Our first stop was in Alta which is about as far North as you can go on the Norwegian mainland. It is well north of the Arctic Circle and snow was coming down when we arrived. Our initial tour was just a quick trip into the town. There wasn’t too much to the town, but it did have a nice ice sculpture display and a little ice-skating rink for kids. We walked around town and hiked out to some of the residential areas to look at some of the homes in the area.
In the evening we had a tour that took us to the Igloo Hotel which is built each year in December and people book these hotel rooms through March (after that the hotel melts away). The rooms are very expensive for this unique experience. We elected to only view the hotel and rooms, and not stay the night on a cold, hard block of ice! We decided to stick with our nice soft, warm bed! Although they give you blankets and pillows it just didn’t seem like a real comfortable experience. The main lodge has a normal restaurant and lobby that is very nice, and you don’t have to spend all your time in your ice room. What is even more fascinating about this hotel, was the ice sculptures throughout the main area of the ice hotel. The theme for this year was Africa and there were many sculptures of animals throughout the hotel. They even had an “ice Jeep” that we took a group picture in. The lighting made these sculptures unique and interesting to view. There were many sculptures throughout the hotel and even carvings on the wall in many places. Our guide who took us there, participates in building the hotel each year and gave us some good insight on what it took to build it. This is a worthwhile place to visit if you are in the area during winter, but we are not sure about staying overnight there!
From the Ice Igloo Hotel, we went out in search of the Northern Lights. We stopped in an area that our guide that was promising but after several hours of waiting no lights appeared. While we waited, we had a little local food – freshly grilled reindeer. It was very tasty. We did a little walking around the area but did not see too much. It was a nice, pleasant night but unfortunately, no Northern Lights.
On our trip back to the ship, we stopped to view some wreckage of the German battleship the Tirpitz which was severely damaged by a British aerial attack on April 3rd, 1944, in a bay near Alta. British Lancaster bombers dropped “Tall Boy” bombs which caused massive destruction to the battleship. The ship could not be used in World War II after this attack although it was moved 120 miles south to Tromso to be used as an artillery station in case of a land invasion of Norway. Next to the wreckage of this ship was a huge crater where one of these bombs had hit during the attack. These bombs were the first generation of the “bunker buster” bombs used in Afghanistan to try and kill Obama bin Laden many years ago. They leave a huge crater in the ground when they explode.
On the next day we took a 4-hour snowmobile ride. It was snowing when we went, and visibility was a little limited. We had a few minor mishaps where some of our snowmobiles fell over sidewise due to deep soft snow just off the main path. It was hard to follow the path in front of you with the limited visibility of the snow. If you went off the path the soft snow was about 4 foot deep. The weather was also brutally cold that day with heavy wind gusts. Many hands were frozen by the end of the trip and took a little time to warm back up after the tour. It was a good way to see some of the local countryside, but this is certainly a tough place to do some snowmobiling if the weather is bad.
Alta is a nice place to visit but make sure you have some excursions to do while you are there. It certainly isn’t a town to spend much time in.
Our first stop was in Alta which is about as far North as you can go on the Norwegian mainland. It is well north of the Arctic Circle and snow was coming down when we arrived. Our initial tour was just a quick trip into the town. There wasn’t too much to the town, but it did have a nice ice sculpture display and a little ice-skating rink for kids. We walked around town and hiked out to some of the residential areas to look at some of the homes in the area.
In the evening we had a tour that took us to the Igloo Hotel which is built each year in December and people book these hotel rooms through March (after that the hotel melts away). The rooms are very expensive for this unique experience. We elected to only view the hotel and rooms, and not stay the night on a cold, hard block of ice! We decided to stick with our nice soft, warm bed! Although they give you blankets and pillows it just didn’t seem like a real comfortable experience. The main lodge has a normal restaurant and lobby that is very nice, and you don’t have to spend all your time in your ice room. What is even more fascinating about this hotel, was the ice sculptures throughout the main area of the ice hotel. The theme for this year was Africa and there were many sculptures of animals throughout the hotel. They even had an “ice Jeep” that we took a group picture in. The lighting made these sculptures unique and interesting to view. There were many sculptures throughout the hotel and even carvings on the wall in many places. Our guide who took us there, participates in building the hotel each year and gave us some good insight on what it took to build it. This is a worthwhile place to visit if you are in the area during winter, but we are not sure about staying overnight there!
