Guided Husky Sled Ride with Traditional Lunch from Tromsø

The price of $360 per person buys the full half-day package from central Tromsø. Transport from Sjøgata 7 to the kennel on Kvaløya and back is included, about 25 minutes each way by bus. At the kennel you get warm clothes and boots on loan, the sled ride with a professional musher, the guided dog yard visit with the puppy, and the warm lunch with coffee, tea and cake.

Hotel pickup is not included, so plan to walk to the meeting point.

Included and not included

• Transport from and back to Tromsø (Sjøgata 7)
• About 45 minutes in a shared sled driven by a guide
• Dog yard guiding and a husky puppy visit
• Warm lunch of bidos reindeer stew
• Coffee or tea and cake
• Warm clothes and boots on loan
• Not included: hotel pickup
• Bring yourself: hat, gloves and a scarf
• Children: give age and weight in the booking notes, and bring your own car seat for small children or arrange your own transport at the same price

Cancellation is free up to 24 hours before the start, and you can reserve now and pay later. The tour needs a minimum of 2 people to run. It carries a 4.9 rating from 749 reviews in the catalog, which is a strong signal for a tour of this type.

On this tour you are a passenger. A professional musher stands on the runners and drives a sled shared with one or two other guests, so your job is to sit warm in the basket and watch the terrain go by. The ride lasts about 45 minutes.

The dogs do the pulling, and the musher handles the braking, the steering and the pace.

The route runs through the mountains around Tromsø, with views stretching towards the Balsfjord and the Malangen peninsula. Because you are not balancing on the runners, you can put your phone away in an inner pocket between photos and simply watch the coast roll past.

Why the passenger setup matters

This is the tour for people who cannot or do not want to drive. The self-drive lunch tour at the same kennel requires normal fitness, an age of 16 to about 70, and no knee, back or arm injuries or heart conditions. None of that applies here.

Children ride with an adult, and all ages and fitness levels are welcome. The catalog flags one blunt fact in the honest note: it is the same $360 as driving yourself, so you pay for the comfort and access, not for a discount.

Visit Tromsø describes guided rides as the choice for a wider range of guests on its dog sledding page.

After roughly an hour of dogsledding, the sleds return to camp and the second half of the visit begins. A trained handler walks you through the dog yard and talks about animal care, how the dogs are bred and trained, and the history of dogsledding. The kennel keeps a large team of Alaskan huskies, and the listing highlights meeting the dogs and cuddling the puppies as a core part of the day.

The dogs here are working racing huskies, fast and suited to Arctic conditions. For many families the puppy cuddle is the moment children remember most. If you travel in summer without snow, the same kennel runs a puppy training visit instead, with no sled ride at all.

One clear exclusion from the listing: this tour is not suitable for people with animal allergies. With a large dog yard, a tent lunch shared with the group and close contact with the animals, allergic travellers should pick a different activity.

Lunch is bidos, a traditional Sámi reindeer stew made with reindeer meat, broth and vegetables. It is served in a tent with a wood fire burning in the middle, and a large pot of coffee sits ready. Coffee or tea comes with cake, and a vegetarian meal is available if you request it.

The stew is the reason many travellers pick a lunch tour over a shorter ride. After 45 minutes in cold air, a hot meat stew by an open fire does more for morale than any amount of coffee from a thermos. The meal is a proper warm lunch, not the cake and hot drinks that several other half-day tours in the catalog serve.

This is the ride for families with children of any age, for older travellers, and for anyone who cannot meet the fitness and health rules of the self-drive tours. Children join with an adult, and the operator asks you to note their age and weight when booking so the guides can plan the sleds. Toddlers can come, with one practical condition covered below.

• All ages welcome, children accompanied by an adult
• All fitness levels, no physical requirements to ride as a passenger
• Small children need your own car seat or your own transport to the kennel, at the same price
• Give the age and weight of children in the booking notes
• Not suitable for people with animal allergies
• No pets, no alcohol or drugs, and do not feed the animals

If you are two healthy adults who want the longest possible time on the runners, a self-drive tour is the better match. The self-drive option on Kvaløya from the other kennel gives 70 to 80 minutes of driving for $356, but it excludes children under 7 and serves no lunch. Choose based on your group, not on the price tag, because the differences are about who can join and what you eat.

Age rules, car seats and toddlers are covered tour by tour in dog sledding in Tromsø with kids.

The trip runs about 4 hours from Sjøgata 7, so a morning start leaves the afternoon free in town. The kennel is only about 25 minutes away on Kvaløya, which is the shortest transfer of the winter sled tours compared here.

Adding the northern lights

No daytime sled tour shows the aurora. If the evening is clear, the Northern Lights Husky Visit with Dinner at an Aurora Camp goes back to the dogs after dark with dinner and a lookout, without a sled ride. It is the one evening option in the catalog that takes infants in a pram and wheelchair users.

It costs the same $360 as the self-drive lunch tour from the same kennel, more than the short self-drive ride at Breivikeidet, and less than the private Målselv kennel. Its unique selling point is simple: it is the only lunch tour close to town where children of any age can join, because nobody has to drive. Figures current for Q4 2026.