Reindeer camp and Sami culture under the aurora
Not every Northern Lights evening has to be a chase. At a reindeer camp half an hour from Tromsø, you feed the herd, sit by a fire in a Sami tent and eat reindeer stew while you wait for the sky. It is the most predictable evening of the six, and for many travelers the most memorable.
The evening, step by step
The reindeer camp dinner from Tromsø Arctic Reindeer follows a fixed schedule. This is how the listing describes it:
- 5:40 pm: pickup at the bus terminal at Prostneset, Samuel Arnesens gate 5. Look for staff in blue jackets with the company logo.
- 30 to 35 minutes by bus to the reindeer camp.
- Feeding the reindeer: walk around the camp with the herders and feed the animals, some of which will eat from your hand.
- In the lavvu: hot drinks and cookies by the fire inside a candle-lit Sami tent, with time outside to look for the lights.
- Dinner in the gamme: a three-course meal in a traditional turf hut.
- Stories and joik: Sami culture and history, life as a reindeer herder, and a joik, the traditional Sami song.
- 10:30 pm: back in Tromsø city center.
What is for dinner
The starter is a smoked salmon salad. The main is bidos, the traditional Sami reindeer stew, served with Sami bread, and there is a vegetarian option if you ask. Dessert is chocolate cake with blueberries and cream. Coffee, tea and hot chocolate are available all evening. It is a hearty, warming meal, the kind you want after an hour outside at minus ten.
Who the Sami are
The Sami are the Indigenous people of the far north of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia's Kola Peninsula, a region they call Sápmi. Reindeer herding has been part of Sami life for centuries, and today it is still a living livelihood, not a museum piece. The lavvu, the tent you sit in, is the traditional portable shelter of the herders; the gamme is a turf-covered hut. Joik is a form of song that does not describe a person or place so much as evoke it.
The aurora has its own place in Sami tradition. Old stories warned children not to whistle, wave or sing at the lights, and many still watch them in respectful silence. Your hosts may tell you more around the fire.
Reindeer, dinner and a chance of the lights
From ~$203 per person, back in the center at 10:30 pm, with free cancellation up to 24 hours before and reserve now, pay later.
The one big catch
The camp does not move. If clouds cover the sky over it, you will not see the aurora that night, however strong it is above them. A chase like our pick from Snow Travels would drive to a clearer place. You are trading the better odds for a fixed time, food, culture and warmth. If seeing the lights is the only thing that matters to you and you have the whole night, book a chase. Chase or camp compares the two.
For cruise guests and families
That fixed schedule is exactly why the camp suits cruise passengers whose ship sails the same night. The bus leaves from Prostneset, where smaller ships dock, and is back at 10:30 pm. From Breivika, add the trip into town, about 15 to 20 minutes each way. Children are welcome, and the bus has booster seats. Fitting a tour around your ship and tours with children have more.
Season and what to wear
The camp runs from November 1 until the beginning of April. Bring at least two warm layers, gloves, a hat, a scarf and good winter boots, because you will spend part of the evening outside with the reindeer and watching the sky. Our packing list has the details.