Tromsø - Capital of Arctic Norway

This Gateway to the Arctic is also known as the “Paris of the North”:

DAY 5: Stokmarknes – Sortland – Risøyhamn – Harstad – Finnsnes – Tromsø – Skjervøy. You awake to find the ship sailing between Norway’s two largest islands, Hinnoya and Senja. Or perhaps, earlier still, in Harstad. Finnsnes is reached late morning, a community where the equipment factory is vital to the fishing industry. After crossing Malangen, you’ll experience the route’s most dynamic maelstrom, Rystraumen.At 2.30 p.m. you will arrive in Tromso made world famous as ‘Arctic City’ after numerous research and hunting expeditions from 1850 to 1930. Here you have time at leisure for shopping and sightseeing.
(B, L, D)

Ishavskatendralen Cathedral, Tromsø

From 00:50 – 08:00 the ship sailed through Stokmarknes, Sortland, Risøyhamn and Harstad. We will have the opportunity to see these ports on our return trip.08:10 – Our ship called into Trondenes, where there’s a medieval church on the left side of the shore. It’s too early to worry about leaping onshore.

11:10 – We arrived in Finnsnes, an important trading centre for the district and an industrial town. The town centre is 200 metres to the left of the pier but for this half hour stop we had enough time to just walk around the pier.

12:00 – Tromsø was the next big stop and we had a presentation about this important town. The cruise director spoke five languages fluently and did presentations in various languages where necessary.

14:30 – The Richard With docked in Tromsø, right in the centre of the city. We had four hours here and most of the sightseeing attractions were within easy walking distance of the pier so we set off our own.

Tromsø is the largest town in the Polar region of Scandinavia and there’s plenty to see here. It has earned itself the tag of “Paris of the North” due to the culture, intellectual life and fashionable lifestyle of the city. By now we were used to the idea of sightseeing in the dark but at times we longed for light so that we could see what the places were really like. See our post on Tromsø sightseeing.

Passengers who had signed up for the Dog Sledding excursion left by bus for their dog sledding destination. This optional excursion costs NOK900, which was rather expensive. You could also do a guided walk of Tromsø.

18:30 – We left Tromsø and the next port of call at 22:30 was Skjervoy where there was only a 15 minute stop. After Skjervoy the ship entered the open waters of Lopphavet.

Previous Day: Day 4

Next day: Day 6

Norwegian Coastal Voyage: Itinerary