We’d wanted to take a look around Alta – even though it’s very small and there’s not a lot there – but we hadn’t been sure what the options would have been for getting to it from the ship since the port and the town are far enough away to make walking doable, but not exactly advisable when there’s snow and ice on the ground. Fortunately, at the conclusion of our wonderful visit to the Igloo Hotel at Sorrisniva we’d been told that the bus could drop us off in the town and that there were regular shuttle buses running back to Ambience.
Not a lot in Alta is somewhat of an understatement, although it’s pretty enough to just get outside the more built-up parts and look at the landscape in the winter time, but there was one thing we could see that was open so that was our very limited plan for the time there.
The snow was falling quite heavily as we got off the bus, adding layers to the thick and sound-muffling blanket of white that coated everything. It hadn’t actually snowed in our previous port of Tromsø although there had been plenty of it on the ground, and what there’d been on our morning’s tour was very light compared to the more persistent fall that now greeted us in Alta. I’ve mentioned before that snow is a rarity in our part of the world so this just filled us with joy.
Our joy, though, was as nothing compared to some other visitors to Alta.
We’re fans of architecture, whether that’s for historical reasons or for unusual reasons, and the Northern Lights Cathedral in Alta certainly falls into the latter group. Despite its name, the cathedral is merely a church, consecrated in 2013, but it’s one with a design reminiscent of something Frank Gehry would put up, making use of titanium panels to curve around and produce something both sharp, manufactured, yet with the sense of natural growth and movement too.
There’s a small charge to look inside the church and we weren’t at all surprised to see some other people realise this then turn around and leave. Some people just don’t like parting with money for any experience at all. Mate, you’ve travelled all the way to the top of Norway; you can spend a few Norwegian Krone on this.
The interior art is by Danish artist, Peter Brandes. The vertical lines are representative of the bands of aurora that can be seen frequently in this part of the world.
It’s one of the smallest churches we’ve visited when we’ve travelled around the world, but it’s certainly worth a look for its modernist, abstract designs that combine organised religion with the natural sense of scientific wonder all around.
Back out in the wonderful snowy wonderland of Alta I made my way to where I could see the bust of someone in the grounds near to the cathedral, grabbing a different view of the building as I did so. The sculpture is that of Kristian Birkeland, a Norwegian physicist who developed the theory of how aurorae are formed. It’s an interesting thing to see something scientific and rational right next to a place of irrational worship.
With nothing else in easy walking distance in these conditions, we made our way back to the bus stop and picked up the shuttle bus back to the ship in port.
Feeling a smidge chilly after several hours in the snow, we went and got ourselves some hot chocolate from The Coffee House, a short walk from our cabin, then warmed ourselves up ahead of the evening’s planned activity.
We’d loved the snow in Alta but there was a concern with it too, as we had a second excursion booked for this day and that would be a trip out to see if we could spot the Northern Lights away from the lights of the ship and city after dark. The one thing you need for that, though, is a distinct lack of cloud. Just before we headed off to meet our bus for this tour we could see that there wasn’t a star to be seen anywhere in the sky so the expectations at this point were low, but not zero as we knew the trip would try to get us somewhere with the best chance of seeing the great natural phenomenon.
Spoiler: we did not see any Northern Lights on this evening’s tour.
We were taken to a place called Isnestoften, about forty kilometres north of Alta and close to the fjord. Here, there was an area set aside near a farmhouse with tents, fires, hot drinks, and some alcoholic beverages set up, and almost everyone on our tour spent their entire time there, and by all accounts had a lovely evening. About a dozen of us, though, set off into the darkness, a few hundred metres down a sloping road with knee-high snow, and to the water’s edge by the fjord where there were some benches with furs laid out on them. We sat there for nearly a couple of hours, snow up to our calves, cameras at the ready, and saw not a thing.
But it was absolutely lovely. It was so peaceful, and it didn’t even feel that cold. Darkness, muffled sounds, ultimate relaxation. Sometimes there’d be a break in the cloud cover and stars would pop out and expectations would rise, but while we weren’t rewarded with any aurora sightings on this night we still had a wonderful time.
We eventually made our way back up to where everyone else had spent the evening, warmed ourselves by the fires, and had something to eat and drink before it was time to leave.
We’ve seen the Northern Lights on numerous occasions – we’d seen them the night before from the ship, and we’d see them again on this cruise – so not spotting them on this excursion wasn’t the end of the world, and our enjoyment was enough that when we come back here in late 2027 and late 2028 it’s extremely likely that we’ll try to do this all again. And we won’t be concerned whether we see anything or not then either.
Ambassador Ambience was staying overnight in Alta and leaving around noon the following day so we decided not to get off for an explore in the morning. In the next post in this 2025 Arctic Circle cruise travelogue series we wake to clear blue skies and enjoy some utterly spectacular winter landscape scenery on our sailaway from Alta.