Polar Museum

Tromso was the departure point for much of Norway's Arctic activity, and the Polar Museum, in a customs warehouse of 1837 on the harbour, covers it in two strands. One is the hunting and trapping economy: sealing, walrus and polar bear hunting and the overwintering trappers who spent years alone on Svalbard, presented with their huts, traps and equipment reconstructed, including the story of Wanny Woldstad, one of the few women trappers. The other is exploration, with material on Roald Amundsen, whose last flight left from Tromso in 1928 searching for Umberto Nobile, and on Fridtjof Nansen's Fram expedition. The displays are dated in style and unflinching about hunting methods.

Highlights

• The trapper huts - reconstructed overwintering shelters and equipment.
• The hunting displays - sealing and polar bear trapping gear and methods.
• The Amundsen material - his expeditions and his disappearance in 1928.
• The wharf building - an 1837 warehouse on the Tromso waterfront.

When to go

Year-round; the museum is indoors and works in any weather, with longer summer hours. It is a useful stop on a dark winter afternoon between aurora trips.

Things to know

The displays are old-fashioned, with taxidermy and hunting scenes that some visitors find upsetting. The building is cramped with steep stairs. Labelling is mostly Norwegian with English summaries.

Nearby

Polaria and the Tromso harbour are close; the Arctic Cathedral is across the bridge.