Here we will try to give you practical information to help you navigate and to help you get the most out of your stay in Tromsø.
- We have prepared a Google map with most necessary points at the campus and in town plotted in. There are two clusters of markers, the upper is on campus, the lower in the city centre.
- A map of the university campus to help you navigate here. See also our MazeMap service with our conference venue.
- A document with comprehensive information on local transportation in Tromsø, including how to get to the conference venue.
- We have also added some more information on how to buy bus tickets in Tromsø …
- Wi-Fi access on campus: we have Eduroam, but we also have a guest network. We will inform you about other possibilities during the conference.
- If you want to explore the nature surrounding Tromsø, e.g. see the Aurora or go on a whale-watching trip, Visit Tromsø has a number of links for you to explore.
Getting to Tromsø is by plane. The nearest train station is 3 1/2 hours drive from Tromsø, and it is connected to the Swedish, not the Norwegian, rail network. There are about a dozen daily flights in each direction between Oslo and Tromsø, flown by SAS and Norwegian. You can also fly directly from London Gatwick or Stockholm Arlanda, if that suits you better than flying through Oslo. And our airport is a 45 minute walk from the campus, there is even a pedestrian path between us and the airport.
Welcome to Tromsø!
Tromsø is the gateway to the Arctic – the major town in Arctic Norway, a communication hub, an administrative centre and historically also the point of departure for Polar expeditions, sealing and whaling vessels en route to the seasonal hunting grounds and for hunters and trappers embarking on an isolated winter in the Spitzbergen archipelago.
Today, Tromsø is a thriving modern town of over 75,000 inhabitants, supplemented by about 9,000 students. In addition to the university itself it has a modern university hospital and is also host to a number of other research institutions, most notably the Norwegian Polar Institute.
Climate and Northern Lights
At the start of the conference, Tromsø also enters the Polar Night, meaning that the sun will be permanently below the horizon until January 21st next year. The return of the sun is always celebrated!
If the weather is cold, it is often also a clear sky and there should be good chances of seeing the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis. Have a look at the forecast of Northern Lights activity. If you don’t have time to take a trip outside the city, away from the light pollution, there are some relatively dark spots in the city. From the city centre, you can take a walk to the eastern shore of the Prestvannet lake (there is a small concrete platform by the water) or to the “beach” – Telegrafbukta. From the university campus, you can go to the ski track in the forest to the west of the campus – aim for Kraft Sportssenter.
Unless otherwise indicated, plan for cold weather, but follow the weather forecast service. (We won’t guarantee the reliability!) The current weather can be followed from an on-campus weather station with a live web camera facing south.
Clothing
Whatever the weather, we can promise you that it won’t be warm, so you will need warm clothing and solid shoes. People won’t expect others to look elegant at this time of year, looking sensible and warm is the correct thing here.
Snow boots shouldn’t be necessary, but take sturdy shoes that can handle some 10 cms of snow (Tromsø municipality is geared for clearing snow, but not continuously) and icy pavements. Also bring some light indoor shoes and change into them when you arrive at the conference.
Food and drink
The dark season is often a social season with lot of people meeting at restaurants to eat seasonal food. Noteworthy Norwegian foods for the pre-Christmas and Christmas season are lutefisk, pinnekjøtt and rakørret. We dare you to try it if you have a chance! The end of November is the lutefisk season, and in most good restaurants you will encounter the typical smell of lutefisk.
With the typical Norwegian food of the season goes good beer and aquavit. The local brewery Mack (the world’s northernmost brewery) makes a pleasant lager. Some of the local pubs have a good selection of good beers from Norwegian micro-breweries – if you like beer, try them out. Leif (a senior member of the organizing comittee) will be a good adviser on this … Among good places for micro-beers are Ølhallen, Skarven and Blå Rock. Norwegian aquavit is made of potato and tastes of various spices; among them caraway, aniseed and fennel seeds. Skarven should be a good place to try one or – possibly – two. They are strong!
We hope you will enjoy your stay in Tromsø!
Travelling through Oslo Gardermoen
This used to be a hassle, but if you come with Scandinavian Airlines or Norwegian, your luggage is scanned and you pass through a customs check-point, without having to get your luggage, check it in again and go through security – you stay in the security zone.