This guide is built from our own winters in the Arctic and from the live Legendary Adventure tour pages in Tromsø — prices, pickup times and what is included come straight from the operator, never invented.

Why the northern lights tour is the first thing to book for the festive weeks

Tromsø in the last week of December is one of the most atmospheric places in Europe, and also one of the busiest. The town is dark for most of the day, the harbour is lit, the cathedral and the Arctic Cathedral are decorated, and a large number of visitors arrive with the same plan: one proper night out under the aurora. That plan is the part of the trip that cannot be improvised on the day, because a chase tour needs a vehicle, a guide and a seat.

Restaurants can usually be reorganised, a spare table found, a dinner moved by a day. A small-group chase is different, because the operator runs a limited number of Mercedes vehicles with 2–8 guests each. When the dates you want fill up, there is no larger coach to absorb the overflow, which is exactly why small groups see more and also why they sell out first. Our rule for the festive weeks is simple: fix the northern lights night before you fix anything else, then build dinners, flights home and the rest around it.

We live in Rovaniemi, not Tromsø, and we have done enough Arctic Christmases to know that the nights people regret are the ones they left until the last minute. Everything below is based on the operator’s published facts for the tours, plus our own experience of how winter holidays in the far north behave.

Christmas Eve in Tromsø: what actually works

Christmas Eve is the main family evening in Norway, and local restaurants and attractions can close early or run special menus. That is useful to know, because the standard chase pickup is at 18:30 and the trip lasts 5–8 hours. If you want a long, relaxed dinner, the chase and the dinner compete for the same evening.

There are two sensible ways to handle it. The first is to treat Christmas Eve as a quiet, cosy night in town and put the aurora chase on 23 or 25 December instead. The second is to embrace the chase as the Christmas Eve event: the tour includes a warm meal, snacks and hot drinks out in the field, a winter suit, and a campfire stop with the guide, so you are not missing out on being fed or warm.

For families who like the idea of Christmas under the lights but not the idea of bedtimes colliding with a 5–8 hour trip, the Private Northern Lights Tour5% off · HUNGRYTRAVELFAMILY5 is the option we would price first. It is NOK 15,000 for the vehicle (2–8 guests, all ages, pickup location selected at checkout), so the group can set the pace, stop for photos, nap in the van and head back when the youngest has had enough.

New Year’s Eve: the chase versus the fireworks

New Year’s Eve in Tromsø is a choice between the town party and the quiet dark. Fireworks over the harbour are lovely, but the sky above a city that is celebrating is bright, noisy and often cloudy. The aurora does not care about the calendar, and one of the best things about a chase is that the guide can drive away from light and weather rather than waiting for them to clear.

If you are tempted to be out on the tour at midnight, remember the practicalities. The chase is flexible on return time, which is part of its appeal: on a good night you might be back before midnight, on a stubborn night the group may drive on into Finland or Sweden in search of clear sky and be back after 01:00. That flexibility is great if you are free all evening, and a headache if you have a table booked for 21:00.

Our preference for 31 December is to book the chase for the night before or after and keep the actual New Year’s Eve for dinner and the harbour. If your trip only includes 31 December, the shared Northern Lights Tour5% off · HUNGRYTRAVELFAMILY5 still works, just plan to have a late meal and no hard deadline.

Shared small group or private van: how to decide for the holidays

The two northern lights products answer different questions. The shared tour answers “how do we see the lights without spending a fortune”. The private tour answers “how do we make this evening exactly ours”.

The break-even is straightforward. Eight people on the shared tour pay NOK 18,400 in total, so a private van for the same eight is cheaper and entirely your own. Six people pay NOK 13,800 shared, which is close enough to the private price that many groups choose the private van for the control. For a couple, the shared tour is the sensible and still very good option.

How many nights in Tromsø, and when to put the tour

The aurora is weather-dependent, and a single night is a single roll of the dice. If you have three or four nights, we would not use the first one for the chase, because arrival days are tired days, and flights in winter can run late. We would put the chase on night two, which leaves nights three and four as a second attempt if the first night is cloudy everywhere.

