Meet your Travel Director and fellow travellers over a welcome drink in Helsinki. It is a hosted introduction to the small group sharing the journey through Finland and Norway.

Helsinki’s harbour, design heritage and pale seaside buildings provide a fitting setting for the beginning of an Arctic adventure. The gathering offers a chance to get acquainted and hear about the experiences ahead.

Watch the Arctic sky through your cabin’s glass roof at Aurora Village in Ivalo, approximately 250 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle. From the warmth of your bed, look for pale arcs or green ribbons of aurora moving across the darkness.

This private viewing setting makes the vast Lapland night part of the stay itself, without the need to venture outdoors. The Northern Lights are a natural phenomenon, so a sighting cannot be guaranteed.

Explore Honningsvåg with your Travel Director and hear about the past and present of this small fishing community on the island of Magerøya. Along the waterfront, moored boats and working quays speak to its close relationship with the sea.

Its setting of rugged slopes and open Arctic sky offers a sense of life at Norway’s far northern edge. The orientation gives context to the community beyond its role as a gateway to North Cape.

Visit North Cape, weather permitting, where a high cliff overlooks the Barents Sea. Take in the exposed Arctic landscape and its wide horizon from one of Europe’s best-known northern viewpoints.

Raise a glass of bubbles and taste caviar with your fellow travellers as sea and sky stretch beyond the headland. The small celebration pairs the setting with flavours associated with northern waters; access to the cape remains subject to weather conditions.

Get to know Alta on an orientation in this northern Norwegian city beside Altafjord. See the Northern Lights Cathedral in the city centre, its spiralling exterior rising towards the Arctic sky.

Alta has a longstanding connection with aurora research: an observatory was established on nearby Mount Haldde in the late 19th century. The orientation places the city’s contemporary architecture alongside its history as a place to study the Northern Lights.

Walk through an Alta ice hotel to see sculpted chambers, frozen arches and an ice chapel. Coloured light catches carvings that are made anew each winter, giving the interior its brief, seasonal character.

At the frozen bar, enjoy a chilled drink in a glass carved from ice. The visit brings you close to the craft behind this distinctly Arctic setting, where carefully shaped snow and ice become rooms, artwork and a place to gather.

Meet the Lyrek family at their working husky farm near Alta and share an oven-baked lunch featuring seasonal northern specialities. Hear firsthand what it takes for mushers and their Alaskan huskies to compete in Arctic races lasting several days.

Meet the champion sled dogs outside and learn about the partnership between handler and team in demanding winter conditions. The family’s stories and hospitality offer a personal view of a living northern sporting tradition.

Discover Tromsø on a city orientation in northern Norway’s largest city, situated on the island of Tromsøya. Take in its island setting, with sea passages, painted houses and mountains shaping the view.

Often called a gateway to the Arctic, Tromsø is both an urban centre and a community closely connected to its northern surroundings. The orientation helps you place its streets and waterfront within the wider landscape of fjords and snow-capped peaks.

Join a Sámi guide at a reindeer camp near Tromsø and help feed the herd. Gather inside a traditional lavvu for a hot drink and meal while members of the Indigenous Sámi community share stories, traditions and folk songs.

The warmth of the fire and sounds of the camp frame a personal introduction to life in Arctic Norway. This hosted experience supports the sharing and safeguarding of Sámi cultural practices across generations.

Explore Oslo’s Bjørvika district on an orientation beside the Oslofjord. See the Oslo Opera House, whose sloping white marble roof meets the waterfront, and the glass-fronted Deichman Library.

These contemporary landmarks illustrate how former harbour land has become a public cultural quarter. The walk or drive offers a clear introduction to Norway’s capital through its architecture, waterside setting and changing relationship with the fjord.

Gather for dinner at a local Oslo restaurant with your fellow travellers. Share a glass of wine and exchange favourite moments from your journey through the Arctic regions of Finland and Norway.

Scandinavian hospitality gives this hosted meal a sense of occasion beyond an everyday dinner. It is a chance to reflect together on the people, landscapes and northern traditions encountered across the small-group tour.

Learn about the king crabs found in northern waters during this optional Honningsvåg experience. Sit down to a freshly prepared, sea-to-table lunch and taste the crab’s delicate sweetness in the coastal setting.

The experience connects a distinctive local food with the cold seas that shape life around Magerøya. This excursion is at additional cost and bookable on tour, offering a food-focused alternative for travellers keen to explore the region’s seafood.

Visit Alta Museum on an optional experience to study prehistoric rock carvings depicting reindeer, boats and hunters. Look closely at lines cut into stone thousands of years ago and consider what they reveal about life in the far north.

Alta’s rock art is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, recognised for its exceptional record of prehistoric activity. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour for travellers interested in the region’s earliest known stories.

Insight Vacations

• 9 Breakfast (B)
• 5 Dinner (D)
• 1 Lunch (L)

• Top-rated dining, from farm-to-table to local restaurants
• Business class coach with extended leg room and select flights
• Premium regional accommodation

• Ivalo: Your delicious dinner will be served at the boutique Aurora Village hotel.
• North Cape: There is no better way to search for the Northern Lights than by toasting to your adventure with bubbles and caviar at North Cape, the most special place on earth. 
• Alta: Step into Alta’s frozen bar for a chilled drink served in a glass carved from crystal-clear ice with your fellow travellers.
• Alta: Meet the Lyrek family and their huskies, and hear captivating tales of marathon Arctic dog sled races—told over a hearty, oven-baked seasonal lunch. Savour fresh Arctic fish or tender reindeer, served with crisp salads, local accompaniments, and a glass of wine. An authentic taste of Norway’s wild and nourishing north.
• Alta: Savour a delicious oven-baked lunch of local seasonal specialities of fresh salmon or the locals’ favourite, reindeer, served with fresh salads and wine.
• Tromso: Dine on traditional food, served with hot drinks with the fascinating Sami people, as you hear tales of Scandinavia from its indigenous people.
• Oslo: Scandinavian hospitality is matched with fine food and a glass of wine during dinner at a local restaurant.