Explore Tromsø

The Polar Museum tells the history of Norwegian Arctic trapping, sealing and polar expeditions in protected 19th-century customs warehouses on the harbour in Tromsø. It opened on 18 June 1978, fifty years after Roald Amundsen left Tromsø on his last flight, and shows a trapper's hut from Svalbard and material from the expeditions of Amundsen and Nansen.

Tromsø Cathedral is the cathedral of the Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland, in the centre of Tromsø. The yellow wooden church was built in 1861 in the Gothic Revival style to designs by Christian Heinrich Grosch, with the tower and main entrance on the west front, and it is the only Protestant cathedral in Norway built of wood.

Polaria is an Arctic aquarium and experience centre on the waterfront at the southern edge of central Tromsø, opened in 1998. Its row of slanted white buildings holds aquariums with Arctic marine life, a panoramic cinema showing films about Svalbard and the northern lights, and a pool of bearded seals with daily training sessions and an underwater viewing tunnel.

The Arctic Cathedral is the common name of Tromsdalen Church, a parish church on the mainland side of Tromsø Bridge. Jan Inge Hovig designed it in 1965 as a steep triangular hall of aluminium-clad concrete panels with a glass west front, and in 1972 Victor Sparre added a large glass mosaic to the east wall.

Fjellheisen is a cable car opened in 1961 that runs from Solliveien in Tromsdalen up to Storsteinen, a mountain ledge 421 metres above sea level. Cabins for up to 28 people make the 752-metre trip in about four minutes, and the upper station has a café with views over Tromsø, the sound and the surrounding mountains.

Tromsø University Museum, now the Arctic University Museum of Norway, was founded in 1872 and has belonged to the University of Tromsø since 1977. Its main building at the southern end of Tromsøya, about 2.5 km from the centre, has exhibitions on Sami culture, Arctic nature, geology and archaeology, plus changing displays.