For the festive period specifically, this gives a simple template for a four-night trip:

• Night 1: arrive, settle in, dinner in town, early sleep.
• Night 2: northern lights tour, with the day kept light.
• Night 3: Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve in town, or a second chase if night two was cloudy.
• Night 4: a gentle evening before the flight home.

If you only have two nights, book the chase for the second one and keep the first as your buffer.

Cloud, cold and what the guide can do about it

The coast around Tromsø is often cloudy in winter, and that is exactly what a chase is built for. The guide reads cloud forecasts through the afternoon and decides the route that evening, which can mean heading inland or across the border to Finland or Sweden. That is not a promise of lights, because nobody can promise that, but it is the best answer to the weather that a group tour can give.

On cold nights the operator provides a winter suit, so you need warm layers, good socks and boots, and a hat and gloves. A fully charged phone and a spare battery in an inside pocket are the other basics, since cold drains batteries fast.

The cancellation rules also matter at this time of year. For the shared tours, free cancellation applies more than 48 hours before departure, and a full charge applies inside 48 hours, so book with a flexible plan and check the conditions on the booking page before paying.

What we would book, in order

If we were sending friends to Tromsø for Christmas or New Year, this is the order we would give them. First, a northern lights chase on night two. For two people, the Northern Lights Tour5% off · HUNGRYTRAVELFAMILY5. For a family or a group of six or more, the Private Northern Lights Tour5% off · HUNGRYTRAVELFAMILY5. Second, a daytime activity that does not eat the evening, such as the Sommarøy & Kvaløya Scenic Fjord Tour5% off · HUNGRYTRAVELFAMILY5 in polar-night blue light, or the Arctic Snowshoe Hike5% off · HUNGRYTRAVELFAMILY5 for a gentle four hours outdoors. Third, a spare evening in case the first chase is clouded out. For the full overview of what is bookable, see our Tromsø activities guide.

Everything above is booked on Legendary Adventure’s own booking page, which is the page where our 5% reader discount works. Enter HUNGRYTRAVELFAMILY5 in the promo-code field before you pay.

How to book with the Hungrytravelfamily discount

1. Open the tour from the links on this page, which go straight to the operator’s booking calendar.
2. Pick your date and number of guests. Check the departure time, which is 18:30 from 25 October for the shared tour.
3. Before payment, find the promo-code field and enter HUNGRYTRAVELFAMILY5.
4. Confirm that the 5% is deducted, then complete the booking.

We are Legendary Adventure’s partner and may earn a commission on bookings made through our links. It never changes the price you pay, and the discount only applies when you book on the operator’s own page.

FAQ

Our Honest Final Word

Festive weeks in Tromsø are special and busy. The tour that matters most is the one you cannot rebuild at short notice, so book the northern lights chase first and plan the rest around it. Choose a night that is not your arrival night, give yourself a spare evening, and keep Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve for what you actually want from them.

Book the Northern Lights Tour5% off · HUNGRYTRAVELFAMILY5 or the Private Northern Lights Tour5% off · HUNGRYTRAVELFAMILY5 on the operator’s own page and enter HUNGRYTRAVELFAMILY5 for 5% off.

5% off · code HUNGRYTRAVELFAMILY5

Our Tromsø Christmas and New Year picks

Tap a tour to see live dates and prices. Enter HUNGRYTRAVELFAMILY5 in the promo-code field at checkout for 5% off.

Small group · 5-8 HoursNorthern Lights TourFrom NOK 2 300 per personBook with 5% off →Private · 5-8 HoursPrivate Northern Lights TourFrom NOK 15 000 per group (private)Book with 5% off →Small group · 4 HoursAurora Snowshoe HikeFrom NOK 1 500 per personBook with 5% off →Small group · 5-6 HoursSommarøy & Kvaløya Scenic Fjord TourFrom NOK 2 100 per personBook with 5% off →

Code HUNGRYTRAVELFAMILY5 works on every Legendary Adventure tour booked online. We are Legendary Adventure’s partner and may earn a small commission — it never changes your price.