This former whaling station has a population of more than 60,000, making it the largest city above the Arctic Circle. (It also has the world's northernmost university.) With an active cultural scene and buzzing nightlife, Tromso is sometimes referred to as "the Paris of the North.
" The main attraction in town is a historical museum that houses the largest exhibition on Sami culture in the world, as well as excellent exhibits on Arctic exploration. Other popular destinations include the Polar Museum (http://www.polarmuseum.no), shaped like a series of oversized fallen dominoes, and the iceberg-shaped Arctic Cathedral. This town is home to the world's northernmost Protestant cathedral, a wooden structure that has survived since 1861. Tromso is one place where nobody should be afraid to drink the water: The Coca-Cola plant there is the company's only one where the local water is so clean that it does not need to be purified.
720 mi/1,160 km north of Oslo.