The biggest husky operation around Tromsø, with Iditarod racing roots, tours with and without a sled and the shortest transfer of the major camps.
Pick a day, or the first and last day you are in Tromsø. We check the booking calendar of every husky tour and show which ones still have places.
On the sled: 45 min
No sled ride
No sled ride
On the sled: 45 min as a passenger
Duration: 4.5 h
The Villmarkssenter (Wilderness Centre) on Kvaløya island is Tromsø's best-known husky camp: roughly 200 Alaskan huskies about 25 minutes from the city, founded by a family with Iditarod racing history. It runs daily tours through the winter season (15 November to 30 April) and offers all three formats this site compares: drive your own team, ride as a passenger, or visit the camp in the evening for dinner and dog time. Tours without a sled complete the line-up: a snowshoe hike with huskies, and in summer a puppy training walk.
Each of these tours stands out on one point. All tours on this page follow further down.
Self-drive with a hot lunch at the camp, only about 25 minutes from town. About 45 minutes in a shared sled, from age 16.
A musher drives and you ride, and the listing says the tour suits all ages and fitness levels. Lunch, a walk through the camp and a puppy visit are included, and the bus ride is only about 25 minutes.
An evening at the camp with a bacalao dinner and, on clear nights, a chance of northern lights. There is no sled ride.
A guided snowshoe hike with huskies and a visit to the dog yard, with homemade chocolate cake afterwards. No sled ride. The hike takes about two hours and is open from age 13.
Every option side by side, with the same facts for each. Open a card for the full tour details.
Mush your own team, then a traditional lunch at the ~200-husky camp.
The Villmarkssenter (Wilderness Centre) on Kvaløya island is Tromsø's best-known husky operation: a camp of roughly 200 Alaskan huskies about 25 minutes from the city, founded by a family with real Iditarod racing history. This tour combines the self-drive sled ride with a traditional lunch afterwards, which is why many reviewers call it the most complete half-day at the camp.
After the ride you get time with the dogs at the kennel. Depending on the season, that can include puppies.
Content taken from the operator's product page on the booking platform.
No sled ride. Dog time, Bacalao dinner and a chance of aurora.
Not a sledding tour, and priced accordingly. This is a 4-hour evening visit to the Tromsø Villmarkssenter husky camp: unhurried time with the dogs, a traditional Bacalao (Norwegian cod stew) dinner, and, on clear nights, a real chance of seeing the northern lights away from the city lights. It is the cheapest way on this site to spend an evening with huskies in Tromsø.
One thing to be completely clear about, because parts of the listing can read otherwise: there is no sled ride on this trip. Its rating sits a notch below the sledding tours, largely reflecting exactly that expectation mismatch: people who expected a ride. Know what it is (a camp evening, not a sled trip) and it delivers.
Content taken from the operator's product page on the booking platform.
No sled ride. A husky walks with you on snowshoes, then time in the dog yard.
Not a sled tour. You head out from Tromsø Villmarkssenter on snowshoes, and one or two huskies come along on the hike; reviewers describe being pulled along most of the way. The route depends on the weather and the group, and the stop on the trail comes with homemade chocolate cake, coffee and tea. If the weather rules out the stop, the snack is served at the camp instead.
The second half is the dog yard: time with the adult huskies of the Kvaløya camp, and with puppies when there is a litter, which the listing mentions but cannot promise for a given date.
Outside the main entrance of the Radisson Blu Hotel in Tromsø, 15 minutes before departure
Content taken from the operator's product page on the booking platform.
A musher drives and you ride. Lunch included.
Not everyone wants to stand on the runners. On this Villmarkssenter tour an experienced musher drives the team while you ride in the sled: wrapped up, camera free, nothing to steer and nothing to brake. That makes it the natural pick for families with smaller children and for anyone who wants the huskies and the landscape without the physical work of mushing.
Like its self-drive sibling, the tour includes a traditional lunch, coffee or tea with cake, and a guided round of the dog yard with a puppy visit.
Content taken from the operator's product page on the booking platform.
The summer tour: a training walk with the puppies near the farm, lunch at the camp.
