We had a wonderful trip to Norway in late January, 2026. The big goal/hope was to see the Aurora Borealis. And we certainly did! But the entire trip was a truly enjoyable treat.
We booked our “cruise” on Hurtigruten‘s MS Trollfjord, departing from Tromsø on January 22nd. But we wanted a chance to see the auroras from “land,” prior to getting on the ship, from which we also hoped to see auroras — and did! So, four days in Tromsø prior to our departure, which worked out so well.
We booked two “aurora chasing” tours, the first one with Northbound on the 19th — their Northern Lights Adventure. Incredible! We left from Tromsø in a small van — with five other people — driving to where our guide felt the chance of aurora viewing would be the best. He was right! And we totally lucked out with the “show”! Just, wow! And a ton of credit to Northbound to getting us to such a great location and giving us great info on the auroras while we were there.
More aurora photos (and others from our trip) are posted on my photography website, here. Also, I set my camera up (on a tripod) to take 100 multiple back-to-back three-second exposures (which are good for auroras), and processed each sequence into time-lapse videos that are about ten seconds long. (So, they’re much faster than real time!) A few of them are here.
Our aurora photos were taken from the eastern shores of Balsfjorden, the fjord between Tromsø (in the upper center of the map) and the town of Nordkjosbotn at the end of the fjord to the southeast. (Balsfjorden is unlabeled on Google Maps.)
We had booked a second aurora “tour” for the 21st, but because we had such success on the 19th, we canceled. (It’s cold being out all night! And the second tour was with a larger group — 12 or so people. We were completely spoiled by our small-group tour with Northbound and felt no need to head out again.)
Our time in Tromsø was great! We enjoyed exploring the town and had some really nice seafood meals. (Including great sushi — twice! — at Suvi, casual seafood at Dragøy Coastal Mathus, and a refined and delicious meal at Mathallen Tromsø.)
Our hotel, Clarion Hotel The Edge (weird name!), was quiet, comfortable, and had a great buffet breakfast to get us going in the mornings. Here’s an iPhone shot from our room on our first morning in Tromsø, at 9:00 am. Magical light!
More magical light: an iPhone shot looking east across the harbor from Tromsø at 3:15 pm.
One of the main streets in Tromsø is pedestrian only. Here’s an iPhone image — taken at 3:20 in the afternoon on August 20, two days before the sun is first visible in Tromsø since the previous November (!).
We booked Hurtigruten’s North Cape Line – South, which travels from Tromsø north to Honningsvåg (and North Cape, the northern-most point of continental Europe), then south to Oslo. Seven full days total. Here’s the full itinerary And a map from that page, with red dots for our stops:
For all but one of the nine days, the ship traveled at night and spent the day docked at a port, giving us the opportunity to explore. For each of the in-port days, we signed up for an “excursion”; a guided tour — either a trip by bus or a walking tour of the town. The excursions were great! Also, we had some time to explore each of the towns on our own after we returned from our excursions and prior to reboarding the ship in the late afternoons — which we particularly enjoyed.
A dramatic view at the North Cape. The “Globe Monument” is at the upper-right of the image.
Here’s an image from the deck of the Alta Museum.
Here are images from the ship, looking east to the Norwegian coast.
Five nights in Oslo. A fun city to explore! (More details to come as I have time to write them up…)
Leave a Reply