From the Ice Igloo Hotel, we went out in search of the Northern Lights. We stopped in an area that our guide that was promising but after several hours of waiting no lights appeared. While we waited, we had a little local food – freshly grilled reindeer. It was very tasty. We did a little walking around the area but did not see too much. It was a nice, pleasant night but unfortunately, no Northern Lights.
On our trip back to the ship, we stopped to view some wreckage of the German battleship the Tirpitz which was severely damaged by a British aerial attack on April 3rd, 1944, in a bay near Alta. British Lancaster bombers dropped “Tall Boy” bombs which caused massive destruction to the battleship. The ship could not be used in World War II after this attack although it was moved 120 miles south to Tromso to be used as an artillery station in case of a land invasion of Norway. Next to the wreckage of this ship was a huge crater where one of these bombs had hit during the attack. These bombs were the first generation of the “bunker buster” bombs used in Afghanistan to try and kill Obama bin Laden many years ago. They leave a huge crater in the ground when they explode.
On the next day we took a 4-hour snowmobile ride. It was snowing when we went, and visibility was a little limited. We had a few minor mishaps where some of our snowmobiles fell over sidewise due to deep soft snow just off the main path. It was hard to follow the path in front of you with the limited visibility of the snow. If you went off the path the soft snow was about 4 foot deep. The weather was also brutally cold that day with heavy wind gusts. Many hands were frozen by the end of the trip and took a little time to warm back up after the tour. It was a good way to see some of the local countryside, but this is certainly a tough place to do some snowmobiling if the weather is bad.
Alta is a nice place to visit but make sure you have some excursions to do while you are there. It certainly isn’t a town to spend much time in.
Regards,
Sharon and Greg
In the evening we had a tour that took us to the Igloo Hotel which is built each year in December and people book these hotel rooms through March (after that the hotel melts away). The rooms are very expensive for this unique experience. We elected to only view the hotel and rooms, and not stay the night on a cold, hard block of ice! We decided to stick with our nice soft, warm bed! Although they give you blankets and pillows it just didn’t seem like a real comfortable experience. The main lodge has a normal restaurant and lobby that is very nice, and you don’t have to spend all your time in your ice room. What is even more fascinating about this hotel, was the ice sculptures throughout the main area of the ice hotel. The theme for this year was Africa and there were many sculptures of animals throughout the hotel. They even had an “ice Jeep” that we took a group picture in. The lighting made these sculptures unique and interesting to view. There were many sculptures throughout the hotel and even carvings on the wall in many places. Our guide who took us there, participates in building the hotel each year and gave us some good insight on what it took to build it. This is a worthwhile place to visit if you are in the area during winter, but we are not sure about staying overnight there!
From the Ice Igloo Hotel, we went out in search of the Northern Lights. We stopped in an area that our guide that was promising but after several hours of waiting no lights appeared. While we waited, we had a little local food – freshly grilled reindeer. It was very tasty. We did a little walking around the area but did not see too much. It was a nice, pleasant night but unfortunately, no Northern Lights.
On our trip back to the ship, we stopped to view some wreckage of the German battleship the Tirpitz which was severely damaged by a British aerial attack on April 3rd, 1944, in a bay near Alta. British Lancaster bombers dropped “Tall Boy” bombs which caused massive destruction to the battleship. The ship could not be used in World War II after this attack although it was moved 120 miles south to Tromso to be used as an artillery station in case of a land invasion of Norway. Next to the wreckage of this ship was a huge crater where one of these bombs had hit during the attack. These bombs were the first generation of the “bunker buster” bombs used in Afghanistan to try and kill Obama bin Laden many years ago. They leave a huge crater in the ground when they explode.
