Svalbard Travel Forum

I am planning to go to Norway next year in winter (to see northern lights).
Are there activities in winter in Tromso ??

I think the best is to stay in tromso and then go a few days up to Longyearbyen (Svalbard) as its dark all day there in winter and i guess there is not much to do...
Does anyone knows about winter activities in the two sites ?
Thanks. joerg.

Hi Joerg !

maybe you send a mail to Daniel (wilda08), he is working in Lonyearbyen and will have the infos you are looking for.
good Luck !
Michael

hello Michael, thanks for your advices - i had been in touch with Daniel. He is by the way under coconut trees... :o)
Joerg

Hi Joerg,

When are you thinking of going there and what kind of activities are you looking for.

At Svalbard during winter you can go on dogsledge and snowmobile trips and skiing. The ideal winter period is march - may when the sun is about to return and the darkest winter months are left behind.

Have a look at http://www.svalbard.net/ and http://www.svalbard.com/touristinfo.htm for info about Svalbard activites, http://www.destinasjontromso.no/ for Tromsø information and http://www.visitnorway.com/ for the official and complete travel guide to Norway.

Hello-

Thanks that is a good advice. I am actually interested in watching the aurora and i wonder if i can see it in march.
I am hesitating btw tromso and svalbard but have heard that it is easier to see in svalbard...but the thing is the dark period... :0)
Snowmobile sounds fun... I dont really know what kind of activities are possible there. Something like ice-climbing maybe or walking in the snow.

It is allways up to the solar activity if you will see the aurora, nothig is guaranteed. This autumn there was lots of it, even down in sothern Norway, due to extreme conditions on the sun, but march is propably not the worst time for trying to see it. The University in Tromsø has a page about The Northern Lights - where, when, and what at http://geo.phys.uit.no/articl/nord_eng.html which may give you more facts.