Tromsø sits three hundred and fifty kilometres inside the Arctic Circle, and its fjords are open water all winter. Eleven sailings on this page: fjord cruises with a stop at the fish racks, a fishing trip that feeds you, floating in a survival suit under the aurora, kayaks among sea eagles — and, at the far end, a nine-hour boat to an abandoned Soviet town on Svalbard. From $117 to $490.
From, per person
11 sailings compared$117
And the longest, on Svalbard, is $490
Average rating
Across all 11 sailings4.7 ★
Across 13,099 verified reviews
How far north
Tromsø, and further69.6° N
350 km inside the Arctic Circle — and Svalbard is 78°N
Everything you can book here
Eleven sailings, cheapest first, with the column that decides it: what the boat actually is. A heated catamaran, a historic wooden vessel, a rigid inflatable, a kayak, or a hot tub on a deck at 69 degrees north.
★ 4.7 · 1,959 reviews
★ 4.5 · 1,228 reviews
★ 4.7 · 5,144 reviews
★ 4.5 · 2,611 reviews
★ 4.9 · 395 reviews
★ 4.5 · 44 reviews
★ 4.3 · 151 reviews
★ 4.9 · 795 reviews
★ 4.9 · 665 reviews
★ 4.7 · 54 reviews
★ 4.6 · 53 reviews
Two questions
Eleven sailings, and they split four ways: a warm fjord cruise with windows, something with food written into it, something that puts you outside in a suit, and the nine-hour Svalbard run at 78 degrees north. Pick what matters and the page picks the boat.
See it before you pay for it
Three things, and the month decides which. Snow to the waterline and low blue light from November to March, the aurora over open water on clear winter nights, and a sun that never sets between late May and late July.
Side by side
Every sailing here is one of three experiences wearing different names: a warm modern hull with panoramic windows, a wooden vessel with a stove and a story, or something that puts you outside in a suit. The hull decides the day.
Swipe the table sideways →
| MOST BOOKEDTromsø: Arctic Fjord Cruise With Stop On Land At Fish Racks | Tromsø: Fjord History Cruise with Snack and Drinks | Tromsø: Arctic Floating with Snacks and Drinks | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price per person | $152 | $152 | $204 |
| Time on the water | 4 hours | 2.5 hours | 3–3.5 hours |
| Cost per hour | $38.00 | $60.80 | $62.77 |
| Boat | Modern panoramic boat | Historic wooden vessel | Boat, then the water itself |
| Indoor space | Heated saloon | Saloon with a stove | Warm base before and after |
| Departs from | Central Tromsø | Central Tromsø | Central Tromsø |
| What you see | Fjords, eagles, a landing ashore | The fjord as a story | The Arctic Ocean, from inside it |
| Suit provided | Thermal suit | Not needed — indoors | Flotation suit |
| Rating | 4.5 · 2,611 | 4.9 · 395 | 4.9 · 795 |
| Best for | A first Arctic day | History and comfort | A story to tell |
| Book this one→ | Check dates | Check dates |
Free cancellation up to 24 h · Reserve now, pay later
Verdict
Four hours through the fjords with a walk ashore under the fish-drying racks, 2,611 ratings at 4.5, and the only sailing on this page that lands anywhere. The reason to book something else is not the boat: it is that the floating trip and the kayak put you outside the hull entirely, and the Svalbard run is on a different island altogether.
Check dates and availability→Before you book
Two sailings here carry more than seven thousand ratings between them; two more have fewer than sixty each. The thin ones are not bad — one is rated 4.7 and one 4.5 — but a score built on fifty people and a score built on five thousand are different kinds of fact, and it is worth knowing which you are reading before you spend three hundred dollars.
Two-minute check
Eleven sailings, four kinds of day, and a month that changes all of them. Three answers narrow it to one: what you want out of the water, what you will spend, and how cold you are willing to be.
What do you want out of the day?This decides more than the price does
What are you willing to spend?Per person, per sailing
How cold are you prepared to be?The Arctic is only cold if you are outside
You'll get the sailing that fits your answers, the thing about it that catches people out, and an honest word about how much evidence its rating rests on.
Six kinds of Arctic day
Ratings are the operators’ own numbers on GetYourGuide, shown as published. We do not write reviews and we do not average other people’s into a score of our own. Two boats here carry more than seven thousand ratings between them; two are new listings with fewer than sixty, and we say which is which.
★★★★★
Based on 13,099
verified reviews
All eleven sailings on this page, rated by the people who took them on GetYourGuide.