Tromsø Villmarkssenter trains its next sled teams in summer, and this tour lets you help. You take the puppies out on a 1 to 1.5-hour walk close to the husky farm, with exercises that change with their age, from a few weeks old up to the adolescent dogs. Around the walk there is time to pet the dogs in the yard, and lunch is cooked at the camp; reviewers mention eating by the fire with hot berry juice.
It is a summer tour: the listing ties it to the puppies' first training season, and the gear handed out is rain clothes and boots, not thermal suits. There is no sled ride. In winter, the snowshoe hike from the same camp is the closest thing.
Outside the main entrance of the Radisson Blu Hotel in Tromsø, 15 minutes before departure
Content taken from the operator's product page on the booking platform.
The self-drive with traditional lunch is the classic: you mush your own team (two per sled, swapping halfway, about 45 minutes of sledding), then eat a traditional lunch at the camp. The guided passenger sled with lunch is the same day without the work: a professional musher drives while you and, on family trips, your children ride in the sled. The evening camp visit with dinner is the outlier: no sled ride at all, but unhurried dog time, a Bacalao dinner and a real aurora chance on clear nights, at roughly half the price of the sledding tours.
Some tours leave the sled out. On the snowshoe hike with huskies one or two dogs walk with you, and reviewers describe being pulled along most of the way; afterwards there is time in the dog yard and homemade chocolate cake with coffee or tea. The puppy training tour is the summer programme: you take the puppies on a 1 to 1.5-hour training walk near the farm, in rain clothes and boots from the camp, with lunch cooked on site.
The sledding tours and the evening visit include the return transfer from Tromsø, thermal outer gear and boots, a guide, and a meal at the camp: lunch on the day tours, a Bacalao dinner on the evening visit. The snowshoe hike includes winter overalls, boots, snowshoes and poles, with cake, coffee and tea instead of a meal; the summer puppy tour hands out rain clothes and boots and includes lunch. Not included: your own base layers, hat and gloves (the what-to-wear page has the checklist), and any camera gear you want along. Cancellation is free up to 24 hours before the start on every tour here. On the walking tours, which meet outside the Radisson Blu Hotel, a tour missed through a late arrival is not refunded.
Sledding runs 15 November to 30 April, daily; the puppy training tour belongs to the summer. In the polar-night weeks (late November to mid-January) morning and midday tours run in blue twilight while afternoon slots run dark. The trade-offs are on our timing page. Being a coastal camp, snow in the shoulder weeks can run thinner than inland; for November and April dates our best-time page covers the alternatives.
Reviews of the evening camp visit: the five-star evenings and the criticism. The critical voices almost all trace back to one expectation: the evening visit includes no sled ride, which is why we flag that on every page it appears.
“We got so much time cuddling the huskies and learning about them! … We didn't think we would see the northern lights however a break in the clouds made a dream come true”
“… incredible value for money. We got to spend so much quality time with the dogs … roast marshmallows around the fire … a delicious dinner that exceeded expectations.”
“Please read the description. No sleigh ride and no Northern Lights tour. The cover picture is very misleading”
Reviews by travellers after their husky tour, from GetYourGuide.
On Kvaløya island, about 25 minutes from central Tromsø: the shortest transfer of the major husky camps. Tours include round-trip transport from town.
Around 200 Alaskan huskies. It is a year-round working kennel founded by a family with Iditarod racing history, not a seasonal tourist setup.
The guided passenger sled with lunch: children sit in the sled with an adult while a professional musher drives, so no one in the family needs to handle a team. A reduced child rate applies; the current one is on the tour card and the product page.
About 45 minutes of actual sledding on the day tours, which is typical for Tromsø. If you want the longest official ride in town, that is the 70–80-minute Arctic Adventure Tours self-drive, a different operator also based on Kvaløya.
No: the evening camp visit is dog time plus a Bacalao dinner, with a chance of northern lights on clear nights. It is priced well below the sledding tours. If you want to ride, book one of the sledding day tours.
Yes: the puppy training tour runs in summer, with a training walk with the puppies near the farm and lunch at the camp. There is no sled ride in summer.
The Villmarkssenter tours next to every alternative.
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