Oslo, Norway to Sundsvall, Sweden

Originally, I planned to vacation in Chile, but after having a dream of the northern lights, I switched gears.  I decided to go roadtripping through Scandinavia with my brother Dan instead. 

I was lucky enough to have seen the northern lights once before, but my goal of the trip was to get to Tromsø and see them again.  Let me preface the remainder of this post with this: driving through Scandinavia during winter is not smart.

We flew into Oslo and immediately starting driving north.  The fastest route was to drive through Sweden and Finland to get to Tromsø, a roughly 22 hour drive.

Our first night was in Sundsvall, Sweden.  The drive up was painless enough – Swedish roads aren’t incredibly winding and curvy compared to Norway.  The speed limit was rather fast – 100-110km for the most part, which translates to about 60mph.  The locals drove much faster. 

Dan and I went from Oslo to Sundsvall in about seven hours with no minor hiccups.  We stayed at an Airbnb and searched for food, but to no avail.  We ended up eating gas station food.  In the morning, our Airbnb hosts made breakfast for us – steamed vegetables and eggs. 

We soon hit the road, as we were chasing daylight.  In winter, the sun goes down much earlier than in the US – especially in northern Scandinavia, which is where we were headed.

Sundsvall, Sweden to Tärendö, Sweden

Dan and I made a few stops before heading to Tärendö for the night – an eight hour drive.

I’d read online that Rotsidan and Bonhamn were great spots to hit.  Rotsidan was a rocky “beach” on the Baltic Sea, and Bonhamn was a fishing town.  They were beautiful, but I wasn’t incredibly impressed.  That said, it was cool to see the sun so low in the sky and it was only noon.

Dan and I trudged along and stopped at a few cities- Umeå & Piteå – before reaching Tärendö.  Umeå is a giant mall – that’s it.  I think they had one single restaurant open, and everything else was shopping centers.  What an odd town.  We ended up eating at the mall’s food court.

Piteå was a bit better, if only because we had some delicious food and our server sang me happy birthday in Swedish.  I’m vegetarian and my meal was “mushroom sausage,” which I’d never heard of before – and it’s exactly as it sounds, a sausage made of mushrooms.  My brother had reindeer steak.

With full bellies, we were back on the road.  Only a few hours to go until we reached Tärendö.  Hours ago, the sun had gone down – we were now driving in darkness. As we got closer to Tärendö, the roads got icier. 

I’m thankful for our Toyota “Auris,” because it was truly a beast.  My brother said it felt like driving a toy car, but in my opinion it did right by us.  I think the entire trip it only had one minor slip while I was driving.

Finding our Airbnb was a treasure hunt.  The trend with our trip was that every single Airbnb was difficult to find.  The night before, we had accidentally driven too far and I knocked on the wrong person’s door – whoops.  With Tärendö, we had been given a map with some cryptic instructions (i.e. when you see the blue and brown mailbox, turn left into the drive).  Luckily, we were able to find it.  A quaint and cozy cottage.  It even had a wood-burning stove. 

Dan lit some logs and we went outside to sit under the clear sky.  Stars surrounded us as we searched for the aurora.  Unfortunately, we had no wi-fi and weren’t able to see the aurora forecast.  We stayed outside for about half an hour and then went to bed.  It had been two long days of driving and we were tired.  There would be many more long driving days – but the following day was my birthday.   

Tärendö, Sweden to Tromsø, Norway

Day 1

My 27th birthday!  We awoke around 10am and hit the road – this was a little bit shorter of a drive for us to get to Tromsø.  The sun was hanging so low over the horizon, it was nearly sunset by the time we left.  We saw a goat, reindeer, and two arctic fox on our drive to Tromsø. 

About halfway to Tromsø, we stopped near the Finland border to fill up on gas and get some food.  Surprisingly enough, the little cafe had a vegetarian burger available to me – though all of the menu was Finnish and the servers could hardly speak English – it was definitely a veggie patty.  Hooray for the arctic having veggie options!  I was shocked.

Before we had finished our food, I was feeling incredibly anxious.  I wanted to leave the restaurant and GO.  I don’t know what provoked the anxiety, but in hindsight I think it was a small sort of premonition.

The drive through Finland was beautiful at dusk, but the moment we crossed into Norway, it started snowing.  Being from Chicago, I’m no stranger to driving in snow.  I am a stranger to driving in snow along winding mountainous roads in the dark, however. 

Scandinavia has very few streetlights, so driving at night can be rather anxiety-inducing.  Add snow to the mix, and it’s a disaster.  The snow started off light enough, but soon I was clutching the wheel trying not to get us both killed as my brother slept in the passenger seat. 

