Here’s our Tromso & Senja itinerary, which has been one of our most amazing trips: North of Norway in mid. February 2022 (Winter). I truly recommend this trip and every one of the stops we’ve chosen in this itinerary.
Overview: 5 Days in Tromso and Senja
Here is an overview of a perfect 5 days in Tromso and Senja Itinerary with some recommendations of what to visit in this order:
- Oslo (1 day)
- South of Tromso (1 day)
- Huskies in Senja (1 day)
- Snowshoes in Hecla (1 day)
- Tromso (1 day)
Day 1: Oslo
We’ve taken an afternoon flight from Barcelona to London and from London to Oslo. We spent the night in Gardermoen Bed and Breakfast close to the airport. I really recommend it, it’s super close to the airport, and you can get a local bus to get there in just 15 minutes.
🏠 Where to stay in Oslo: Bed&Breakfast near the Airport. My review is that it’s close to the airport, cheap (35€ each), public bus to the hotel, good breakfast & a cozy terrace.
Day 2: Lille Rostevain
We took the 1st flight in the morning from Oslo to Tromsø. As the sunset was at 3 pm, and we had a 2h road trip, we wanted to have time to fish with some light! It’s less freezing with the sun.
We arrived at 10 am & went to Rema 1000 to buy some food and headed to Lille Rostevain, in our amazing Airbnb with just incredible views over the lake. You will find all of our Airbnb at the end of the post 🙂
We cooked some Ramen in our Airbnb and then headed down to the lake to try our fishing skills for the 1st time. We just asked the house owners to borrow the fishing material, and they rented them to us for 5€ each.
The landscape was breathtaking! Ice fishing is not a common thing to do on a Tromso and Senja itinerary, but it’s definitely a great way to experience the local culture.
We were not very lucky in that, but we found a stunning BBQ spot near our house, so we’ve cooked some hot dogs for dinner & drank some wine near the fire. Cooking at home made it a budget trip. Another tip to visit Tromso on a budget is by wearing the alcohol and main food from your country.
This is certainly one of those Airbnb you can really feel like a local in Norway.
Northern Lights in Tromso
And finally… we saw the northern lights from the frozen lake! This was the main reason why I’ve chosen to stay in Lille Rostevain. It’s not touristy, so we were the only ones around, and it’s one of the best spots to watch auroras, as there’s no light pollution at all.
We’ve used the app called Aurora & a weather website to see the cloud coverage. Visiting Lille Rostevain should be a must for any Tromso itinerary.
🏠 Where to stay in Tromso: Remote Airbnb in the South of Tromso. My review is great views, good price (26€ per person), they can add an extra mattress if you’re 5, good kitchen (we cooked home every day), the host can teach you how to fish and there’s a super cool outdoor BBQ spot.
✨ Where to watch Northern Lights: Lille Rostevain’s frozen lake
Day 3: Huskies in Senja
We woke up early to a Huskies Experience. This one is the cheapest Husky Experience in all Tromso (remember that it was a budget trip). The guy is awesome, the dogs are healthy, the landscape in winter is a fantasy, and… it was one of the best experiences of my life.
In the beginning, I was not sure, but now I’m recommending everyone going there to give it a try! The best of doing a Tromso and Senja itinerary in winter is that you get a more local experience in Senja than Tromso, much less crowded and much cheaper.
After the excursion, we all had some coffee and cookies near the fire with the dogs.
We spent the afternoon discovering the south of Senja.
Our Airbnb was in Skrollsvika, the most remote town in the South of Senja, with plenty of wild reindeer, amazing beaches, and not a single tourist.
Near the town, there’s an abandoned old military town that was built during WWII (stunning for sunset too). You can see the Lofoten Island’s skyline all along the coastline.
Northern lights in Senja
The South of Senja is also a great spot for Aurora Borealis in Norway, and we were definitely not disappointed! We lit the fire and watch the Northern Lights show.
In case it was not enough, my boyfriend asked me to marry him! This was absolutely the best day of my life.
🐶 The event provider: Huskies Senja
🏠 Where to stay in Senja: Remote house in the South of Senja. Great views, good price (34,8€ per person), incredible kitchen, a stunning terrace with a bonfire, and spotless.
✨ Where to watch Northern Lights: From our Airbnb
Day 4: Snowshoes in Segla
Our first stop was Bergsbotn lookout, followed by Tungeneset, both very touristy but worth the stop.
For the second one, you need to walk through the rocks to get to a second and much better lookout.
Snowshoes in Segla (Senja)
I recommend you prepare a sandwich before you head up to the trekking at Segla, that’s what we did 🙂. Btw, we rented snowshoes (it’s a must) at Melfjord Brygge because we also wanted to see the town, but it costs you 20€ approx. wherever you rent them.
The trekking is absolutely stunning! We highly recommend you this hike for your Tromso and Senja itinerary.
We went there for sunset (I’d now do it 2h before sunset at least because the light was already not hitting the mountain), and it was one of the best trekking I’ve ever done. Important: Take the Hesten trail to get this view!
Our Airbnb was in Skaland and had a private beach 1km away from the house, so, as always, took some wood from the house and lit a fire on the beach.
Northern lights in Senja
We were again lucky to see the northern lights, now from the sea.
🏠 Where to stay in Senja: Airbnb with a private beach to spot the Northern Lights. It’s one of the most amazing Airbnb I’ve been to! The kitchen is great, the beds super comfy, and it had a private beach for a perfect bonfire+auroras spot for 41€ each.
✨ Where to watch Northern Lights: From our Airbnb
Day 5: Tromso
On the last day, we went back to Tromso to visit the city. We grab a reindeer hot dog at Raketten (the tiniest bar in the world!) and headed to Pust Tromso, a sauna we booked in advance and which ended up being one of the best moments of our Tromso itinerary.
We’ve followed the local’s routine of 15 min in the sauna + quick swim in the water (which was 1º!). The snow is also a great way to exfoliate the body!
As it was our last dinner, we went to have dinner at Full Steam Tromso to to taste the local cuisine like whale and reindeer, which was super tasty! We highly recommend it.
Our last hotel of the trip was close to Erfjordbotn, which is one of the best places to spot northern lights in Tromso. However, it started to snow, so we decided it didn’t make any sense to get there, as we would not see auroras with that weather (the free Aurora app said there was a 0% chance).
Luckily, our house had a little magic BBQ hut where we had a great time for the last night in Tromso 🙂
🌭 Cheap lunch in Tromso: Raketten
💦 Local Sauna in Tromso: Pust Tromso
🍽️ Best local restaurant for Dinner: Full Stream Tromso
🏠 Where to stay in Tromso: House near Ersfjorbotn
✨ Where to watch Northern Lights: Ersfjorbotn
Day 6: Return
That’s all folks! Hope you liked it and let me know if you know any other questions you may have about our Tromso itinerary :). If you like to visit the Arctic in the summer, I recommend you have a look at our Iceland itinerary by motor home.
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