Tromso
Best Hotel - The SAS. Hands down. Don't go to the Rainbow Polar. Talk about "Soviet Era:
Best Hike -
First, go to the "Tomrs Turlog" office - it's the hiking group, and the office is open from about 10 AM til 2 PM. I lost my map and can't remember the address- but go to the tourist info office and ask - they're right there near the center of town - a bit hard to find, but not that hard. They will give you topo maps and very good advice. They are also online at:
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Well, assuming you're there for the midnight sun (and why wouldn't you be, really? The obvious hike is to take the cable car up the Fjellstua (You cross the bridge to the east - by the trippy looking church with te largest Stained Glass window in Europe) and go a ways south and inland to the base of the cable car. I took a taxi both times (20 bucks for a 2 mile ride). But I walked back across the bridge once, and it was worth doing, even on tired legs at 4 in the morning. When you get to the top of the cable car, that's where the hike starts., Find your way up to the summit of the small mountain there, called "Floya" - then I would recommend the next one up - "Bonntuva". You can't get lost, just keep going up. You look down at the most beautiful picturesque view of Tromso under the midnight sun. I would recommend leaving at about 11:30, hiking under the midnight sun until you realize that... it really ain't ever gonna get dark. Then turn around and plunge down the hill at around 2 AM, and make it back to your hotel under full blazing sun at 3:30. That what I did: (link to photoessay)
The other hike that is even more awesome, but you probably don't want to do at midnight (but you could, really - its so mellow there in the summer) - is to go the other way - West, across the other bridge (We took a taxi, who knew just where to drive us). We got instructions from Trom Turlog, and a map - Climb up to the summit of Mt. Stor-Kjolen (800 meters). Wow. You start by going up along the Slettelva River (keep the south fork on your right – Sor Slettelva). We saw many reindeer - excellent hike - her eis a link to my photo essay.