Situated 217 miles inside the arctic circle, Tromso is famous for a few things. It has the most northern brewery in the world (Mack Brewery). It has the northern most cathedral in the world and it’s arguably one of the best places suited for seeing the northern lights, in the world.

We decided to come here because although being remote it offers some of the comforts that come with a city break. Tromso has plenty of places to eat, we grabbed a take away pizza from Da Pinocchio which was really nice, enjoyed excellent Norwegian style tapas in Presis and had lovely evening meal of locally caught fish at Skarven which was delightful. All the food we tried out and about in Tromso was top notch, but so was the price so just beware.

If you are looking for a place to relax and just have a coffee or a hot chocolate to warm yourself, we frequented cafĂ© G for a warm drink, the staff here were really friendly and the coffee was proper. If you have a sweet tooth and like cake with your coffee we would recommend paying Anunegarden a visit. Great cakes, great coffee and nice relaxed atmosphere.

Not only is there plenty of things to do to see and do in the city, there are also plenty of options outside of it. You’re best bet is to start off looking online at Visit Tromso or if you are in the area head on down to the Tromso Information Centre where you can find out about everything going on in and around the city.

We visited Tromso at the beginning of February where the sun rises at around 10am and disappears again around 3pm so there is a fair bit of night time and if you are lucky enough to be under clear skies, you might just see the northern lights. Some of the activities on offer when we visited were Northern Lights tours, dog sledding, reindeer sledding, whale watching tours, snowshoe walks and cross country skiing to mention a few. We decided on a snowmobile tour which was well organised and a great way to get up close to the snow covered mountains. There was no shortage of winter activities on offer but again they are not cheap. There were plenty of walks/hikes around too, which gave us the time to take in some of the most stunning views we have ever seen in our lives and to provide the perfect setting for asking one of the most important questions you may ever ask anyone, in your life.