Things to do in Tromsø: the six with a published price
Six things in Tromsø publish a price on their own site: the Fjellheisen cable car at 645 NOK return for an adult, Polaria, the Polar Museum, the Arctic Museum of Norway, the Arctic Cathedral and the Science Centre of Northern Norway. The trips most visitors come for, aurora chases, whale watching and husky sledding, mostly publish no price at all.

The rule that made this list short
An entry appears below only if Visit Tromsø’s own attractions page names it and we then opened the attraction’s own site and read the price there ourselves, on 19 September 2026. No aggregator, no booking platform, no review score, no figure quoted from a third party.
So the list is mostly museums and one cable car, because those publish prices. Tromsø’s tour operators on the whole do not, and those that sell through a separate booking system show the price only inside it.
One entry bends the rule. The Arctic Museum of Norway is missing from Visit Tromsø’s attractions page, but it is the Polar Museum’s parent institution and publishes its prices on the same university site, so we kept it. Every other entry was on Visit Tromsø’s page first.
Six places, with the price each one prints
Each price is in the currency and the form its own site uses, and each was read on 19 September 2026.
Each price is in the currency and form its own site prints, unconverted.
Source: Each attraction’s own site, 19 September 2026. Checked 19 September 2026.
| Place | What it is | Price | Who it does not suit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fjellheisen cable car | A 752 m cable car from Solliveien in Tromsdalen up to Storsteinen, 421 m above sea level, four minutes each way | Return 645 NOK adult, 310 NOK child 3 to 15, 1,360 NOK family of 2+2. One way 415, 195 and 850 NOK | Anyone who needs step-free access, which is suspended during the rebuild, and anyone planning to drive to it |
| Polaria | An aquarium with a seal pool and a panoramic theatre, in the centre | 395 kr adult, 220 kr child 3 to 15, 260 kr student, 260 kr pensioner 67+, 925 kr family of 2 adults and 3 children | Anyone who would rather not watch captive seals being fed |
| Polarmuseet, the Polar Museum | The university’s museum of Arctic hunting, Norwegian polar expeditions and Svalbard’s cultural history, at Søndre Tollbodgate 11 | kr 130 adults, free under 18, kr 100 seniors and students, kr 100 each for groups of 10 or more | Anyone expecting natural history, which is at the other museum below |
| The Arctic Museum of Norway | The same university museum’s main site at Lars Thøringsveg 10, at the southern end of Tromsøya | kr 130 adults, free under 18, kr 100 seniors and students, kr 100 each for groups of 10 or more | Anyone without time for the bus out, about 2.5 km from the centre |
| Ishavskatedralen, the Arctic Cathedral | The white church in Tromsdalen by the bridge, about 20 minutes on foot from the centre | NOK 90 entry, free under 12, NOK 85 each for groups of 15 or more, bought at the door. Free during services and free for Tromsø residents | Anyone expecting a guided tour at set times; there are none, though one can be arranged |
| The Science Centre of Northern Norway | An interactive exhibition with a planetarium, one ticket covering both | 150 adults, 80 children from 3 years, 90 students, 135 seniors, 395 family of 2 adults and 3 children, 75 each extra child, in NOK | Late arrivals, since it is open 11:00 to 16:00 |
Fjellheisen. Up to 28 people travel per car, around 400 an hour, and the gondola runs 09:00 to 00:00 with the café open until 23:30. A bike in the gondola is 200 NOK. Dogs ride free and are not allowed in the café. If you expect to go up more than once, the operator sells 20-point cards at 1,650 NOK adult and 830 NOK child.
Polaria. Open every day 10:00 to 17:00, and 10:00 to 16:00 on 24 December. Seals are fed at 10:30, 12:30 and 15:30. The Norwegian page prices everything in KR, while the English page prints the same numbers labelled SEK, the Swedish currency, and neither page explains why. We have used the Norwegian page’s figures and converted nothing.
Polarmuseet. Open 10:00 to 18:00 every day of the week. It sits at the north end of the town centre and describes itself as within walking distance of most of the town’s hotels and guesthouses. Students at the university get in free.
The Arctic Museum of Norway. Open 10:00 to 16:30 Monday to Friday and 11:00 to 16:00 at weekends, which is a shorter day than the Polar Museum keeps. It is at the far south of Tromsøya, so allow for the bus each way.
Ishavskatedralen. Tickets are sold at the door only. Buses 20, 24, 26 and 28 stop right by it, and the walk across the bridge from the centre takes about 20 minutes. Services are free to attend, as is entry for anyone who lives in Tromsø.
The Science Centre of Northern Norway. Tickets are bought at reception when you arrive, and one ticket covers the exhibition and every planetarium show that day. It is also the only entry that spells its currency out as Norwegian kroner, a small relief after Polaria.
Source: OpenStreetMap contributors (shore); Wikipedia and Wikidata coordinates; each place’s own site. Checked 19 September 2026.
The cable car: no parking, and it stops for wind
Fjellheisen is the one entry with enough conditions attached that a price alone would mislead you.
The operator says outright that there is no parking at Fjellheisen for a private or hire car, so work out how you will get there. On foot it is about 45 minutes from the centre. An electric shuttle bus runs daily from the centre in the winter season, 15 November to 31 March, taking about 20 minutes. City bus 26 leaves from Torgsenteret and stops at a halt called Fjellheisen. A taxi is about 10 minutes and the operator’s own page gives the fare as 150 to 250 NOK.
It also stops in high wind, and was closed for wind on the day we checked. One closed day says nothing about yours, so check on the morning you go instead of writing it off.
