ROYAL & ANCIENT POLAR BEAR SOCIETY – Founded in 1963, this club has displays on Arctic hunting and local history. For £18, you can become a life member. Wild polar bears haven’t been seen here in Hammerfest for thousands of years, but the town was a major 19th- and 20th-century base for hunting and capture expeditions to Svalbard.
SAMI NATIONAL MUSEUM – Karasjok is the capital of Norway’s indigenous Sami people. Exhibits at its premier museum, also called De Samiske Samlinger, include traditional Sami clothing, tools and artefacts, and works by Sami artists of today. Outdoors, roam past typical Sami constructions and ancient rein deer trap ping pits.
DOG-SLEDDING – The environmentally friendly version of snowmobiling allows you to experience the polar silence like explorers of old. Engholm’s Husky, near Karasjok, offers winter dog-sled tours. If you’re lucky, you’ll be guided by Sven Engholm, one of dog-sledding’s most famous names. Tours range from an hour to multiday expeditions.
SENJA – Norway’s second-largest island rivals Lofoten for natural beauty yet attracts a fraction of its visitors. A broad agricultural plain laps at lnnersida, the island’s eastern, mainland-facing coast. Birch woods, moorland and sweetwater lakes extend beneath the interior’s bare craggy uplands. Along the northwestern coast, Yttersida, knife-ridged peaks rise directly from the Arctic Ocean.
NORTHERN LIGHTS CATHEDRAL – Opened in 2013, Alta’s Northern Lights Cathedral has become one of the north’s architectural icons, with its swirling pyramid structure clad in rippling titanium sheets. The interior has an utterly modern 4.3m-high bronze Christ by Danish artist Peter Brandes. The cathedral is at its best in winter when aglow in floodlights.