On the next day we took a 4-hour snowmobile ride. It was snowing when we went, and visibility was a little limited. We had a few minor mishaps where some of our snowmobiles fell over sidewise due to deep soft snow just off the main path. It was hard to follow the path in front of you with the limited visibility of the snow. If you went off the path the soft snow was about 4 foot deep. The weather was also brutally cold that day with heavy wind gusts. Many hands were frozen by the end of the trip and took a little time to warm back up after the tour. It was a good way to see some of the local countryside, but this is certainly a tough place to do some snowmobiling if the weather is bad.
Alta is a nice place to visit but make sure you have some excursions to do while you are there. It certainly isn’t a town to spend much time in.
Our first stop was in Alta which is about as far North as you can go on the Norwegian mainland. It is well north of the Arctic Circle and snow was coming down when we arrived. Our initial tour was just a quick trip into the town. There wasn’t too much to the town, but it did have a nice ice sculpture display and a little ice-skating rink for kids. We walked around town and hiked out to some of the residential areas to look at some of the homes in the area.
In the evening we had a tour that took us to the Igloo Hotel which is built each year in December and people book these hotel rooms through March (after that the hotel melts away). The rooms are very expensive for this unique experience. We elected to only view the hotel and rooms, and not stay the night on a cold, hard block of ice! We decided to stick with our nice soft, warm bed! Although they give you blankets and pillows it just didn’t seem like a real comfortable experience. The main lodge has a normal restaurant and lobby that is very nice, and you don’t have to spend all your time in your ice room. What is even more fascinating about this hotel, was the ice sculptures throughout the main area of the ice hotel. The theme for this year was Africa and there were many sculptures of animals throughout the hotel. They even had an “ice Jeep” that we took a group picture in. The lighting made these sculptures unique and interesting to view. There were many sculptures throughout the hotel and even carvings on the wall in many places. Our guide who took us there, participates in building the hotel each year and gave us some good insight on what it took to build it. This is a worthwhile place to visit if you are in the area during winter, but we are not sure about staying overnight there!
From the Ice Igloo Hotel, we went out in search of the Northern Lights. We stopped in an area that our guide that was promising but after several hours of waiting no lights appeared. While we waited, we had a little local food – freshly grilled reindeer. It was very tasty. We did a little walking around the area but did not see too much. It was a nice, pleasant night but unfortunately, no Northern Lights.
On our trip back to the ship, we stopped to view some wreckage of the German battleship the Tirpitz which was severely damaged by a British aerial attack on April 3rd, 1944, in a bay near Alta. British Lancaster bombers dropped “Tall Boy” bombs which caused massive destruction to the battleship. The ship could not be used in World War II after this attack although it was moved 120 miles south to Tromso to be used as an artillery station in case of a land invasion of Norway. Next to the wreckage of this ship was a huge crater where one of these bombs had hit during the attack. These bombs were the first generation of the “bunker buster” bombs used in Afghanistan to try and kill Obama bin Laden many years ago. They leave a huge crater in the ground when they explode.
On the next day we took a 4-hour snowmobile ride. It was snowing when we went, and visibility was a little limited. We had a few minor mishaps where some of our snowmobiles fell over sidewise due to deep soft snow just off the main path. It was hard to follow the path in front of you with the limited visibility of the snow. If you went off the path the soft snow was about 4 foot deep. The weather was also brutally cold that day with heavy wind gusts. Many hands were frozen by the end of the trip and took a little time to warm back up after the tour. It was a good way to see some of the local countryside, but this is certainly a tough place to do some snowmobiling if the weather is bad.
Alta is a nice place to visit but make sure you have some excursions to do while you are there. It certainly isn’t a town to spend much time in.
Regards,
Sharon and Greg
A busy day in Alta as we visited the Northern Lights Cathedral and surrounding area in the early afternoon. Followed by a great tour, Finnmark Adventures (guides Marius and Maria) to Sorrisnova Ice Hotel and in search for the Northern Lights!
Our 2nd day in Alta was spent on a snowmobiling safari in the Arctic Tundra under some very windy, snowy conditions! A fun time was had by all!
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