The fjords, the Arctic, and every tour in between.
Which Tromsø aurora chase actually drives clear of the city glow. Whether the Lysefjord boat beats the climb up Preikestolen. What a reindeer sled costs in February. Priced, timed and reviewed.
What Norway is actually famous for.
Green sky over the Arctic, deep water under a cliff wall, a sled team that knows the trail better than the driver. These six carry most Norwegian itineraries, and each one books differently.
Northern lights: the chase decides the night.
All 276 northern lights tours →
Tromsø sits under the auroral oval, which is the easy part. The hard part is cloud: the good guides drive two hours inland, or into Finnmark, or over the Finnish border, and they decide at four in the afternoon.
Minibus, thermal suit, wherever the sky opens
Small groups, a driver reading three weather models, and a bonfire wherever the clouds break. Suits and tripods come with the seat.
Reindeer sled first, then the sky
A sled circuit through the birch, bidos stew inside the tent, and a herding family who have watched this sky their whole lives. The aurora is the bonus, not the plan.
A guide who knows your camera settings
Shooting green light in the dark is a technical job. These run with a photographer who sets your exposure, frames you against the arc and sends the files the next morning.
Tromsø is where Arctic Norway is easiest to book.
Three hundred kilometres inside the Arctic Circle, with an airport, a cable car and a harbour full of boats. Half the tours in this country leave from a city of 77,000 people, and in winter they leave every afternoon.
The tours travellers take again and again in Norway.
Every review →Fjord cruises out of Bergen and Stavanger, aurora chases out of Tromsø, an Oslofjord sail at golden hour. The Norwegian days that fill their boats every single departure.
1
The Original Fjord Cruise to Mostraumen
Bergen to Mostraumen fjord cruise on a warm, roomy boat with sun-deck views, Bryggen scenery, and a waterfall close pass.
From · $93
Read our review →
2
Electric Fjord Cruise to Lysefjord & Preikestolen
from $93
3
Northern Lights Safari with Expert Guides and Photos
from $61
4
Reindeer Sledding & Feeding with a Sami Guide
from $198
5
Northern Lights Pioneer Tour with Photos Included
from $165
6
Oslo Fjord Sightseeing Cruise by Sailing Ship
from $39
7
Scenic Fjord Cruise with Audio Guide Commentary
from $44
8
Arctic Fjord Cruise & Fishing Experience
from $152
On a fjord, the boat sees what the road cannot.
The west coast is cut a hundred kilometres inland in places, and the cliff walls only make sense from the water. Bergen and Stavanger run the year-round departures; Geiranger and Flåm run on the summer timetable.
Oslo hands you a fjord at the end of the tram line.
The capital opens onto its own archipelago: wooden sailing ships, silent electric boats and island stops fifteen minutes from the opera house. Do the water first, the museums when it rains, the ridge walks when it does not.
- 1Oslo Fjord Sightseeing Cruise by Sailing Shipfrom $39
- 2Scenic Fjord Cruise with Audio Guide Commentaryfrom $44
- 3Oslo Nature Walks: Island Hopping Tourfrom $69
Three things you can only really do in Norway.
Boat trips and mountain walks exist everywhere. A herding family's sled, a forty-dog team on frozen ground and a sauna you swim out of belong to this coast.
The Reindeer Camp
The Sami have herded reindeer across Sápmi — northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula — for far longer than any of those borders have existed. Around Tromsø and Alta, herding families open the winter camps: you feed the herd by hand out of a bucket, take a sled circuit through the birch, and eat bidos inside a lavvo while somebody joiks. It is a working operation, not a show.
- 1Reindeer Sledding & Feeding with a Sami Guide★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 6,417 reviews
- 2Reindeer Camp and Sami Cultural Tour with Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 3,326 reviews
- 3Reindeer Feeding and Sami Cultural Experience★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 2,225 reviews
The Husky Team
A sled team is loud until the moment it moves, and then it is almost silent. Alaskan huskies run the trails around Tromsø and Alta from roughly December to April, when the ground holds snow. You either ride in the sled or stand on the runners and drive it yourself — the self-drive versions cost more and are worth it, once somebody has shown you the foot brake.
- 1Self-Drive Husky Dog Sledding Adventure★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 4,162 reviews
- 2Fun and Easy Dog Sledding Adventure★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 2,004 reviews
- 3Husky Sled Self-Drive with Traditional Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 1,896 reviews
The Fjord Sauna
Floating saunas have taken over Norwegian harbours: a wood stove, a bench, a ladder and sea water somewhere around four degrees. The routine is fifteen minutes hot, thirty seconds in the fjord, repeat until it stops feeling like a mistake. Oslo, Bergen and Tromsø all run them year-round, and winter is the point.
- 1Spa/Pool with Bath, Sauna and Outdoor Heated Pool★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 1,076 reviews
- 2Live Like a Local – Floating and Sauna★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 31 reviews
- 3Arctic Ocean Swim, Sauna & Sightseeing★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 5 reviews
A Norwegian day out, by what you pay for it.
Norway is expensive and everybody knows it. Here is the whole catalogue by price, cheapest first — and the cheap tier is not the weak tier.
Harbour cruises, city walks, the funicular and the cable car — the hours that cost less than dinner.
The standard day: fjord cruises, aurora chases by minibus, reindeer camps and whale boats.
Self-drive husky teams, small-boat safaris, private guides and the long Arctic road days.
Lofoten: cod racks, sea eagles and a wall of granite.
All Lofoten tours →
Aurora Borealis, Campfire, Hot Meal, Arctic Tour
Read our review →
The Norwegian days that will not wait for you.
Most of this country can be arranged from the hotel the night before. These cannot: they run on short seasons, small boats and guide quotas that were filled while you were still comparing flights.
- 01Trolltunga Classic Overnight HikeThe rock ledge is a ten-hour round trip and the guided departures run only through the short summer window.
- 02Self-Drive Husky Dog Sledding AdventureSledding is a season, not a timetable — the camps around Tromsø and Alta fill weeks ahead of the aurora forecast.
- 03North Cape and King Crab Tour with Sámi Camp TourThe safaris take a handful of people out on small boats in the far north, and each departure is exactly that small.
Bergen gets 200 wet days a year. Plan for them.
Rain on this coast is not a forecast, it is a climate. The answer is a roof and a fire: a lavvo dinner, a harbourside museum, a covered boat with a window seat, a sauna you are supposed to get wet in. None of it cancels.
Oslo to Tromsø, the way most first trips run.
By place — south coast to the Arctic
Tromsø604 tours
Oslo271 tours
Bergen232 tours
Lofoten Islands106 tours
Stavanger84 tours
Ålesund68 tours
Geiranger27 tours- The full Norway list →
The newest Norway reviews.
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Private Guided Tour in Fjords & Waterfalls of Hardanger Norway
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Svalbard Discover the Mining Settlement of Pyramiden
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All-Inclusive Self-Guided Kayaking & Camping Adventure
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An amazing guided private walking tour of Stavanger.
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Olden Private Shore Excursion Briksdal Glacier and SkyLift Loen
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Half-Day Private Walking Tour in Bergen with Dinner and Funicular
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