Sommarøy and Senja, two must see places! It all started with a wallpaper on our TV: a superb scenery, about which we wanted to learn more. And we did: “Devil’s teeth” in Senja. One of the biggest islands from Norway, north of Lofoten, and in Troms county. We aimed to see it in the real life, when we return, in the summer, in Tromsø. And not only this. We already knew the legend of Sommarøy, the smaller island, where time does not exist, where people don’t guide their lives after conventional timing, given the size of day durring summer and night during winter. But how true is this?
Sommarøy, first stop!
Here, already explained our new summer experience in Tromsø. In our second full day, on 19th of June, we had booked a 4.5 hours trip to Sommarøy. It was a guided tour, with picnic on the beach and with a lot of information on the way. You can easily book this on GetYourGuide, and I highly recommend it! Funny, our guide was an Argentinian, Andre, but who had so much knowledge about the zone, and the road trip to the location, especially was full of information and of explanatory views, which consolidated our knowledge about Norwegian traditions, like the troll houses, or about the rugged geography of the North.
45 minutes picnic on Sommarøy beach
In Troms there are many fjords and dramatic landscapes, with beautiful stories and views. That can’t be told, because the best way to absorb all of it is by filtering it thru your own eyes! The picnic on the very beautiful beach in Sommarøy is of about 45 minutes. You can eat some reindeer and elk salami, Norwegian salmon – few places in the world where I am still willing to consume this kind of fish, because it has the biggest chances to be of good quality – and, of course, some traditional brown cheese. The atmosphere is good, we are a couple of dozen people from all around the world.
Can’t see the colorful houses from very close
I here a gentleman saying he’s from Cape Town, a beautiful memory for us, since we’ve been to this amazing place only some months back, in November 2025. The atmosphere is great, we enjoy a bit the surroundings, and off we go to continue our journey by bus, in the small 300 inhabitants community. Speaking about Cape Town, the Muizenberg colored houses have a correspondent in Sommarøy, but being private property, now tours are forbidden to stop and check them out. The fuss was so big. But you can drive by and spot them!
White was top notch in Norway
Of course, the colors and their background is not identical to the one in Muizenberg, but it did make a great link in the story. Actually, we were told that the houses from the region, some centuries back, were colored mainly in three colors: red, yellow, and white! While red was the cheapest version, white – with paint brought from Germany – was considered to be the costliest. Yellow was somewhat a symbol of middle class, and I remember now that the oldest standing building from Tromsø, the old customs, from 1789, is yellow. No better proof to describe the Norwegian focus on middle class!
Sommarøy, the timeless island?
Going back to Sommarøy, we are shown some remaining of ancient Viking tombs discovered there, which, to think about it, that really is an exceptional founding, so far North, since the Vikings historically lived much South. Maybe some unwanted, wicker communities were forced North, and we witness their legacy. Going back to Tromsø, the “no time bound” story arises. It is true that at some point inhabitants here made an own agreement to not be time bound, but in the end that is more of a legend, a good one, who can attract tourists, but which is a bit inflated.
Beautiful legend, but pushed too far
First of all, my watch worked, as you can see in the picture. 🙂 Secondly, the most important information I could find, documenting this experience myself, was that official activities, logistic, shipments, stores etc. do follow standard time, as they should do. And if this is aligned properly, then it is clear the rest is just a romantic story. A beautiful one, because, indeed, this is a place – like in Tromsø – where summers are endless, and winters are a 24/7 charm so you can dream the time is your last concern here! The added flavor of this was that our driver was exactly from Sommarøy, and you can’t get anybody more local than that to take you to this unique place!
Senja, another milestone
This experience was great, and getting back to Tromsø after four hours and a half, it was the perfect size. The one to Senja is a very different story, where I made one of my biggest mistake while travelling – in fact, while booking trips – and the aim here is to help you avoid it. The excursion to Senja was not guided, was only with a drop off, and pick up from a beautiful hotel. In total, half a day – 12 hours – from and back to Tromsø. Since the main purpose was to see and picture “Devil’s Teeth” (Tungeneset), we can consider an initial failure. Why is that? Let me explain…
You can’t reach “Devil’s Teeth” from Mefjord Brygge by foot in a couple of hours!
The thing is that the trip booked on GetYourGuide, mentioned a stop to Mefjord Brygge. It was clear. I didn’t checked if we can see “Devil’s Teeth” (Tungeneset) from there, I just assumed you should be able to. Unfortunately, you can’t, because it is around a hill, thru a 2 kilometer tunnel and a 20 kilometers round trip to Mefjord Brygge. My advice, then, is to not assume anything, and check any objective that you want to see, because otherwise you can get fooled easily. And I am a guy with high experience in planning holidays, trips and so on, never used a tourism agency etc. But this time, we needed to rebound and do something else.
Photo source: Bernard Gehringer
Check the above map of Senja!
To see the scenery of “Devil’s Teeth” (Tungeneset) you must go in the south part of the map, circled in red, and you can capture the image shown by the north part of the map. If you go to Mejford, you are on the other side, so you can’t get the picture. You are very close, indeed, which is a good feeling, given the size of Senja, but you can’t see it, which is, of course, a paradox! Then, if you want to take the picture, make sure you choose wisely. This drive, I guess, it can take you there, but you need to ask the bus driver, as the ride’s end is Svolvær, in Lofoten, and it passes the point where you can take the picture from.
Back up plan in Senja
The only problem, and this is why it’s very important to check beforehand, is that apart from the pictures, you might not have anything else to do in the belvedere location, so to spend three-four hours there for one / couple of pictures, might not worth it, especially since it is a zone with a lot of rainy potential which did affect us quite heavily on our way back to the pick up point. Why? Because, in the end, since we couldn’t catch the craved for picture, we needed to find another way to spend the four hour drop at Mefjord Brygge.
The walk to Senjahopen and back + a great lunch!
After enjoying a great lunch with fish soup and whale stake – really recommend! – we decided to pick up a road hike, to not overcomplicate our existence, so he went to Senjahopen and back. It was around a 9 kilometer round trip, in which we enjoy silence, and took pictures. Nothing special, but the best we could achieve there. And we understood the dramatic landscape of Senja even better. While we didn’t see “Devil’s Teeth” (Tungeneset), we could see that the scenery was very similar everywhere, even if slightly less spectacular. Not by much, though. And with a lot of green around and the grey sky, the chromatic truly spectacular.
Hope this helps. I just wanted to point out the main highlights of these two must-have trips in Troms county, but, most important, to avoid our – basically mine! – mistakes when booking the round trip to Senja.