peaks and valleys, kayaking on the fjords, the little scenic road to Koppangen and Russelv that hugs the water at the foot of the cliffs… In short, if you’re the type to look up at the mountains, the Lyngen Alps are a summer must in the region.

• If you’d like to do the hike with a guide, Guide Gunnar takes you to Blåvatnet!

All the activities you can do in summer

People sometimes tell me “yes but without the auroras and the dog sledding, what’s left to do?”. Plenty of things, actually, and I’ve in fact rounded up all the activities in Tromsø, in every season. In its summer version, here’s what I love:

• The fjord cruise, doable all year round and sublime under the midnight sun. Reckon on about 3h to venture into the fjords around the town: discover Tromsø by boat. And you can even go fishing, a flagship summer activity!
• Hiking, of course, from the accessible little summit to the big day out in the mountains.
• Kayaking, on the calm fjord waters notably at Sommarøy, but otherwise around Senja.
• The Fjellheisen cable car for the panoramic view, ideal late in the evening. Or just when the weather’s nice, really!
• The road trip between Kvaløya, Senja and the valleys, which is perhaps the most beautiful activity in itself.

One honest note: whales and orcas are not seen in Tromsø in summer (they arrive on the Skjervøy side rather from late October to January). In peak summer season, for cetaceans it’s rather over towards Andenes, in the Vesterålen. Naturally, for lack of snow, you can’t do dog sledding or snowmobiling. Some offer to replace the sleds with karts, pulled by the dogs, which can be interesting!

The big advantage: it’s far cheaper than in winter

Here’s the point few people know, and it’s almost counter-intuitive: in Tromsø, summer is one of the cheapest times to stay. Why? Because the high season here is winter, when the whole world lands for the auroras. From January to early March, hotel prices soar: you can easily end up paying 300€ a night for a room that’s normally worth 120€.
In summer, it’s the opposite. The vast majority of travellers head to the Lofoten Islands or the southern fjords, and Tromsø stays surprisingly quiet. The result: accommodation prices are much gentler, even though you have the permanent light, the hikes and the fjords all to yourself. To find the right neighbourhood and the right deal, I’ve detailed where to sleep in Tromsø.
And if you push on to September–October, it’s even better for the budget: rates are cut by half or by three compared to the winter high season, with autumn colours and the return of the first auroras as a bonus. Hard to do better.

Here, for example, I’ve put 4 places to stay in Tromsø across 4 price ranges, with dates in the middle of August. It makes you want to go!

Find your dream accommodationIn Tromso !

So, which period to choose exactly?

If I had to sum up my view, to land on what you’re looking for:

• June and July for the midnight sun at its maximum, the hikes and permanent light. Not very touristy, affordable lodging. The only “risk” is the weather, which stays fickle up there (but that’s all year round).
• August to combine still-green nature, gentle prices, and, at the end of the month, the return of night, pink sunsets and the very first auroras.
• September–October if you favour autumn colours, auroras and the best rates, while still keeping fine hiking options.

To go further, everything is examined in detail in my article when to go to Tromsø, and if you’re preparing the trip, I also have a one-week itinerary in Tromsø but there it’s winter-oriented.

Suggested itineraries from Tromsø in summer

So yes, I’ve already given you itinerary suggestions in northern Norway, and although it works all year round because it’s very landscape-focused, it was mainly a winter version.

Here I’ll give you a few little suggestions to notably mix the best of Tromsø and Senja over a week. Because yes, Tromsø in summer is totally different from Tromsø in winter; they’re not the same activities.

One week between Tromsø and Senja

• D1 – discover Tromsø, go to the Fjellheisen and take a walk on the high plateau
• D2 – take the road to Kvaløya, go see Ersfjord, then Grotfjord, Rekvik. Do the quick Brosmetinden hike, the view is superb.
• D3 – do a little fjord cruise and a fishing session with Hermes.
• D4 – Head to the Lyngen Alps, take the ferry from Breivikeidet to Svensby and then do the Blåvatnet hike
• D5 – Last day in Tromsø, take the road to Sommarøy. After your visit, do the lovely Ørnfløya hike overlooking the archipelago. Then you’ll take the Brensholmen ferry to reach Senja! That way you can sleep there and gain a few hours
  • discover the list of great places to stay in Senja
• D6 – do the fjord road, from Husøy to Gryllefjord (or even Torsken), you’ll get an eyeful passing through Mefjordvær, Tungeneset, Bergsbotn, the little beaches around Hamn
• D7 – Here you’ll go where nobody goes. The road to Sifjord passing through the Ånderdalen park, then continue the road towards Flakstadvåg

For this itinerary, you therefore need a car. Compare to get the best price, notably at Discover Cars.

And to stay in Tromsø, if you prefer to lodge in town, in peak summer I recommend the Dock 69°39 which costs next to nothing. Otherwise I recommend this article on places to stay in Tromsø and around the town.

In conclusion

We associate Tromsø with winter, with the auroras and the cold, and that’s deserved. But reducing this region to its dark season would be missing half its magic. In summer, Tromsø and its surroundings offer dazzling nature, days that never end, breathtaking hikes, improbable beaches, those pinkish end-of-season colours… and all that without breaking the bank. Well, and weather that can be quite teasing and damp, I’ll admit 😀

Honestly, if you’re still hesitating, go for it. It’s a facet of the far north that too few travellers know, and that’s exactly what makes it so precious.

Oh, and here’s a curiosity to finish. As soon as it starts to get mild, the locals rush for one type of ice cream in particular. The one in the photo. Machine-made ice cream, Italian-style (but more industrial), and their big thing is to dip it in as many toppings as possible. Chocolate, Smarties, coconut… intrigued, I wanted to try it, and well, it’s not great. It’s not the best memory I keep of summer in Tromsø 😀

A few extra resources for your trip to Tromsø and northern Norway

I’ve written quite a bit about Tromsø, Senja and the whole region, so here are the main articles that could help you prepare your summer up there:

• Preparing your trip to Tromsø – the pillar article, with all the info to organise your stay in the aurora capital
• When to go to Tromsø – the season-by-season comparison to choose the period that suits you
• All the activities in Tromsø – the full rundown of what you can do, summer or winter, with the operators to compare
• Where to sleep in Tromsø – the best neighbourhoods and accommodation, central or quiet (and far more affordable in summer!)
• A one-week itinerary in Tromsø – a turnkey programme so you don’t miss a thing
• The Fjellheisen cable car – the finest view over the town and the fjords, magical under the midnight sun
• A cruise in the fjords of Tromsø – heading out to sea around the town, one of my favourite summer activities
• Discover the island of Kvaløya – white-sand beaches, fjords and hikes, just across the bridge
• Reaching the Lyngen Alps by ferry – the crossing to go scrambling on the glacier and blue-lake side
• Everything about Senja – my Norwegian favourite, the neighbouring island absolutely not to be missed
• The most beautiful places in Senja – Tungeneset, Bergsbotn, Segla… my list of must-sees
• The ferry between Tromsø and Senja – the trick to link the two islands and save a good bit of time
• Norway in summer – the most beautiful places in the country when the days go on forever