Visit Bardufoss – A hidden gem in Northern Norway

A combination of inland and coast, town and village, provides a great experience for your Arctic stay. During the wintertime, we recommend you try the local restaurants located in the centre of Bardufoss and meet the locals. They will gladly tell you what it’s like to live in a small Arctic town, if you ask them. Most speak very good English, and many can also speak German, French or Spanish.

Going out alone in the Bardufoss area is completely safe. However, it’s highly recommended to wear a reflector at night so motorists can see you out in the dark.

Most people who live in the area work in forestry, agriculture, services (like restaurants, shops or cafés), the military (Bardufoss has a military airport) or education (Bardufoss even has an upper secondary school and is home to the Tromsø School of Aviation).

Bardufoss has a range of small shops for your daily needs and exciting interior design shops. Check out local handicrafts at Husfliden (the local branch of the Norwegian Folk Art and Craft Association).

You can even go on a moose safari! The area is also an Eldorado for cross-country skiing in winter, with miles of prepared ski trails.

A popular attraction close to Bardufoss is the Polar Park Arctic Wildlife Centre, the world’s northernmost animal park.

You can visit all the Arctic animals that have natural habitats in the wilderness including the Arctic fox, brown bear, wolf, wolverine and lynx.

Polar Park is a 45-minute drive south of Bardufoss. Buy your entrance ticket online here.

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If we think back more than 200 years, the only people who lived in this wilderness were the Sami people who followed their reindeer herds from the Swedish border all the way to the coast.

Around 200 years ago, people from Southern Norway were encouraged to move up here and settle down. They established farms and sold timber to the coastal towns, especially Tromsø.

This timber, which was mostly used to build houses, was transported down the river from the valleys and out to the coast.

It’s possible to explore one of the original farms and gain an insight into early life here.

Fossmotunet near Bardufoss is one of the sites of the Midt-Troms Museum. The history of Fossmotunet dates to 1822.

Historic buildings including a barn, storehouse, blacksmith’s workshop and schoolhouse have been moved to the site from other parts of Målselv.

When the open-air museum is closed, it’s possible to see and photograph these old buildings from the outside.