Booking a Tromsø Northern Lights Tour will give you the best odds for seeing the awe-inspiring aurora borealis up close. Not only will you be accompanied by an expert guide who knows exactly which locations and weather conditions are best for aurora viewing, but you’ll also benefit from transportation, snacks, photos, and more.
Tromso is one of the best places to see the Northern Lights in the world, which already provides quite an advantage for aurora viewing. You do need to ensure, however, that you’re visiting Tromso at the best time to see the aurora, or else it will be impossible to view anything.
There are so many Tromso aurora tours that it can feel quite overwhelming to try and pick just one. Some tours offer extra adventures aside from seeing the Northern Lights, such as overnight stays, sledding, and animal encounters, just to name a few.
I’ve compiled 10 of the best Northern Lights tours in Tromso, so that no matter which Tromso Northern Lights tour you choose from this list, you’ll get the best possible chance to glimpse one of the most beautiful natural phenomena for yourself.
10 Best Northern Lights tours in Tromso
There are Northern Lights tours in Tromso, Norway for travelers of every budget and level of adventurousness, so you will easily be able to find a tour to match your needs. In summary, these are the best Tromso Northern Lights tours:
- Affordable Tromso Northern Lights tour
- Best small group aurora hunt from Tromso
- Best Tromso Northern Lights photography tour
- Northern Lights tour in Tromso with a husky camp visit
- Tromso aurora tour with reindeer sledding
- Tromso Northern Lights boat tour
- Northern Lights tour in Tromso with a lavvu visit
- Tromso aurora tour with lavvu stay
- Tromsø Northern Lights tour with Ice Domes stay
- Best private Northern Lights tour in Tromso
1. Affordable Tromso Northern Lights tour
A Tromso Northern Lights bus tour is the cheapest and most convenient way to go aurora hunting. This relatively affordable tour departs from downtown Tromso and takes you outside the city to give you the best chance of seeing an aurora for yourself.
1. Affordable Tromso Northern Lights tour
While you’re aurora chasing, your guide will share stories and explain what causes the Northern Lights. If you’re lucky enough to spot the aurora, the guide will take portraits of you and offer any photography tips you may need to capture the Northern Lights’ vibrant colors.
The bus is heated and has toilets, so if you get too cold at any point while aurora watching, you can always retreat to the warmth of the bus. The coffee, tea, hot cocoa, and biscuits provided on the tour will also help keep you going on your quest to find the Northern Lights.
- Highlights: Aurora hunting with guide, personal aurora portrait and landscape photos, hot drinks and snacks, transportation to and from Tromso
- Duration: 8 hours
- Number of participants: 50
- Price: $106+
2. Best small group aurora hunt from Tromso
Want to see the Northern Lights in Tromso without the big crowds? Book this small group tour, which is one of the best tours in Tromso, and chase the aurora with a group that is limited to no more than 21 people.
2. Best small group aurora hunt from Tromso
Gather around a campfire and stay toasty with hot drinks and a variety of warm food, including soups, hot dogs, and marshmallows. Your guide will tell you some local myths and talk about the science behind the Northern Lights. You won’t even get too cold, as the thermal suits provided on the tour will ensure you’re protected from the Arctic temperatures.
If you do end up spotting the aurora, use the tripod provided on the tour to take steady, well-composed pictures. The guide will also take photos of you and the group with the Northern Lights, which you can treasure as a memory of your Tromso aurora hunt.
- Highlights: Aurora hunting with guide, hot drinks and snacks cooked over a campfire, personal aurora photos, transportation to and from Tromso
- Duration: 7 hours
- Number of participants: 21
- Price: $151+
3. Best Tromso Northern Lights photography tour
If you don’t know how to photograph the Northern Lights, it can be daunting to try to take clear, well-lit aurora photos without any guidance. Luckily, this tour includes a photography workshop from a professional photographer.
3. Best Tromso Northern Lights photography tour
The photographer will provide tips on any and all aspects of aurora photography so that you’ll have photos you can be proud of to commemorate seeing the Northern Lights in Tromso. If something goes wrong, the reflective vests provided on the tour for you to wear will ensure that you can easily get the photographer’s attention.
There’s no need to worry about getting hungry, since the tour will provide hot drinks and cookies. If you’d like an extra special memento of the night, the photographer can take a professional aurora portrait of you for an additional fee.