Read all 13,099→Tromsø: Arctic Fjord Cruise With Stop On Land At Fish Racks
From $152 · 2,611 reviews
★★★★★
Four hours through the fjords with a landing at the fish racks, where the winter cod hangs on wooden frames the size of a barn. 2,611 reviews at 4.5, and the only sailing here that puts you ashore.
Tromsø: Arctic Fjord Cruise & Fishing Experience
From $123 · 5,144 reviews
★★★★★
A fjord cruise with fishing gear, a line over the side and lunch on board. 5,144 ratings at 4.7 — the largest review count on this page by a distance, and the reason is usually the food.
Tromsø: Arctic Floating with Snacks and Drinks
From $204 · rated 4.9
★★★★★
You put on a floating suit and get into the Arctic Ocean deliberately, then lie on your back in the water at 69 degrees north. Rated 4.9 across 795 reviews, which for something this odd is remarkable.
Tromsø: Fjord History Cruise with Snack and Drinks
From $152 · rated 4.9
★★★★★
Two and a half hours on a historic wooden vessel with a stove, snacks and a guide who explains what the fjord was for before it was scenery. Rated 4.9, the highest score here.
Tromsø: Winter Sea Kayaking Tour with Wildlife Sightings
From $240 · rated 4.9
★★★★★
Winter sea kayaking with dry suits, sea eagles overhead and complete silence. Five hours, no experience needed, and rated 4.9 across 665 reviews.
Longyearbyen: Pyramiden & Glacier Arctic Boat Tour
From $490 · 9 hours
★★★★☆
Nine hours from Longyearbyen at 78 degrees north to a glacier front and Pyramiden, a Soviet mining town abandoned in 1998 and left standing. It is a different trip on a different island and it is the furthest north anything here goes.
What it really costs
From $117 for three and a half hours in the fjords around Tromsø to $490 for nine hours on Svalbard. The middle of the market — a four-hour cruise with food on board — runs between $123 and $204.
Swipe sideways →
| What you are paying for | Price | What you get | Cancellation |
|---|---|---|---|
| A fjord cruise, 2.5–4 hours | $117–$173 | Panoramic hull, warm inside, sea eagles and snow | Free cancellation 24 h |
| With food, a hot tub or a survival suit | $203–$274 | Catamaran, floating, kayaking or a polar hot tub | Free cancellation 24 h |
| Svalbard, nine hours | $490 | A glacier front and an abandoned Soviet town at 78°N | Free cancellation 24 h |
The honest answer
In winter, yes, and for a reason nobody puts in a listing: this is the only way to be out in the Arctic landscape for four hours without driving on ice. The caveat is the light — in December you get four hours of blue dusk, and that is the whole day.
The sailing, hour by hour
Departures are from the harbour in the middle of Tromsø, a few minutes from the cathedral. Thermal suits are handed out here on the sailings that provide them — put yours on before boarding.
The boat leaves the harbour under the Tromsø bridge with the Arctic Cathedral on your right and the island of Tromsøya falling behind. In winter this happens in the dark.
The city ends abruptly and the mountains start. Kvaløya on one side, the mainland on the other, and snow to the waterline from October to May.
White-tailed eagles are resident here and the crew know where they sit. A two-and-a-half-metre wingspan a hundred metres off the rail is the sighting most people did not expect.
On the top pick you go ashore at the fish racks: rows of wooden frames hung with drying cod, which is what this coast lived on for a thousand years.
Depending on the sailing: hot soup in the saloon, a fishing rod, a hot tub on deck, or a floating suit and the water itself.
Tromsø comes into view as a line of orange under black mountains — in winter, one of the better sights of the trip.
Back at the same quay four hours after you left, ten minutes’ walk from dinner.
The one decision that matters
Everything else here is a preference. This is the thing that changes the trip completely. Tromsø has two different years inside it: from late November to mid-January the sun never rises, and from late May to late July it never sets. In December a four-hour sailing happens in blue twilight and you may get the aurora on the way home; in June the same sailing happens in daylight at eleven at night on water like glass. February and March sit in the middle and are the best all-round window: real daylight, full snow, aurora still likely, and every boat on this page running. Pick the month first and the sailing second — not the other way round.
Four parts of an Arctic sailing
Hjeller: wooden frames hung with winter cod, and a landing on the top pick.
Resident here, and the crew know which headlands they sit on.
September to March, on any clear evening sailing.
Nine hours from Longyearbyen at 78 degrees north.