Building work on a new Fjellheisen was under way when we looked. The operator says it is still open, and that wheelchair access is not available for as long as the rebuild lasts. Nothing we opened says when the work ends.
The three trips we could not put a price on
Whale watching. Visit Tromsø gives the season as usually the beginning of November until the end of January, with the exact timing varying year to year, following orcas and humpbacks that follow the herring. In recent years the whales have been north of Tromsø, mainly around Skjervøy and Kvænangen, so this is usually a full day: either a return boat trip from Tromsø, or a bus or minibus up to Skjervøy with a boat trip at the far end. No dedicated whale operator’s own page gave us a price, and Visit Tromsø publishes none.
Husky sledding. It happens outside the city. Tromsø Villmarkssenter is on Kvaløya at Straumsvegen 601, with a town office at Storgata 61, has been family-run for over 35 years and keeps nearly 200 Alaskan huskies. Its own site shows no price, and the separate booking system returned nothing we could read. Resellers quote figures, but a reseller’s figure is not the operator’s price, so we print none.
Aurora chases. Of the chase operators we opened, one publishes its prices. Chasing Lights asks from 1,100 NOK an adult and from 660 NOK a child for its coach chase, which runs October to March, picks up at 17:20, lasts 5 to 9 hours depending on the weather, and carries up to 50 guests with a driver and one or two guides. Its small-group minibus version starts at 2,200 NOK. They are one company’s prices on one day, and say little about what Tromsø aurora tours cost in general.
Its tour page also says the lights may not appear whatever the sky does, and that there is no refund and no free repeat trip if they do not. Expect the same frankness from any operator you book.
Its other tour cards price a snowshoe hike at 1,200 NOK, a fjord cruise at 1,490 NOK, whale watching from 1,990 NOK and a snowmobile trip from 2,990 NOK. One card sells a reindeer experience under a Sámi label, from 1,690 NOK, and we are not listing it as Sámi culture. It is a general tour operator’s product, we did not check who runs it or who benefits, and a label on a tour card does not make a business Sámi-owned.
Tromsø’s Christmas markets, with last year’s dates
Tromsø has several small Christmas markets in November and December, on Visit Tromsø’s own account, one of them the Tromsø Christmas Market on Stortorget. We found no 2026 dates. When we looked on 25 September 2026, Visit Tromsø’s Christmas page still listed the markets under the heading “Christmas markets 2025”, and we found no page of the market’s own organiser with newer dates.
| Market | Where | 2025 dates |
|---|---|---|
| Tromsø Christmas Market | Stortorget | 21 November to 22 December |
| Juleglede market | Nerstranda | 21 November to 21 December |
| Julemarked i Skomakergata | Strandgata 34 | 3 November to 22 December |
| Julemarked i Rødbanken | Bankhjørnet Rødbanken | 14 and 15 November |
| Juovlamárkanat Romssas, a Sámi Christmas market | Bankhjørnet Rødbanken | 28 and 29 November |
Read those as a pattern, and wait for this year’s list before you fix a date around one. Visit Tromsø gives no opening hours or prices for any of them, and asks visitors to contact it for more. We have not checked who runs the Sámi market or who it benefits, so it is listed here as Visit Tromsø lists it and nothing more.
What we left out, and why
Galleri Nord is on Visit Tromsø’s list of attractions and missing from ours, because we did not open a price for it. The same goes for the Arctic-Alpine Botanic Garden, Perspektivet Museum, the Mack brewery and every restaurant in the town.
The Arctic Cathedral does hold midnight sun and Northern Lights concerts, and they are missing for the same reason. Its visiting page prices entry and nothing else, and the concert programme we opened listed a single October 2026 date with no ticket price on it.
There are no star ratings or review scores, as everywhere on this site, and no view on who to book with. For that we would need an operator’s licensing, insurance, safety record and animal welfare policy in front of us, and for Tromsø we have none of it.
Who this is not for
Anyone looking for a shortlist of Tromsø tour operators to book. We have not checked any Tromsø operator’s licence, safety record, animal welfare policy or guide qualifications, which is less than we check on the Finnish side of this site, so no one on this page is endorsed and we cannot give you that shortlist.
Sources
- Visit Tromsø, attractions, checked 19 September 2026
- Fjellheisen, prices, opening hours and how to get there, checked 19 September 2026
- Polaria, prices and opening hours (Norwegian), checked 19 September 2026
- Polaria, English pages, checked 19 September 2026
- Polarmuseet, Norges arktiske universitetsmuseum, plan your visit, checked 19 September 2026
- Norges arktiske universitetsmuseum (the Arctic Museum of Norway), plan your visit, checked 19 September 2026
- Ishavskatedralen (the Arctic Cathedral), visiting, checked 19 September 2026
- Nordnorsk vitensenter (the Science Centre of Northern Norway), tickets, checked 19 September 2026
- Nordnorsk vitensenter, opening hours, checked 19 September 2026
- Visit Tromsø, whale watching, checked 19 September 2026
- Chasing Lights, Northern Lights big bus chase, checked 19 September 2026
- Chasing Lights, tour cards on the operator’s home page, checked 19 September 2026
- Visit Tromsø, Christmas in Tromsø (Christmas markets 2025), checked 25 September 2026
- Tromsø Villmarkssenter, checked 19 September 2026
- Tromsø Villmarkssenter, activities, checked 19 September 2026
Last checked 19 September 2026.
Photographs, all from Wikimedia Commons: Tromsdalen, looking across the Tromsø bridge, Norway in November by Mark Ledingham, CC BY 2.0, colour-adjusted. Each is cropped and resized here, and our versions carry the same licence as the original.