Sommaroy
Sommaroy boat trip from Tromso: six hours west to the white beaches
An hour west of Tromsø by road, and about three by boat, the coast breaks into a scatter of low islands with white sand beaches and turquoise water that look Caribbean in photographs and are eight degrees in fact. Sommarøy is a working fishing village on one of them, and the six-hour sailing out to it is the longest day trip from Tromsø on this page.
Quick answer
The Sommarøy boat trip from Tromso is six hours and costs from $173. It sails west through the fjords and out among the islands off the western edge of Kvaløya, where white shell-sand beaches and shallow turquoise water sit under Arctic mountains. It is the longest Tromsø sailing here and the one that makes most sense in summer, when the light lasts all evening. In deep winter most of those six hours are dark.
The Sommaroy sailing, at a glance
- Length
- 6 hoursthe longest Tromsø sailing here
- Price
- $173per person
- Where
- West of Kvaløyathe outer islands, facing open sea
- The beaches
- White shell sandand about 8°C water in August
- The village
- A working fishing communitynot a resort
- Best season
- May – Augfor the light and the calm
- Reviews
- 44at 4.5 — a thin evidence base
- By road instead
- ~1 hourif you would rather drive
- Bridge
- Yes, since 1975Sommarøy is connected to Kvaløya
- Cancellation
- Free to 24 hlike every sailing here
Why the beaches are white
Shell sand, Arctic water and a trick of the light
Ground shell over pale rock, eight-degree water, and the outer coast rather than a fjord.
The islands off western Kvaløya are made of hard, pale rock, and the beaches between them are built from ground shell and quartz rather than the dark volcanic sand of much of Norway. In shallow water over that pale bottom, light scatters exactly as it does in the tropics — which is why photographs from Sommarøy look like a hoax.
The water is not tropical. It runs at six to eight degrees in late summer and colder the rest of the year, and the people you will see swimming are either Norwegian, very committed or wearing a suit. What the temperature does not affect is the colour, and on a clear summer day it is genuinely startling.
Behind the beaches the geography changes character. This is the outer coast: low islands, exposed skerries and open Atlantic beyond, rather than the deep sheltered fjords closer to Tromsø. On a calm day it is idyllic. On a windy one you will feel the difference immediately, which is why this sailing is a summer proposition.
Sommarøy itself is a fishing village of a few hundred people, connected to Kvaløya by a bridge since 1975 and still working: boats, racks, a small harbour. It briefly became famous for a story about abolishing time in the midnight sun, which was a marketing campaign rather than a policy, and it is a real place with a shop and a hotel.
Sommaroy by boat or by road
Five differences worth weighing
Both are good days. They are not the same day.
- By boat: the journey is the trip
Six hours of fjords, islands and open water, with the village as the turning point rather than the destination.
- By road: an hour each way
Which leaves most of a day on the islands themselves — beaches, the bridge, the village and a walk.
- The boat depends on the weather
The outer coast is exposed. A summer forecast makes this an easy sailing; an autumn one can cancel it.
- The road works all year
It is ploughed and open in winter, though the daylight in December is very short.
- Only the boat shows you the skerries
The scattering of low rocks and islets between Kvaløya and the open sea is invisible from the road and is the best part of the sailing.
If six hours is more than you want, the standard four-hour fjord cruise covers the sheltered fjords closer to town and carries far more reviews.
The four-hour fjord cruise→The outer coast
What changes once you leave the fjords
Open Atlantic to the west, scoured rock and shell beaches — and a forecast that matters.
Everything closer to Tromsø is sheltered. The islands off western Kvaløya are not, and the difference is immediate: the swell is longer, the wind is steadier, and the horizon to the west is open ocean until Greenland.
That exposure is what built the landscape. Rock is scoured bare, beaches are shell rather than silt, and the villages sit in the lee of whatever is nearest. Fishing communities here have worked the open Atlantic for centuries, and the boats in Sommarøy harbour are working boats, not display pieces.
For a passenger it means two things. First, this sailing is weather-dependent in a way the inner fjord cruises are not: a forecast that is fine for the sheltered water can cancel the outer run. Second, on a good day it is the most dramatic water on this site — low islands, white beaches, turquoise shallows and open sea, with Arctic mountains behind.
If you go by road instead
Five stops on the drive to Sommaroy
An hour each way, and the drive is a large part of the point.
- Kvaløysletta and the bridge
Leaving Tromsø island, with the city behind you and the mountains opening up.
- Ersfjordbotn
A classic fjord head with a beach and a café, twenty minutes from town, and the first proper view.
- Grøtfjord
A wide sandy bay facing north, which in winter looks like the end of the world and in summer like an unlikely beach.
- Sommarøy bridge
The crossing to the island itself, with turquoise shallows on both sides.
- Hillesøy church
A small white church on the neighbouring island, and the photograph everybody takes on the way back.
Common questions
The Sommaroy trip, answered
How long is the boat trip to Sommaroy?
Six hours from Tromsø and back, which makes it the longest Tromsø sailing on this page.
Why are the beaches white?
The sand is ground shell and quartz rather than dark volcanic grit, and over a pale bottom in shallow water it produces tropical-looking turquoise.
How cold is the water?
Six to eight degrees at its warmest in late summer. People do swim; most of them are Norwegian.
Can you drive to Sommaroy instead?
Yes — it is about an hour by road from Tromsø and connected by a bridge. The drive gives you more time on the islands; the boat gives you the skerries and the open water.
Is it worth it in winter?
The road is, if you want the landscape. The six-hour sailing is a summer trip: in December most of it happens in the dark.
How many reviews does the sailing have?
Forty-four, at 4.5. That is a thin evidence base compared with the main fjord cruises, and worth knowing before you book it as your only sailing.
Go deeper
More on Arctic boat tours
The Tromso fjord cruise
What four hours in the fjords contains, and which boat does it best.
The verdictWhich boat is best
Eleven sailings ranked, and which suits which traveller.
WinterWinter cruises
Polar night, blue light and what still sails in January.
SummerMidnight sun sailings
Late May to late July, when the sun never goes down.
CostWhat it costs
From $117 to $490, and what is actually included.
FishingFishing trips
Gear, a line over the side and lunch from your own catch.
