Exciting Things To Do In Kirkenes, Norway: Explore The Magic Of Norway’s North Coast

Looking for the best things to do in Kirkenes, Norway? Whether you’re here on a Hurtigruten or Havila coastal voyage or on an Arctic adventure of its own, here’s everything worth doing in Norway’s northeastern frontier town.

Kirkenes, Norway, sits at the very top of continental Europe, a small town of around 3,500 people clinging to the edge of the Barents Sea, closer to Murmansk than to Oslo. But like so many small Norwegian towns, there’s far more to Kirkenes than its size suggests. During my family’s three-day stopover in Kirkenes before setting sail on our Hurtigruten Northern Lights cruise down to Bergen, we set out to squeeze in every experience this frozen frontier could offer.

Even in the dead of winter, we were rewarded with warm company, surprisingly kind weather, and the kind of once-in-a-lifetime experiences that make Norway’s far northern coast so magical. And even though the airline lost our luggage on the way up (more on that misadventure shortly), Kirkenes delivered some of the most memorable moments of our entire Norway trip.

Kirkenes is Norway’s far-northeastern outpost on the Russian border, the turnaround port of the Hurtigruten and Havila coastal voyages, and the gateway to king crab safaris, snowmobiling, dog sledding, the famous Snowhotel, and the Northern Lights. It’s remote, it’s wild, and it’s absolutely worth the journey.

Where is Kirkenes, Norway?

Kirkenes sits on the Russian border at the northeastern tip of Norway, where the Barents Sea meets the Norwegian Sea. Its position on the curve of the far north means it’s actually further east than Finland, St. Petersburg, and even the western tip of Turkey. This is genuinely the edge of the map.

Because it lies north of the Arctic Circle, Kirkenes sees the midnight sun from around May 17 to July 21, and no sunlight at all from about November 21 to January 21. If you’re traveling here in winter, pack seriously for the cold. This is not the place to underdress.

The town has a fascinating, layered character, a blend of Norwegian, Sámi, and Russian influences forged over centuries as a mining town and cross-border meeting point. Today, with the mine long closed, Kirkenes has reinvented itself as a hub for Arctic tourism and logistics, and as the northern turnaround point of Norway’s legendary coastal route.

How To Get To Kirkenes

For such a remote spot, Kirkenes is surprisingly easy to reach.

By Air

The easiest way to reach the city is via Kirkenes Airport (Høybuktmoen, code KKN), which sits about 20 minutes from town and has regular direct flights from Oslo on SAS and Norwegian, roughly a two-and-a-half-hour hop. It’s the fastest way in.

By Sea

Kirkenes is the northeastern turnaround port of Norway’s historic coastal voyage, now run by both Hurtigruten and Havila Voyages. Arriving or departing by ship is a spectacular way to experience both the city, fjords, and stunning coastline of Norway. It’s why so many travelers get a tantalizing few hours here on a Hurtigruten shore excursion. If you can, build in an extra night or two to do the place justice.

By Land

You can also drive to Kirkenes or bus in from cities further south such as Oslo. There are also routes from neighboring Finland to the south. There is no train this far north.

Arriving In Kirkenes, Norway

Christina, the boys (Cohen and Dylan), and I arrived in Kirkenes in the late afternoon and grabbed a cab into town. Unfortunately, due to a mix-up on our connection through Oslo, our bags did not arrive with us. The upside of landing at a tiny Arctic airport is that the lost-luggage desk is easy to find. The downside is that with so few flights serving the region, reuniting with your bags can take days, and ours, containing our long underwear and snow pants, sat in Oslo while we shivered under the cold of a northern Norway winter.

The cab took us to our apartment rental, and we were greeted warmly by our host, Roar Anderson, who had thoughtfully stocked the fridge with a few items to welcome us. He was also keenly familiar with guests with missing luggage. He dug out some spare cold-weather gear for Christina and me to borrow. Beyond being our host, Roar offered to show us around and give us a true local’s glimpse into life in Kirkenes, and we are so glad he did. Here’s everything we got up to.

The Top Things To Do In Kirkenes, Norway

For a small town, Kirkenes packs in a remarkable amount, from bucket-list Arctic adventures to sobering wartime history. Here’s the best of it.

Spend A Night (Or A Visit) At The Snowhotel Kirkenes

The Snowhotel Kirkenes is the town’s most celebrated attraction, and deservedly so. Rebuilt entirely from snow and ice every winter in the Sandnes area about 10 km from town, it’s a wonderland of artfully carved and lit snow suites, a glittering ice bar (toast your visit with an ice-cold crowberry shot), and snow sculptures throughout. Even if you’re not brave enough to sleep on a bed of ice, you can visit the hotel on a day tour, and it’s the launchpad for most of the region’s Arctic activities.