We stopped at a gas station for a breather, and continued on for the last stretch.  It was quite the stretch.  Where I was able to keep my cool before, I nearly had a nervous breakdown the last hour to Tromsø. 

With thirty minutes left to go, I had to pull over and have my brother take over – it was simply too scary.  Dan said it was like driving through hyperspace.  I kept my eyes on the GoogleMaps on my phone the remainder of the ride as he bravely got us into Tromsø.

Once again, finding the Airbnb was a hassle.  The address took us to a closed office building.  We got out of the car and wandered around for a good 30 minutes before we found it.

We were to stay in Tromsø for 3 nights and 3 days – and decided to ditch the car for the rest of the night to calm down from the treacherous trek.

We walked downtown and grabbed some food.  Dan tried whale steak, which he thought was disgusting.  We walked around the city and got lost on our way back.  My phone died and we had to ask someone for directions.  Luckily I had told Dan to take down the address before we left the apartment because I knew my battery was low.

Day 2

We slept in pretty late and didn’t do much throughout the day.  It was cloudy and snowing occasionally.  The night before, I got a message on Facebook from a friend I met in South Africa last year – Linn. She lives in Norway and works on a cruise ship.  Lucky for me, she was going to be in Tromsø! 

Dan and I did some shopping and then met up with her.  She took us on the cruise ship and we had tea, talked about food, Chicago, and Norway.  She showed us all around the cruise ship and after about an hour, Dan and I left to get dinner.

After dinner, we stopped back at the Airbnb and then went aurora hunting.  It was my first time being back in the car after the terrible birthday-snowstorm-driving experience and I was a little on edge. 

Dan and I ended up driving around from 10pm to 3am.  We would drive half an hour outside of Tromsø to reach dark spots – where the city’s light pollution doesn’t get in the way of aurora visibility – then we would head back in to stop at the Circle K gas station to get wifi and check on our aurora forecast websites.

(We would have stopped at our Airbnb, but the WIFI STOPPED WORKING for the remainder of our stay.  A total bummer.  I don’t mean to sound like another internet-obsessed millennial, but when you’re abroad it’s really inconvenient to not be able to have a spot where you can connect to wifi.  Circle K was our savior throughout the trip.)

At around 2am, we still hadn’t seen the aurora.  We had stopped at Circle K one last time, and sure enough it started snowing.  I was especially hesitant to go driving in the snow again, but I pushed through it and was rewarded. 

The elusive green lady showed herself to us.  We were driving along, and I thought I saw a shimmer.  We pulled over to get a better glimpse.  Yep – there she was.

Dan said “everything else is a bonus from here – we saw them”.   We saw them twice that night, too.

Day 3

Our last full day in Tromsø was kind of a blur.  We slept in once again – except for when we were woken up by the other Airbnb tenants being loud and boisterous – and then went to the mall to connect to wifi and maybe hit up some more shops. 

The main event of the day was that Dan was taking me to Smok – a 6 course meal where they were making vegetarian especially for me.

The meal was absolutely delicious, and the server was lovely.  The most memorable dishes were one of the hors d’oeuvre- a teeny, tiny potato with sour cream and a garnish, assorted carrots (steamed and pickled), cauliflower soup, and a mixed variety of lentils and other vegetables.  Our server told us how vegetables are hard to grow in the north, so they tend to be much smaller.

Dan was gushing over the food – he himself is a great chef and is always trying new dishes to make, so I was grateful to share the experience with him.

After dinner, we tried to see the aurora again, but to no avail.  We drove out a ways and it seemed to be another snowstorm brewing.  We didn’t want to get stuck, and the whole sky was cloudy, so we returned to our Airbnb.

My favorite moments at Tromsø was the 6-course meal, meeting Linn on her cruise ship, and of course seeing the northern lights.

Tromsø, Norway  to Gällivare, Sweden

Exiting the crazy mountain pass that was terrifying only a few nights prior wasn’t quite as bad during the daylight… except that about twenty minutes into the day’s trip, we were stopped for about half an hour while a helicopter airlifted someone off the mountain.  Hopefully they survived, the car didn’t look too damaged.

We stopped in Finland again for dinner.  I wasn’t thrilled at all with my meal – their vegetarian options were slim, so I got a less-than-mediocre vegetable omelet.   

The skies were cloudy again, and I was resigned that I might not see the northern lights again on the trip.  I had originally wanted to spend the night in a small town called Porjus that’s supposed to have a dry climate with clear skies (i.e. perfect for aurora hunting), but due to waiting last minute to book our Airbnbs, the only thing I found available was called Lappeasuando Lodge – a good hour away from Porjus.  I was pretty bummed about it.