Start here
The thing that makes this coast work, and the thing no listing bothers to explain: the fjords around Tromsø do not freeze. The Norwegian Atlantic Current runs warm water up the whole length of this coast, so at 69 degrees north — the same latitude as northern Alaska and the middle of Greenland — there is open water, working harbours and a boat leaving the quay every morning in January.
That single fact is why an Arctic boat tour is a normal thing to book here and an expedition anywhere else at this latitude. You walk down from your hotel, get on a heated vessel with windows, and four hours later you have covered a piece of the Arctic that no road reaches in winter.
The month decides what kind of trip it is. Between late November and mid-January the sun does not rise at all. That sounds like a reason to stay away and it is the opposite: the polar night is not black but a long blue-and-pink twilight around midday, and photographers come here specifically for it. Between late May and late July the sun never sets, and an evening sailing happens in full daylight with the water like glass.
The fish racks are the detail that surprises people. Along these shores stand rows of wooden frames — hjeller — hung with cod, drying in cold air the way it has been done here since the Viking age. Stockfish from this coast fed medieval Europe. One sailing on this page lands you underneath them, which turns a scenic cruise into something you actually learn from.
Wildlife is likely rather than promised. White-tailed sea eagles are resident and common — two and a half metres of wingspan, and the crew know their headlands. Porpoises and seals turn up. Orca and humpbacks pass through this coast in winter, but they are the subject of a different kind of trip and no honest fjord cruise sells itself on them.
Then there are the sailings that are not really cruises at all. Arctic floating puts you into the sea in a buoyant thermal suit, on your back, looking up — in winter, often at the aurora. Winter sea kayaking gives you the fjord with no engine noise at all. And a hot tub on an open deck at 69 degrees north is exactly as ridiculous and as good as it sounds.
At the far end of the page is the outlier: nine hours from Longyearbyen on Svalbard, at 78 degrees north, to a glacier front and Pyramiden — a Soviet coal-mining town abandoned in 1998 and left standing in the cold, statue of Lenin included. It is a different island, a different flight and a different order of trip, and it is the one people remember for the rest of their lives.
If a cruise is not enough
The same fjords, three completely different afternoons: a floating suit and the Arctic Ocean itself, a kayak with no engine noise at all, and a hot tub on an open deck at 69 degrees north.
3–3.5 h · ★ 4.9 (795)
$204See dates 5 h · ★ 4.9 (665)
$240See dates 4.5 h · ★ 4.7 (54)
$274See datesPractical
Five things decide how it goes: the month, what the operator provides, what you wear under it, whether the boat has an outside deck worth standing on, and how much daylight there actually is that week.
The top pick: fjords, sea eagles and a walk under the fish-drying racks. 2,611 reviews.
A heated panoramic boat through the polar landscape, and the least you can pay to be out here.
Gear, a line over the side and lunch on board. The most-reviewed sailing on the page.
A wooden vessel with a stove, snacks and the story of what this fjord was for.
A floating suit, the Arctic Ocean and your back to the surface. Rated 4.9.
Longyearbyen to a glacier front and an abandoned Soviet town at 78 degrees north.
The sun does not rise. Midday is a long blue-pink twilight, and the aurora is possible on afternoon sailings.
Daylight returns fast, the landscape is fully white and everything on this page sails. The best window.
Snow retreats up the mountains, the light is enormous, and the boats are quiet.
The sun never sets. Evening sailings in full daylight and the calmest water of the year.
Dark nights return for the aurora and the first snow comes down. More wind, more moved sailings.
The Atlantic current keeps this coast open all year, which is why any of this exists.
Thermal or flotation, depending on the trip. What they do not cover is your head and hands.
Nothing is ever seen through a salt-covered window. Dress so you can stay outside.
The open stretches between islands can be lively in winter wind.
Low light and long distances are exactly where a phone struggles.
Norway is effectively cashless; cards work on every boat.
The quay is a ten-minute walk from most hotels, so a four-hour sailing costs you a half day, not a day.
Standard on all eleven sailings on this page.
February and March are the busiest months in Tromsø, and the good boats fill.
Soup, lunch, a hot tub or nothing at all — it varies more here than the prices suggest.
Two sailings here have thousands of ratings; two have fewer than sixty.
Longyearbyen is a separate flight from Tromsø or Oslo, not a day trip.
Any evening sailing between September and March can show it, and none of them promise it.
