Tromsø is unexpectedly lively for a town so far north. It stands on an island, linked to the mainland by a bridge and a tunnel, at nearly seventy degrees north, with snow-covered peaks all around and about fifty thousand people who have built a university, a brewery and a fine collection of bars into the Arctic. It has been called the Paris of the North, partly in jest and partly because it has long had a worldly side, thanks to the polar expeditions that set out from its harbour.
The Arctic Cathedral, finished in the 1960s, is the building you will see in every photograph, a series of tall white triangular panes that evoke ice or sails, and across the water the cable car climbs to a ledge on Storsteinen, about four hundred metres up, where the whole archipelago opens out below. On a clear night in winter the aurora can ripple above it, and in summer the midnight sun hangs in the sky from about the end of May until late July. The polar night, with its blue twilight, runs from late November into January.
The surroundings are dramatic. Fjords cut deep into the mainland, steep peaks rise straight from the sea, and the islands of Kvaløya and Ringvassøya are reached by bridges and tunnels, giving some of the best riding anywhere. Roads are narrow, twisting and often wet, with views of the sea at every turn and little traffic outside the peak weeks. Wind can be strong on exposed bridges and sudden snow showers can arrive even in early summer. Reindeer and sheep graze beside the road, so keep your speed down.
Practical matters are easy here. Tromsø has fuel stations, supermarkets and workshops, and being the largest town for hundreds of kilometres it is the place to prepare thoroughly. Prices are high, as everywhere in Norway, but the fish is very good, and the local brewery claims to be the northernmost in the world. Parking for motorcycles in the centre is simple, and you can leave the bike while you ride the cable car.
Come in summer for riding, and in winter for the lights, but not on two wheels. This is a place where you linger longer than you planned.