Information in English

Welcome!

On behalf of the municipality, I am pleased you chose to move to Tromsø. You are among many hundreds who do the same each year. And I wish to extend my welcome to all of you. As a new inhabitant, you become part of the unity that marks our municipality and which to a large degree is built upon inhabitants like you and me.

My word of advice is to make use of the municipality. Find out what we can do for you and what you can contribute with. Do this by participating in Tromsøʼs rich, social life: hundreds of organizations and societies gladly accept new members. Cultural activities are in abundance. We look forward to seeing you and hearing from you. Our wonderful, natural surroundings are open to everyone - with mountains, fjords, ski tracks and local guides to lead you.

The municipality wishes to offer its inhabitants the best possible services. In the included brochure, you will find brief information about municipal services. But, first and foremost, we would like to encourage you to contact us. Much of the help you may need is to be found at the Service Center, at city hall. There you will also find the new library that we are so proud of, as well. Answers to most of your questions can be found on the municipal website. And if you do not have access to the Internet, you may feel free to use one of many available computers at the library or at InterInfo.

Tromsø is an all-inclusive, international city. More than half the number of all countries in the world is represented among our inhabitants. We are proud of our municipality, and we sincerely hope that you, too, will feel the warmth of our people and their city. Our motto is “Together for a warm and prosperous Tromsø”.

Arild Hausberg, Mayor

An Open Door

The Service Centre offers information, advice and guidance concerning all municipal services, as well as some public and private. Call us on 777 90 000 or just come by the City Hall.

On the municipality’s website www.tromso.kommune.no you will be able to find the answers to most of the questions you might have regarding municipal services.

With its large glass surfaces and idiosyncratic roof design the library is easy to find. At the library you have access to computers and free wireless Internet. The library can also help you to find your way around Tromsø. The library is open on Saturdays, as well as Sundays during the winter.

InterInfo is the municipality’s intercultural Information and Service Centre. Here you will be able to receive information about cultural activities, as well as sports and other extra curricular activities. InterInfo was primarily set up for immigrants and refugees, but is available for everyone looking for information on activities and events. At InterInfo you have access to newspapers and periodicals in different languages, as well as a meeting room and office facilities.

Culture and Free Time

The library is a natural meeting place, as well as a place where you can keep yourself informed about events in the city. You can borrow books and films from a diverse collection, and there is free access to computers, wireless Internet and newspapers from around the world. In the neighbourhoods Kroken and Tromsdalen you can find branches of the library.

Fokus Cinema, with its six auditoriums, is located in the same building as the City Hall and the
library. Verdensteatret – another cinema in Tromsø – is an alternative to the more commercial films set up at Fokus Cinema. At the Culture House you can experience everything from classical music and dance recitals, to jazz clubs and rock concerts.

The activities offered by the Culture School are first and foremost for children, but they have some for adults too. The activities include music, dance and play. The Culture School is very popular, so apply in good time! Alfheim’s Activity House organises culture and leisure activities for physically disabled people of all ages. Kulta, located in Tromsdalen, is the meeting place for amateurs and professional artists, and provides courses within different circus and theatre disciplines. Rådstua Theatre House is a centre for theatre activities based on interaction between and among independent theatrical groups, as well as children and youth that would like to engage in theatre. The Art School offers courses within drawing, painting, textile, photography, animation, video art
and ceramics. The courses are for children, youth and adults, and the instructors are professional artists.

The Youth House Tvibit is a cultural house for youth between the ages of 15 to 25. At Tvibit you can find a café, health clinic, filmschool as well as a stage. The house offers a safe platform for young creative people; it is a
source of creativity and driving force in the cultural city of Tromsø.

The Factories of Rock in Tromsø have produced numerous excellent musicians. The courses are offered at Kvaløysletta, Kroken, Hamna and Mellomvegen. Get in touch with the Centre for Competence in Rock in the Northern Norway at Tvibit.

