
Tromso, despite being deep in the Arctic Circle has a milder climate than one would expect due to the warming effects of the Gulf Stream. It is home to the worlds most northern university, botanic gardens, planetarium and, most importantly, brewery.

The Hurtigruten ship, Midnatsol, arrived in Tromso at 2.30pm. It was mid-February, there was thick snow on the ground, it was bitterly cold, and we did not notice any warm Gulf Streeam air at all. We had our final lunch on board before transferring to the Clarion Hotel Bryggen [now called Hotel Aurora] which was part of the cruise package and was just a short slippery walk away from where we docked.
Tromso airport
We had booked into the excellent Scandic Ishavs Hotel [which was then called Rica Ishavs Hotel] for a further two nights to explore Tromso, sample the cuisine and go snowmobiling and husky sledging in the Lyngen Alps.
We flew home from a very snowy Tromso Airport to Gatwick via Oslo.

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