Tromso has a surprising variety of museums for a smaller, remotely located town. We visited two that were ideal for kids - the Troll Museum and The Science Centre of Northern Norway
The Troll Museum is quite small but has vast array of exhibits dedicated to the fairy tales and folklore of Norway, many of which the mythoogical creature that is iconic to Norway - The Troll.
Many of the Norwegian Fairy Tales that feature trolls were displayed as beautiful designed miniature dioramas, along with the some human size trolls. I really like the display that shows all the rock formation around Norway that have inspired Troll myths and legends. Many actually looked like the rock giants from Frozen 2.
Hallie and Rooney loved the interactive sand display, which has a landscape projected onto the sand from above and changed as they dug out and piled up the sand. The dug out parts would become an ocean via the projection while any piled up parts became island with trolls stomping around.
The Science Centre of Northern Norway includes a planetarium and I was very keen to see the featured film Extreme Auroras that you can view inside the planetarium dome. It features breathtaking time lapse footage of the Aurora and was shot and produced by renowned photographer Ole Christian Salomonsen, who is local to Tromso.
While the Science Centre is on the smaller side, it kept us busy for hours and had a number of interactive displays that we hadn’t yet come across in the other science centres we have visited.
Here is a list of other museums and attractions that would be worth a look. You can purchase a Tromso Pass which provides discounted entry into a number of these museums, along with admission to the cable car. We opted not to get one as we had booked the other excursions like whale watching and reindeers and we wanted to factor in some down time. Plus, not going to lie, Norway is very expensive! The exchange rate against the Australian Dollar is a killer so we had to restrain ourselves when it came to all the touristy recommendations.
An aquarium in a impressive modern architecturally design building that hosts seal shows and a hands on rock pool.
A small museum dedicated to Arctic explorers and expeditions
Tromso Museum / The Arctic University Museum of Norway
A university museum dedicated to the arctic region, include the history of the Sami, the science behind the Northern Lights and ecosystems of the Arctic. It looks like it has a good kids section too.
This museum is located next to the Polar Museum along the wharf area. It has exhibition about the Sea Sami and the Northern Lights.