- Highlights: Aurora hunting, photography workshop, hot drinks, and cookies
- Duration: 7 hours
- Number of participants: 47
- Price: $110+
4. Northern Lights tour in Tromso with a husky camp visit
If you’re a canine lover, this tour with a husky camp visit can fulfill both your mission to see the aurora borealis in Tromso and your appreciation for dogs.
You’ll be transported to a husky camp that’s just 30 minutes from downtown Tromso and get the chance to meet dogs and even cuddle them. After that, you’ll be treated to hot drinks and be able to roast marshmallows over a campfire.
4. Northern Lights tour in Tromso with a husky camp visit
Later, you can cozy up inside a lavvu (a Sami – indigenous people of Scandinavia – tent) or sit outside on reindeer skins as you wait to see the Northern Lights. Your guide will answer questions and serve you a meal of Norwegian cod to keep you warm and fed.
- Highlights: Aurora watching from Sami lavvu, warm meal cooked over a campfire, meeting husky dogs and puppies
- Duration: 4 hours
- Number of participants: 20
- Price: $121+
5. Tromso aurora tour with reindeer sledding
Learn more about Sami culture and have a reindeer adventure on a tour with reindeer sledding. This Northern Lights tour from Tromso is the perfect tour to take if you spend Christmas in Tromso and want to do something unique and festive.
You’ll take a bus or van from Tromso to the Sami camp, where you’ll meet and feed a herd of wild reindeer before going sledding. You’ll then be invited into a gamme (traditional Sami hut) for hot drinks by a roaring fire. After the drinks, your Sami hosts will serve you a three-course meal that has been cooked over the open fire.
5. Tromso aurora tour with reindeer sledding
Then, you’ll head to a lavvu and listen to stories about Sami culture and reindeer herding from your hosts, who will also perform a traditional Sami song. After that, if you’re lucky, you’ll step outside the tent to see the Northern Lights dance before your eyes.
- Highlights: Reindeer sledding and feeding, traditional Sami dinner, aurora watching from Sami lavvu
- Duration: 4.5 hours
- Number of participants: 30
- Price: $199+
6. Tromso Northern Lights boat tour
If you’d rather see the Northern Lights by sea than by land, this boat tour is the Tromso aurora tour for you. Sail far away from the city lights of Tromso and visit different locations to get multiple perspectives of the aurora borealis in all its glory.
6. Tromso Northern Lights boat tour
Even if you visit Tromso in winter, you’ll still be able to stay warm, since the tour guides provide you with thermal winter suits for the journey. Even better, if the onboard jacuzzi and sauna are up and running, you’ll be able to watch the Northern Lights dance while you relax in total warmth.
Your guide will tell you all about the Northern Lights and even take digital portraits of you with the aurora, which will be available to download within 72 hours.
- Highlights: Aurora hunting boat cruise, outdoor jacuzzi/sauna (subject to availability), digital portraits
- Duration: 4 hours
- Number of participants: 12/30/145 depending on the boat and number of bookings
- Price: $110+
7. Northern Lights tour in Tromso with a Lavvu visit
Enjoy a cozy Northern Lights viewing experience in Tromso on this tour with a lavvu visit.
Once you get picked up in Tromso, you’ll chase the Northern Lights by bus until your guide finds a good spot for a photo stop. Your guide will be a professional photographer who can take photos of you and help you with your camera settings. After all, there’s no point in having the best camera for Northern Lights photography if you don’t use it properly.
7. Northern Lights tour in Tromso with a Lavvu visit
When you’ve finished taking photos of the aurora, your bus will take you to one of three Aurora Camps, all of which have snug and comfortable lavvus. Once you’ve settled into your lavvu, you’ll be served a meal of stew with flatbread and fishcakes or sausages before you head back to Tromso.
- Highlights: Aurora hunting, dinner in a lavvu
- Duration: 6 hours
- Number of participants: 40
- Price: $150+
8. Tromso aurora tour with Lavvu stay
If you’re wondering where to stay in Tromso that’s totally unique, this tour with lavvu stay is certainly something you don’t do everyday.
Your guide will drive you to the nearby island of Kvaløya, where you’ll go reindeer sledding and feed your team a treat at the end of your ride. Then, you’ll warm up in a lavvu and eat stew with a hot drink while your Sami guide shares various aspects of Sami culture with you.