The Snowhotel is also home to a pack of huskies and a herd of resident reindeer that the kids adored, plus the excellent Låven restaurant, where the menu leans hard into Arctic ingredients like reindeer, Arctic char, and, of course, king crab. If you’d rather not sleep in the snow, the property’s cozy Gamme Cabins (more on those below) are open year-round. You can book a guided Snowhotel tour here or check availability to stay overnight here.

Kirkenes Dog Sledding Through The Arctic

It seems every northern destination worth its salt offers dog sledding, and Kirkenes is a beauty for it. Wrapped up warm, you’ll glide through snow-dusted forests and across frozen lakes behind a team of eager huskies, through some of the most pristine Arctic silence you’ll ever hear.

The Snowhotel runs husky tours that finish with a hand-warming drink around a campfire. We skipped it this time, having already mushed in Yellowknife and Mont Tremblant, but it’s high on the list for our return. You can book a husky sledding tour here.

Go On A King Crab Safari

If you do one thing in Kirkenes, make it this. The king crab safari is the town’s signature experience, and it’s unlike anything else in Europe. You’ll head out into the Varangerfjord, by snowmobile and sled across the ice in winter (December to April) or by RIB boat in summer (April to November), to haul up the crab pots and pull out red king crabs the size of dinner plates, with a leg span that can reach two full meters.

Here’s the wild backstory: these Arctic giants aren’t even native. Soviet scientists introduced them to the Barents Sea in the 1960s, and they’ve since exploded into an ecological menace and, simultaneously, the backbone of the local economy. The Norwegian solution is a very tasty one: catch them and eat them. After you help pull the traps, a guide cooks the catch on the spot, and you feast on as much sweet, tender, just-out-of-the-sea king crab as you can manage. It is, hands down, one of the best meals of our lives. You can book a king crab safari here.

Snowmobile The Frozen Fjords

Snowmobiling in Kirkenes is practically a way of life. It seems everyone here owns at least one, and there are plenty of guided safaris (you can even book them from the coastal ships). We hadn’t ridden snowmobiles since our epic Iceland adventure, but when Roar asked if we wanted to join him zipping along the fjords, we weren’t about to say no.

Keep your eyes peeled for the wooden king-crab-trap structures locals build right out on the ice. You can book a Kirkenes snowmobile safari here.

Try Ice Fishing On The Fjord

Ice fishing sat right at the top of Cohen’s list; the kid loves to fish and has done it around the world, tuna in Bazaruto, Mozambique, weird and strange creatures in Phuket, Thailand, and pike and walleye back home in Canada. Roar roared the snowmobile half a kilometer out onto the frozen fjord, then flipped the sled on its side to shelter us from the biting Arctic wind. We settled onto reindeer hides and began the ancient tradition of waiting for a bite.

While we waited, we sipped a delicious black-currant tea that’s popular with locals, exploding with fruit flavor, and the boys snacked on hot dogs and Kvikk Lunsj, Norway’s beloved answer to the Kit Kat. Cohen’s thick socks were, of course, still in our missing luggage in Oslo, and his toes went numb until Roar produced heat packets for his boots and, before long, feeling and good cheer both returned. Dylan, meanwhile, was perfectly cozy, and with the fish stubbornly ignoring us, he curled up on the reindeer hide and had one of the greatest naps of his young life.

There aren’t currently any ice fishing tours publicly listed in Kirkenes, but if you ask around, you may find some locals who are looking for an excuse to go out and dig some holes in the ice.

Hunt The Northern Lights

This far north, the aurora is always a possibility. Kirkenes doesn’t get the fame of Tromsø, further south, but its high-latitude, low-light-pollution setting makes it an excellent place to catch the Northern Lights on a clear night from roughly September to March. It was cloudy for much of our stay, but a break in the sky is all you need. Check a forecast like Norway Lights during your visit, and consider a guided aurora chase to boost your odds. You can book a Northern Lights tour here.

Descend Into The Andersgrotta Bomb Shelter

Here’s something that hits harder than you’d expect. Andersgrotta is a vast bomb shelter hollowed straight into the bedrock in 1941, built to protect the people of Kirkenes from the more than 300 air raids that rained down on the town during World War II. And that number is the key to understanding this place: after Malta, Kirkenes is said to have been the most-bombed town in all of Europe, thanks to its strategic port and its iron-ore works. Only a handful of buildings survived the war.

Today you can descend into the cold, dripping cavern on a guided tour that includes a short, moving documentary of archival and modern footage. It’s a genuinely powerful, slightly eerie experience, and one of the most memorable things to do in town. Tours run daily at 12:30 PM and last about 30 minutes. The tour includes a short historical documentary. Kids 11 and under are half-price, and kids under 7 are free. You can get tickets through Snowhotel Kirkenes.

