What to do in Tromso during the day

February 15, 2026

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Unless you plan to sleep all day (which can be a good strategy if you are staying up all night), there are a few things I’d recommend doing to keep you occupied before chasing the northern lights.

Hotel: Comfort Hotel Xpress Tromsø. Price for four nights = £750
Flights: Wizz (Luton) and Norwegian Air (Gatwick)

The Arctic Cathedral

The Arctic Cathedral is a focal point of the town, and is just 80 NOK to enter. Structurally stunning with a beautiful stained glass facade, the Cathedral is an easy walk across the bridge from the center. We visited before walking on to the cable car (also not too far if your legs and hips are in good order) so you can tick both sights off in one afternoon.

Tromsö Cable Car (Fjellheisen)

The Tromsö Cable Car is a must-do and current pricing is 595 NOK or roughly £45 GBP. Make sure you buy your ticket in advance on the website and you can skip the queue! We went on a beautiful sunny day, and timed it with the sunset which was genuinely stunning.

There is a cafe at the top, but was very crowded, be prepared to wait for a table. Food options were very limited, but hot drinks a plenty. I’d allow 2-3 hours for this, depending on how long you want in the cafe, and if you need time to make snow angels/have snowball fights…

Sledging

We were keen to find somewhere to go sledging, as there wasnt much snow on the ground in the town (nor hills), so found a sports shop on the main high street selling cheap plastic sledges and asked for a recommendation for somewhere to try it out. We ended up walking to Charlottenlund treningspark and followed our nose to a hilly area where other kids were doing the same thing. FYI, it’s EXHAUSTING, but very funny and took me back to being a child!

What about things like Dog Sledding in Tromsö?

There are plenty of other daytime snow activities available, dog sledding, skidoos etc, but we chose not to splurge on these as the lights were our number one priority. Get Your Guide is a great place to start when looking for organised tours, or speak to your hotel. Often the hotels have a tour desk with someone to help book excursions.