With about a half an hour to go, the skies started clearing up.  We pulled over, turned off the car, and looked at the stars.  For the first time in my life, the Milky Way was visible to my bare eyes.  I tried to take pictures, but my travel-tripod is pretty garbage and I wasn’t able to point it straight up into the sky without my camera falling off. 

We heard dogs barking, and Dan said it might be wolves since there didn’t seem to be any houses around.  We got the hell out of there.

Our lodge was better than I could have ever hoped for.  First off, they had wifi.  Secondly, we arrived after hours and keeping on brand with our treasure-hunt-accomodation, we had to find the key they left for us.  It was in a package, with the key attached to a tiny reindeer horn.  Very cute.

Dan and I went inside and got comfortable, but I wanted to take some more pictures of the stars now that we were safely away from wild dogs.  Ten steps, and I realized the aurora was dancing right above the trees.  I ran to get Dan, and we both stood outside as she put on an incredible show for us.  It was the moment I had dreamed about.

Gällivare, Sweden to Bodø, Norway

In the morning, we checked out of Lappeasuando Lodge – but first, our host let us meet her huskies.  During the colder winter months, the lodge has husky-sledding expeditions.  Dan and I were weirded out that the dogs didn’t make any noise while we were out watching the aurora the night before, because we were standing right next to their corral.

The ride to Bodø wasn’t too remarkable.  We saw two reindeer walking along the shoulder of the road at one point, but other than that, the day was a blur.  We walked around Bodø, got some food at the Bjørk restaurant, then went to our Airbnb to sleep.  I think the highlight of Bodø was the unique Christmas tree below.

I had wanted to go to Bodø because it was supposed to be another great spot for viewing the northern lights.  That said, it was cloudy, we were tired of driving, and the northern lights activity was low.  We went to sleep early.

Bodø, Norway to Steinkjer, Norway

Our highlight of the day was within the first thirty minutes – seeing Salstraumen Maelstrom, one of the world’s strongest tidal currents.  I didn’t think we were going to be able to see it active, because there are four times a day when the tide changes and it didn’t seem we would be there in time.  Well, it was incredible, and so bizarre.

The mountains along the horizon were beautiful, too.

Mountains were the theme of the day.  While the remainder of the trip wouldn’t be quite as scary as our journey into Tromsø, we were riding up, down, and around mountains the entire day.  I knew from the get-go that this would be the longest driving day of the trip, and it certainly felt like it.

Once it got dark, we were driving in near total darkness.  The lanes were skinny, and passing cars would forget to turn off their brights, blinding us as we rounded corners going 100km/hr.  The locals went something like 140km/hr.  They would pass us as soon as they got the opportunity.

It was my driving shift, and Dan was sleeping in the passenger seat when I saw a sign that we were exiting the arctic circle.  It was at the top of a mountain range – total snow-covered mountains surrounding us, and we were on a plateau.  I must have sighed in relief, because there’s no way I could handle driving through another snowstorm this trip.

Eventually, we made it to Steinkjer.  It was our craziest treasure hunt of an Airbnb, because while Dan was corresponding back and forth with the host, the host was being no help at all.  I ended up finding the address by googling it, and then using a Norwegian map to locate the area.  Even then, we ended up waking up his neighbor asking if we were in the right spot.

Once inside, Dan made a dinner of rice and vegetables, and we went to bed.

Steinkjer, Norway to Oslo, Norway

Our last full day in Norway.  The mountains were less intense and the driving was easier, but we were ready to go home.  The entire trip, the car’s dashboard had the tire-pressure light on.  Dan had tried to fill it up at a few gas stations, but on this day he felt like the tires had lost significant air. 

Dan and I were both worried because we were about half an hour away from being near civilization.  Luckily, we made it to a gas station in time and filled up the tires – they had definitely been low.

The day was another blur – nothing of note to remark about.  It seemed the peak of the trip had ended, and we were fading into reality once again.

Once arriving in Oslo, Dan and I walked the city streets and I treated him to a four-course Indian meal, one of the top 20 restaurants in Oslo apparently.

The next morning, we drove to the airport.

Looking back on the trip, we saw some amazing things, but we were also stressed out and exhausted a lot.  I planned much too ambitiously with the distances we travelled.  Were I to go back again, I would fly from Oslo to Tromsø and rent a car from there. 

My rationale was that I wanted to see the country – and that we did.  Some of it in the daylight, and a lot of it at night.  We ate some good food, we ate some shitty gas station food, we saw the northern lights on multiple occasions, we saw reindeer, and I got to bond with my brother.  This was a trip I won’t soon forget.