Visit The Borderland Museum And Savio Museum

The Grenselandmuseet, or Borderland Museum, is the town’s main museum, sitting just off the E6 on the way to the airport. It tells the tangled, multicultural story of the Sør-Varanger region, where the histories of Norway, Russia, Finland, and the Sámi have intertwined for centuries.

Under the same roof, you’ll find the Savio Museum, dedicated to the powerful woodcuts and paintings of John Savio, one of Norway’s most important Sámi artists. It’s an easy, worthwhile stop when arriving or leaving town.

Take a Moment to Reflect At Kirkenes’s WWII Monuments

Kirkenes wears its wartime history openly. The town was finally liberated from Nazi occupation by the Soviet Red Army in the autumn of 1944, and the Russian Liberation Monument still stands in tribute, a piece of history worth pausing at, even as the present-day relationship with Russia has grown tense and complicated.

Nearby, you’ll find the moving War Mothers memorial on the central square. We spent time talking with our boys about the lessons of the war here, then, being kids, promptly went to see how fast their kick-sleds could fly down the snowy hills below.

See The Nordre Namdalen Settler Home

The Nordre Namdalen Arctic settler home is a former house-turned-museum dating to 1854, its beautiful golden-wood interior laid out just as it would have been for the hardy Arctic settlers who first arrived. There’s a guest logbook inside, and Cohen made sure to record his adventures for posterity. My favorite fact: the settlers eventually abandoned the area not for warmth or an easier life, but because moving let them pick up more television channels. Priorities.

Stand At The Russian Border

Visiting the Norway-Russia border was one of those spur-of-the-moment side trips in Kirkenes. Roar suggested it as we drove back from ice fishing, and I’m glad we went. The drive out toward Storskog, Norway’s easternmost border station, is beautiful, threading past frozen lakes and rivers to the very edge of the country, and of the entire Schengen area.

I’ll be honest about how much this place has changed, though. When we visited, standing at the quiet frontier was a curious, almost lighthearted novelty. That was before Vladimir Putin decided, in 2022, that the lives of Ukrainian civilians and the country’s sovereignty were a threat to his ego. The invasion that he launched has rained death and misery on his neighbors while sending shockwaves, from energy bills to grocery prices, rippling across the entire planet. For decades, Kirkenes and its Russian counterparts had quietly built one of the warmest borders in Europe: cross-border markets, shared festivals, and a warm Arctic neighborliness.

After all, this was a region of Norway that was liberated from the Germans by the Soviets during WWII. Until that invasion, Russia was held in high regard by many of the locals. One small man with a very big desk and a very small conscience managed to end a lot of goodwill from two thousand kilometers away.

So the mood at the Kirkenes/Russia border is much different now. This remains one of the only land borders between Russia and a NATO country, and it is watched very, very closely. You can still drive out to view the borderland and the marker posts, and guided history tours run to the Storskog area, but crossing into Russia is off the table for travelers, and you must never step over, or so much as reach across, the border line, even for a photo. It’s a sobering, strangely moving place to stand, and a quiet reminder of just how fast one man’s ego can redraw the map for everybody else.

As tight as this border region now is, there are still tours running. This hiking tour along the border region is an excellent way to combine nature, Arctic beauty, and a little exercise. If you’d prefer to stay warm and cozy, there’s also a border minivan tour that is still being run.

Explore The Pasvik Nature Reserve

For a taste of true Arctic wilderness, head south of town into the Pasvik Valley and the Pasvik Nature Reserve, a pristine expanse of Scots pine and birch straddling the Norwegian-Russian frontier. It’s a haven for wildlife, home to the highest concentration of brown bears in Norway along with elk, wolverine, and a rich array of birdlife. In summer, a boat trip along the Pasvik River takes you deep into a wild, roadless landscape that feels a world away.

Spend Time With The Locals

It takes a special kind of person to make a life in the long Arctic winters up here, and our favorite thing in Kirkenes was simply spending time with the people who do. Roar welcomed us to sit by the fire with his family, and we were met with warm smiles, big laughs, and endless generosity. Our two families swapped stories while the kids chased his dogs, Mia and Luna, around in the snow. In the end, this is exactly why we travel with our kids: it’s always about the people you meet along the way.

Kirkenes Church

There is one church in Kirkenes, Norway. It’s located at Kirkegata 5 on Meieribakken at the end of Sjogata. And this church is quite a sight. Its traditional design stands out from the traditional post-WWII industrial architecture found in most of Kirkenes. The church is open for regular services, and the staff try to keep it open during the day from Tuesday to Friday, as long as they do not have other scheduled activities or duties in district churches

Sami Experience with Reindeer Feeding

Europe’s only remaining Indigenous culture, the Sámi, is located throughout the far north of Europe. We had the honor of visiting the Sámi capital of Inari, Finland, when we road tripped through the north of the country, and we found their culture, food, and warmth to be wonderfully inviting.

