After that ‘refreshing’ dip in the Arctic Sea, we meandered slowly through the city centre of Tromso before heading to our new hotel, smack in the centre of the action (I use that term lightly – it was a long public holiday so the city wasn’t nearly as busy as it typically would be).
Our hotel was the Scandic Ishavshotel (there are 2 of them in the city methinks) and it has a fantastic view of the mountains that dip into the fjords (and an amazing breakfast – the breakfast alone is reason enough to stay here, there’s so much choice!).
We wasted no time at all at the hotel and headed straight out in search of one of the best views in town; Fjellheisen – arguably one of the best spots to see the Northern Lights when they’re out (there wasn’t really much we could do at the hotel anyway since our luggage which never arrived hadn’t been returned to us yet – though we were told it would arrive later that day).
You can either hike up to Fjellheisen or you can take the cable car. Despite the amount of hiking we seem to do, I’m not much of a hiker (plus I was on holiday mode and definitely didn’t want the exercise) and so, up the cable car we went.
The view from up here is as incredible as they said it would be (though I couldn’t help thinking perhaps we should have headed up at dusk – photos of a city at dusk always look so much more incredible).
Norwegians are known for making the most of the stunning scenery and even when we were up here, it wasn’t uncommon to see a skier or two who’d hiked up with plans to ski down. (I haven’t found the ski shoes – except this one time in Canada) that have been comfortable enough for me to consider hiking up mountains to ski – though I think they ski uphill as well (that’s just far too much hard work for me to even fathom).
It’s considerably colder up here, by the way, so take a layer or two extra with you when you head up here.
Eventually, after taking in as much of the view as possible, we headed back down into town, swinging by Arctic Cathedral…
…before heading back to the hotel where our luggage had finally arrived!
I must have put on like 4 layers of clothing in sheer delight, before taking them off again once I calmed down at the sight of seeing all my stuff and headed into town for a celebratory meal!
Now if there’s one thing pretty much all Nordic countries know how to do, it’s good hot dogs and burgers. Like seriously, I don’t know what it is about them (Is it the meat? Is it the sauce? The bun perhaps?) but they’re sooo good! In fact, if you look at the best places to eat in a city like Reykjavik (Iceland), you’d see a hot dog stand as one of the top places. It’s just a thing.
With this in mind, we had our sights set on a really cool burger place in town, keeping our fingers crossed it would actually be open during the holidays. It was!
The burger restaurant is simply (and rather aptly) called BURGR and it’s unassuming from the outside but a cornucopia of 80’s memories (retro games and stations included!).
I fell for all of that stuff straight away! 😁
The food was the main aim though so once we were done “Oooooh”ing and “Aaaaah”ing at everything else; we got stuck into some burgers and shakes.
It. Was. INCREDIBLE! Seriously, it was bite after bite of deliciousness. And those milkshakes too! Sooooooooo good!
We went for Cajun fries for our sides, which disappeared almost as quickly as they arrived on the table.
Fed, our thoughts soon turned to drinks and with most places closed, we asked our host at the restaurant for recommendations where they suggested heading over to their sister bar across the road.
Thing is though, the bar was closed but sensing our plight (and our major thirst), they opened up for a couple of cocktails for us.
Again, the same enthusiasm and skill that went into taking a meal as regular as a burger and making it into something truly special went into their cocktails and before long, we were surrounded by delicious concoction after concoction. *licks lips* (Makes me want a cocktail now that I’m thinking about it…)
Eventually, we decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel for a great night’s sleep.
This was the one night we decided not to bother with the Northern Lights. We’d gotten up early for our day spa day on the Arctic sea and had to get up even earlier the next morning for what promised to be a fun day in Tromso and an even better chance of seeing the Northern Lights than we’d already had.
Read more: Best places in Norway to visit
Check Out The Very Best Of Great Britain!