8. Tromso aurora tour with Lavvu stay
You can head back outside to see if the Northern Lights appear, and once you’re ready to go to bed, curl up inside a sleeping bag in the lavvu. The next day, you’ll enjoy a delicious breakfast before heading back to Tromso.
- Highlights: Reindeer sledding and feeding; overnight stay in a lavvu; afternoon meal, snacks, and breakfast
- Duration: 17 hours
- Number of participants: 12
- Price: $368+
9. Tromsø Northern Lights tour with Ice Domes stay
Stay in one of the best Northern Lights hotels in Norway while you hunt for the Northern Lights in snowshoes on this tour with Ice Domes stay.
Visiting the Ice Domes is one of the best things to do in Tromso, since there aren’t many other places where you can admire a hotel that is constructed entirely out of ice and snow. You’ll get a personal private tour of the hotel, where a guide will tell you all about its construction process. After the tour, you’ll be able to enjoy a free drink at the ice bar.
9. Tromsø Northern Lights tour with Ice Domes stay
Your guide will then take you on a snowshoe tour of the wilderness around the Tromso Ice Domes, and if you’re lucky, you’ll be able to see the aurora up above. You will end up at the nature camp, where your guide will make a fire and cook dinner over it for you.
After your nature trek, you’ll head back to the Ice Domes and sleep in one of the ice rooms. The next day, you’ll be treated to breakfast and lunch before you’re taken back to the city. Can you imagine a better Northern Lights tour in Tromso?
- Highlights: Guided tour of the Tromso Ice Domes; snowshoe hunt for the Northern Lights; accommodation at Tromso Ice Domes; breakfast, lunch, and a drink at the ice bar
- Duration: 1 day
- Number of participants: 2
- Price: $1,391+
10. Best private Northern Lights tour in Tromso
One of the best trips you can take to see the Northern Lights is to Tromso, so why not capitalize on your prime location and book a private Tromso aurora tour so you can enjoy yourself? This private tour is limited to 8 people who are friends or family so you’ll have a truly exclusive experience.
10. Best private Northern Lights tour in Tromso
You’ll be picked up by bus from Tromso, but your hunt for the Northern Lights could potentially take you everywhere from the fjords to the Finnish border. Coffee, tea, and muffins will keep you energized until you finally see the “green lady.”
Your photographer will give you advice and even help you set up your camera so you can take some fabulous photos to bring home with you.
- Highlights: Aurora chasing in a private group; coffee, tea, and muffins
- Duration: 6 hours
- Number of participants: 8
- Price: $990+
Tromso Northern Lights tour price
Tromso Northern Lights tour prices can vary from around $110 all the way up to $1,400. These prices are based on the length of the tour, whether accommodation is included, whether meals are included, and the tour group size. Whether you’re looking for an aurora photography tour or a Tromso Northern Lights boat tour, you can compare prices and included highlights below.
PRICE | DURATION | HIGHLIGHTS |
|
|---|---|---|---|
$106+ | 8 hours | • Aurora hunting |
|
$151+ | 7 hours | • Aurora hunting |
|
$110+ | 7 hours | • Aurora hunting |
|
$121+ | 4 hours | • Aurora watching from Sami lavvu |
|
$199+ | 4.5 hours | • Reindeer sledding and feeding |
|
$110+ | 4 hours | • Aurora hunting boat cruise |
|
$150+ | 6 hours | • Aurora hunting |
|
$368+ | 17 hours | • Reindeer sledding and feeding |
|
$1,391+ | 1 day | • Guided tour of the Tromso Ice Domes |
|
$990+ | 6 hours | • Aurora chasing in a private group |
|
| BEST NORTHERN LIGHTS TOURS FROM TROMSO | |||
That’s it! I hope this article has helped you find a Tromso Northern Lights tour that works for you.
Taking a Tromso aurora tour will definitely provide the most likely opportunity to see the Northern Lights in Norway because the tour guides are experts who can take you to the best spots, which will greatly increase your chances of seeing this incredible natural phenomenon.
If you do decide to aurora hunt on your own, determining the Northern Lights forecast is crucial. Otherwise, if you’d like to book a one-of-a-kind Norway Northern Lights tour, we run a photo tour to the Lofoten Islands every year and we’d love for you to join us!
Good luck with your aurora hunting in Tromso!