In most of the neighbourhoods you will find Junior or Youth Clubs. The clubs are usually located at the schools or nearby, and are under the jurisdiction of the municipal Leisure Department. The clubs offer different activities for youth and children like music, dance, play and sometimes even a café. Several of the clubs also offer courses within theatre, photography and film.

During the last few years the Leisure Department have organised Summer Camps for children and youth, as well as Summer Clubs through the Junior and Youth Clubs. And at Tvibit you can find something called “Little Job
Central”, where summer jobs are assembled for youth.

The municipality have numerous possibilities for skiing and hiking, with the fjords and the mountains, the ski and hiking trails. During winter the flood lit ski tracks are kept in good condition, and ski tracks are also prepared in the
mountains surrounding the city late winter. You can find good parking possibilities at the most popular spots.

For families with children there exist several excellent excursion spots in the local periphery, summer as well as winter. Charlottenlund and Storelva Ski Park are just two examples of meeting places for young children and youth. Here you can find ball games, sledging and other fun activities. You can also often witness families setting up bonfires and barbequing sausages.

If you want to enrol in a sports club or another recreational activity you can find a list of alternatives on the municipality’s website.

Day Care Centres and Schools

Day Cares Centres in Tromsø are both private and municipal-owned. All children will be assigned a place at a Day Care Centre after submission of an application. However, sometimes you will have to wait for a short period of time, and you might also be assigned a place in another Day Care.

Application for Day Care
Health Form

Primary (grades 1. – 7.) and Secondary Schools (grades 8. – 10.) are sometimes co-localised, but most of them are just one or the other. Children start school at their assigned local school. Pupils in grade one with more than two km to their local school and second grade pupils with more than four are entitled to free transport.

Information about foreign languages education can be found on the municipality’s website or you can contact the Service Centre. Here you can also find an overview of the school holidays.

Norwegian primary schools have a relatively short school day, from first to fourth grades it lasts until around one pm. Before school begins and for the remaining part of the day, the school provides an After-School Activity Programme (SFO) for first to fourth grade pupils on the school premises. SFO usually opens at 7.30 am and lasts until 4.30 pm. SFO is also available for physically disabled children up to the tenth grade. You can get more information about SFO at the different schools.

The six High Schools in Tromsø offers everyone who has completed primary and secondary schooling a broad selection of subjects and courses. The High Schools are under the jurisdiction of Troms County.

The Adult Education School offers adult immigrants Norwegian language courses and introduction to Norwegian society and culture. The Adult Education School can also provide you with information on rights and regulations
concerning Norwegian language courses. In addition, the school arranges for primary and secondary education for adults if necessary. The school also has their own speech therapist.

Other Important Services

The Municipality of Tromsø wishes to make use of the environmental and economic benefits of recycling and re-use, hence all our garbage is organised and sorted: Food, paper, light cardboard, plastic and the rest of the garbage not classified above are all sorted in the privacy of your home. The waste is sorted in different coloured bags that are optically sorted at the waste plant. The bags can be picked up for free at the Service Centre.

Special waste such as clothes, glass, electronics, paints, chemicals, oil and other similar waste can be taken to the Environment Stations or Recycling Points that you can find around the municipality. Once a year a calendar is sent to all the households, the calendar lets you know on which days the waste will be picked up. It also includes a guide for recycling and sorting.

Our water is treated to achieve the best possible quality, and you can drink water straight from the tap. The quality of the water is checked once a week. If you should be inconvenienced with no water because of a planned water stop the municipality guarantees that the stop will not last for more than 12 hours. If the water stop was not planned this guarantee is set to six hours. The water that you have used ends up in a sewer system and is transported to the nearest treatment plant before it is once again returned to nature.

All the buses with destinations to regions around the municipality as well as to Narvik, Harstad, Storslett, Alta and so forth have their bus stop at Prostneset. At Kirkegata 2 you can buy all kinds of tickets. Except for Tromsø Airport Prostneset is the city’s major transport hub. From Prostneset there are also Speed Boats to several places north and south of the county, and the Coastal Steamer has one departure north and one south every day.