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 a vast array of exhibits dedicated to the fairy tales and folklore of Norway, many of which contain the mythoogical creature that is iconic to Norway - The Troll.
Many of the Norwegian Fairy Tales that feature trolls were displayed as beautifully designed miniature dioramas, along with some human size trolls. I really liked the display that showed all the rock formations 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 had 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 islands with trolls stomping around.
The sand projection exhibit that the girls loved.
Dioramas of Norwegian Folklore
Diarama of a Norwegian folk tale.
The Science Centre of Northern Norway includes a planetarium where we watched the featured film Extreme Auroras . It features breathtaking time lapse footage of the Auroras and was shot and produced by renowned local Tromso photographer Ole Christian Salomonsen.
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 while in Tromso. 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 the whale watching cruise with Brim Explore and reindeers. We wanted to factor in some down time and, I’m 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 architecturally designed 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, including 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.