There is a Sámi reindeer experience offered through the Kirkenes Snowhotel that might be of interest to families. I haven’t done it myself, but the experience focuses on traditional Sámi practices such as hand-feeding reindeer, lasso casting, Sámi folklore, and a performance of joik, the unique singing style of the Sámi people. You can book that tour here.

Where To Eat In Kirkenes

Kirkenes may be tiny, but it is a city that knows good food. Unsurprisingly, the hottest plates are seafood, and Kirkenes does that very, very well.

• Surf & Turf, at the Thon Hotel, is the town’s standout, serving beautifully prepared local seafood (king crab included) and Arctic meats in a warm, modern room.
• Gabba Reindeer leans into Sámi-inspired cuisine and, yes, reindeer, done properly and deliciously.
• Barents Pub & Grill is your relaxed, crowd-pleasing option for burgers and hearty Norwegian pub fare after a cold day out.
• Låven, at the Snowhotel, is worth the trip out of town for its Arctic tasting menu and legendary all-you-can-eat king crab dinners.

Visiting Kirkenes With Kids

We had a wonderful time in Kirkenes with the boys. The locals were genuinely warm and welcoming to children, and nearly every activity here is hands-on, active, and thrilling for all ages: sledding, crab-hauling, husky-petting, reindeer-meeting. The one non-negotiable is winter gear: Kirkenes gets bitterly cold in winter, so proper layers, boots, and mitts are essential. Our Norway winter family packing list will make sure nobody’s toes end up as cold as Cohen’s did.

Where to Stay in Kirkenes, Norway

Although it’s a small town, there are lots of options for Kirkenes accommodations. And the benefit of the town’s size is that no matter where you stay, you’ll never be too far from the action. Here are some of our recommendations for hotels in Kirkenes, Norway.

Thon Hotel Kirkenes

The Thon Hotel Kirkenes sits right on the water, a short walk from downtown, with bright modern rooms, a generous hot breakfast, and the excellent Surf & Turf restaurant downstairs. You can check rates and availability here.

Scandic Kirkenes

Right by the town square, the Scandic Kirkenes is the town’s main full-service hotel, and its central location means you can walk to almost everything without hauling yourself up the big hill from the fjord. It’s comfortable, modern, and a reliable home base. You can check rates and availability here.

Snowhotel Kirkenes Gamme Cabins

For something unforgettable that doesn’t involve sleeping on ice, the Snowhotel’s Gamme Cabins are magic. These cozy wooden cabins have Nordic design, private bathrooms, underfloor heating, and big panoramic windows perfect for watching the Northern Lights from your bed. Open year-round and right beside the huskies and reindeer, they’re our top pick for a special stay. You can check rates and availability here.

Sollia Gjestegård

Out near the Snowhotel and the Russian border, Sollia Gjestegård is a characterful mountain guesthouse with lovely fjord and forest views, a sauna, and easy access to the borderland. It’s a peaceful, scenic alternative to staying in town.

A Local Apartment Rental

We stayed in a warm, roomy local apartment, and loved having a kitchen, a living room, and a genuine local host in Roar. If you’re traveling as a family, a self-catering rental is a fantastic, homey option; just book well ahead, as inventory is limited in this small town. Unfortunately, he’s not renting any longer, but this downtown apartment rental is a great option for those looking for all the comforts of home.

Best Time To Visit Kirkenes

Kirkenes is a true two-season destination, and both are spectacular.

• Winter (December to March) is the classic Kirkenes experience: deep snow, the rebuilt Snowhotel, snowmobiling and dog sledding across frozen fjords, king crab safaris by sled, and long dark nights ideal for the Northern Lights. It is also brutally cold, so come prepared.
• Summer (June to August) brings the surreal midnight sun, when it never truly gets dark, along with green Arctic landscapes, hiking, boat-based king crab safaris, and Pasvik River trips. It’s a completely different, gentler side of the far north.

The shoulder months can be lovely too, with autumn offering early aurora and fewer crowds. Whenever you come, check what’s seasonal (the Snowhotel, for instance, only exists in winter) and pack for the cold regardless.

Travel Resources For Families Visiting Norway

For practical planning, safety considerations, and logistics, these dedicated guides provide all of the resources you need for family travel in Norway.

Frequently Asked Questions About Travel To Kirkenes

We absolutely loved our time in Kirkenes, Norway, and we highly recommend those visiting the town on a Hurtigruten excursion take the time to explore and learn about this small but exciting town in northern Norway!

We hope you got great ideas out of our experiences. If you’ve been to Kirkenes, let us know about it in the comments below. Tell us about your favorite experiences or your best tips and tricks! You can also head to our Facebook page or tag us on Instagram in a photo of your trip. We would love to share your journey with you!

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