Honest
Is whale watching in Tromso worth it? The honest answer
A nine-hour day in an Arctic winter, most of it travelling, in a month when the sun does not rise, for two hundred dollars and no guarantee. Fourteen thousand reviews say yes. There is also a version of this booking that is a waste of money, and it is easy to make.
Quick answer
In season — November to January — yes, for most people. This is one of the few places on earth where humpbacks and orca feed together within reach of a city with an airport, and sighting rates are high. Book outside the season, or book six hours when the fish are three hours away, and the answer changes completely. Safaris start at $204.
The honest numbers
- Season
- Nov – Janand nothing outside it
- Cheapest safari
- $204six hours
- Most booked
- $214nine hours, 6,651 reviews
- Reviews across the page
- 14,653average 4.52
- Guarantee
- Nonerates are high; promises are not made
- Transit
- 2–3 h each wayon most listings
- Daylight in December
- Nonefour to six hours of twilight instead
- Suits
- Includedthermal or flotation
- Main risk
- Weatherwhich cancels safaris outright
- Cancellation
- Free to 24 hon every safari
What makes it worth it
Five things this coast does that others cannot
Two species feeding together, an airport an hour away, and the aurora on the way home.
Two species, feeding together. Humpbacks and orca on the same herring ball, with sea eagles above them. There are perhaps a handful of places on earth where that is a reliable winter event, and this is the most accessible of them.
It is reachable. Tromsø has an airport with direct flights from several European cities, hotels, restaurants and a university. You are not mounting an expedition; you are taking a day trip.
The odds are genuinely good. In a normal season operators find animals on the large majority of sailings, and they publish those rates rather than promising sightings.
The light is extraordinary. In December the whole safari happens in blue and pink twilight. It is difficult to photograph and unlike anything else in European travel.
And the day gives you the aurora for free. Safaris return after dark from November to January, and a boat on open water is the best place in the region to see the northern lights. Nobody sells it; plenty of passengers get it.
When it is not worth it
Four situations where the answer is no
The wrong month, the wrong length, the wrong person, or the wrong expectation.
Outside November to January. The whales follow the herring and the herring leave. A February safari is a gamble and an April one is a fjord cruise with a hopeful title.
When you book six hours and the fish are three hours away. Ask the operator where they are finding animals that week. If the answer is Skjervøy, the six-hour trip is mostly transit.
When somebody in the party cannot face a long cold day. These are six to twelve-hour trips in Arctic winter. A fjord cruise of three hours is a much kinder introduction and it is a good day out in its own right.
When you are expecting the photograph on the listing. A breaching humpback is real and it is not the average sighting. The average sighting is a blow, a back and a fin at two hundred metres, and it is better than it sounds.
Every trip, current fare
What each safari costs, and what it is
If you have decided it is worth doing, this is the whole decision in one table.
| Safari | Length of day | Price | The boat | Cost per hour | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tromsø Whale Safari with MS GabrieleSix hours, a warm saloon, the cheapest day | 6 h | $204 | Converted vessel | $34.00 | 4.3 · 1,953 |
| Tromsø: Whale Watching Tour by Hybrid-Electric BoatNine hours, silent approach, 6,651 reviews | 9 h | $214 | Hybrid-electric catamaran | $23.78 | 4.5 · 6,651 |
| From Tromsø: Whale Watching Safari on High-Speed CatamaranEight hours, and the fastest run to the fish | 8 h | $214 | High-speed catamaran | $26.75 | 4.6 · 3,772 |
| Whale Watching RIB Safari at SkjervøyA RIB at Skjervøy, eye level with the animals | 3–12 h | $245 | RIB, Skjervøy | $30.62 | 4.8 · 136 |
| From Tromsø or Skjervøy: Whale Safari by RIB BoatA RIB that follows the herring, rated 5.0 | 4–12 h | $250 | RIB, flexible base | $31.25 | 5.0 · 113 |
| Tromsø Whale & Orca Safari – All-Inclusive (Max 50 pax)All-inclusive, fifty passengers maximum | 8 h | $255 | Large boat, max 50 | $31.88 | 4.6 · 1,721 |
| From Tromsø: Skjervoy Whale Watching RIB Boat TourTwelve hours north and back, by road and RIB | 12 h | $378 | RIB, full day north | $31.50 | 4.6 · 307 |
Making it worth it
Six decisions taken before you reach the quay
All of them are free.
- Book inside the season
November to January. Everything else on this list is secondary to that.
- Ask where the whales are this week
It decides whether six hours is enough or you need the long day.
- Book early in your stay
Weather cancels safaris in this season, and a second attempt is the difference between seeing whales and not.
- Dress under the suit
A hat and two pairs of gloves. The suit does the wind; your extremities are your own problem.
- Stay outside
Nothing is ever seen through a salt-covered window, and the whales surface without warning.
- Read the review count, not just the score
One safari here has 6,651 ratings; two have barely a hundred.
What the reviews say
Fourteen thousand ratings, and the patterns in them
Three boats carry the evidence; the small ones carry the highest scores; the complaints never change.
We do not write reviews and we do not average other people’s into a score of our own. The counts are public, and the shape of them is worth reading.
The evidence is concentrated in three listings. The hybrid catamaran, the high-speed catamaran and MS Gabriele hold more than twelve thousand of the fourteen thousand ratings between them, and they sit at 4.3 to 4.6 — solid, believable scores for a long cold day with no guarantees.
The highest scores are on the smallest boats. The two RIB operations are rated 4.8 and 5.0 on barely a hundred reviews each. That is what small-group operations look like everywhere: more attention per passenger, and a sample too small to lean on.
The complaints are consistent. Where safaris are marked down it is almost always the length of the transit, the cold, or a day with no sightings. All three are predictable, and two of them are solved by clothing and by reading this page.
Cheaper things to do in Tromso
Five alternatives if the safari is not the right spend
All of them are good days in their own right.
- A fjord cruise
Three to four hours instead of nine, at a third of the price, with sea eagles and the same landscape.
- The cable car up Storsteinen
The whole island and the fjords from four hundred metres, for very little.
- Dog sledding
Half a day, out of town, and completely different from a boat.
- The Polar Museum and the Arctic Cathedral
Two hours indoors on a day the weather has taken.
- An aurora coach
Cheaper than a safari, and in the same months.
Common questions
Is it worth it, answered
Is whale watching in Tromso worth it?
In season, for most people, yes: humpbacks and orca feeding together within reach of a city, with high sighting rates and no promises. Outside November to January, no.
Will I definitely see whales?
No. Sighting rates in season are high and blank days happen. Operators publish rates rather than guarantees.
Is it better than whale watching elsewhere in Norway?
Tromsø is the most accessible base for the winter herring season. Andenes and Skjervøy are closer to the animals in different years; Tromsø has the airport and the beds.
Is nine hours too long?
It is a long day and most of it is travel. If that is unappealing, the six-hour safari or a three-hour fjord cruise are honest alternatives.
What is the biggest risk?
Weather, which cancels safaris outright, and booking outside the season. Both are avoidable.
Would you do it again?
In December, on the hybrid boat, with two pairs of gloves — yes, without hesitating.
Go deeper
More on Tromso whale watching
Whale watching from Tromso
What the season is, what you see and how the day runs.
The verdictWhich safari is best
Seven safaris ranked, and which suits which traveller.
SeasonSeason and sightings
November to January, and why the dates move with the fish.
OrcaOrca in Tromso
Family groups, herding herring, and where to see them.
SkjervoySkjervoy safaris
Why the boats sail three hours north, and what it buys.
SilentThe silent boat
What a hybrid-electric hull changes when you approach a whale.