Best time
Tromsø has two completely different years in it. From late November to mid-January the sun does not rise at all; from late May to late July it does not set. Both are worth sailing in, and they are not the same trip.
Feb – Mar
The best window. Daylight is back — six to eleven hours and climbing — the landscape is still fully white, the fish racks are hung, and the aurora season is still running. Everything on this page sails.
Jun – Jul
The sun never sets. Evening sailings happen in full daylight, the sea is calmest, and the islands are green rather than white. A completely different Arctic, and the easiest one.
Sep – Nov
Dark nights return for the aurora, the fjords are quiet, and the first snow comes down the mountains. Wind picks up, so more sailings move.
Dec – Jan
The sun does not rise. What you get instead is four to six hours of blue and pink twilight that photographers travel here specifically for — and the highest chance of aurora on an afternoon sailing. Cold, dark, and unlike anywhere else.
Worth knowing
The suit does not cover your head or your hands. Every operator here hands out a thermal or flotation suit and almost every cold passenger is cold in exactly those two places. A fitted hat and real gloves are the difference between four hours on deck and forty minutes.
In December the sun does not rise at all. That is not a warning, it is a description: midday is a long blue and pink twilight that photographers travel here for. But if you were expecting daylight, book February instead.
Nothing is ever seen through the window. The heated saloon is for warming up between sightings. The eagles, the aurora and the light are all outside, and so is the guide.
Check what the price includes before comparing prices. One sailing has soup, one has lunch and fishing gear, one has a hot tub and one has a floating suit. The headline numbers on this page are not comparing the same product.
Aurora on a boat is a bonus, not a booking. Any clear evening sailing between September and March can show it, and no fjord cruise here promises it. If the lights are the whole reason, book a dedicated aurora trip as well.
Svalbard is not a day trip from Tromsø. Longyearbyen is a separate flight and a separate stay at 78 degrees north. The nine-hour boat to Pyramiden is worth planning a trip around, not squeezing into one.
Round out the trip
Go deeper
Common questions
From $117 for three and a half hours in a heated panoramic boat. The four-hour cruise with a landing at the fish racks is $152, and the nine-hour Svalbard sailing from Longyearbyen is $490.
No. The Norwegian Atlantic Current keeps this coast ice-free all year, which is why boats sail from Tromsø in January at the same latitude as northern Alaska.
Yes, on clear evenings between September and March, and being on water gets you away from the town lights. No fjord cruise on this page promises the aurora; it is a bonus rather than the product.
White-tailed sea eagles are resident and commonly seen, along with seals and porpoises. Orca and humpbacks pass this coast in winter, but they are the subject of dedicated whale trips rather than fjord cruises.
Between about 27 November and 15 January the sun does not rise. What you get instead is four to six hours of blue and pink twilight around midday, which is bright enough to sail and photograph in.
Thermal layers, a fitted hat, gloves and warm boots. Most sailings hand out a thermal or flotation suit that goes over your clothes and covers everything except your head and hands.
A guided session in which you put on a buoyant thermal suit and get into the fjord, floating on your back in the Arctic Ocean. In winter it is often done under the aurora. It is rated 4.9 across 795 reviews here.
No. Pyramiden sails from Longyearbyen on Svalbard, 78 degrees north, which is a separate flight and a separate stay. It is nine hours and the furthest north anything on this page goes.
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One PDF: all eleven sailings by length and price, the daylight month by month, and what to wear under the suit.
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Why trust this page
Durations, prices and ratings are read off the live listings rather than copied from other affiliate pages. The latitudes, the polar-night dates and the fish-racks tradition come from the published record.
The single biggest surprise for visitors here is that in December the sun does not rise. Every seasonal recommendation on this site says what the light is actually doing that month.
Sea eagles are likely. Whales are the subject of a different kind of trip. No fjord cruise here is described as a whale tour, however often one is seen.
Eleven sailings, ordered by price, ranked on what they include and how much evidence stands behind the rating. We earn a commission when you book and it does not change what we recommend.
The answer
If you are getting on one Arctic boat, make it the four-hour fjord cruise with the stop at the fish racks, for $152. It is the only sailing here that puts you ashore, it carries 2,611 reviews, and standing under a wooden frame hung with drying cod in a fjord at 69 degrees north is the part people describe afterwards. If you would rather be in the water than on it, the floating trip at $204 is rated 4.9 and nobody forgets it.
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Tromsø: Arctic Fjord Cruise With Stop On Land At Fish Racks
★ 4.5 · 2,611 reviews · Free cancellation 24 h
