Budget
Home Sleep
run by the friendly Dane Kirstine, has spotless, excellently furbished rooms in a residential area near the city centre. Two doubles and two singles share a fantastic bathroom and an even better kitchen.
Sydspissen Hotel
with a slightly inconvenient location 30 minutes' walk south of the city centre, has fairly well-apointed rooms. A bargain mid-week, and recommended if you drive a car.
Thon Polar Hotel
is a substantial step up, with rooms on the small side, but always private facilites. Excellent, central location.
AMI Hotel
a few minute's walk up the hill from the main street offers tidy, spotless rooms with private or shared facilities. The east-facing rooms have a fantastic view.
Make sure to contact some of these places as early as possible, since they fill up early. These places more or less have the same rates mid-week and week-end, and do not give particular summer discounts. Private accommodation can be a good alternative. Check out the home page of the tourist board. Most places, though, are rented to students in the school year, and only available in the summer months. (http://www.destinasjontro...)
Midrange
Skansen Hotel
Close to the city centre. Quality rooms with breakfast and wireless Internet included.
Viking Hotel
has the ambience of a small, continental city hotel, and is recently renovated with lovely rooms. The breakfast room and the reception look more like a guest house, and the exterior is modest.
The Grand Nordic
is the oldest in town, but has recently been completely renovated. Some of the rooms are huge.
Although Norway has no star-rating system, the hotels in this category could be called three star. Expect well-furnished rooms with tiled bathrooms and a good buffet-style breakfast. Double room rates hover around NOK 1200 mid-week, but expect substantial discounts in week-ends, especially in winter, and during the July/early August holiday period, when business people stay away. The price difference between budget and mid range might be narrowed by major discounts in the mid-range places in July/August and during week-ends the rest of the year.
Top end
Scandic Hotel
4km out of the city centre, near the airport and the biggest shopping centre in town, has good-size rooms with a fantastic view, as well as a restaurant. If you drive your own car free parking!, frequent week-end and summer offers can be a relative bargain
Clarion Hotel Bryggen
is decidedly smaller, with modern, stylish rooms, a restaurant, a lobby bar and an outdoor hot tub to kill for
Rica Ishavshotel
is another full service hotel bar, restaurant with a lovely view from the rooms. They are recently renovated. Their "Skipsbroen bar" is a good place to wait for the Midnight Sun or the odd glimpse of the Northern Lights the more you drink, the better the chances.
Radisson SAS Hotel
has just reopened after a major spruce-up and enlargement, and it is stylish and modern with a restaurant, a popular pizzeria and a bar.
The top-end hotels are but a small step up from the mid range in price and quality. No hotel in Tromsø is in the absolute top division in the world. Week-end discounts and favourable summer rates can make these hotels an affordable alternative.
Rock bottom
Anemone Bed and Breakfast
is located near Prestvannet, half an hour away from downtown, with frequent buses. Simple standard, low fares.
The ultra-tough back-packer has a hard time in Tromsø, since there are few of the really cheap dorm-style places, but the Right to access means you can camp mostly anywhere outside the city centre for free! nearest spot 10min walk uphill from the centre, otherwise try these:
Tromsø Vandrerhjem
is only open from mid June to mid August. Since they are housed in a student's dorm, their standard is rather good. Slightly inconvenient location some 30 minutes from the city centre on foot, but rather frequent buses bus 26 stops right out front. No internet.
Fjellheim Sommerhotell
is a bible school in winter, and a good alternative in summer, near the city centre. Good-size bedrooms, shared facilities.
Tromsø is a popular place to stay, and consequently it can sometimes be hard to find a place to stay. In June, it's full all the time, and the Midnight Sun Marathon week-end (http://www.msm.no) people practically sleep in hotel elevators. July is a lot easier, August even more so, and you can benefit from lower summer rates. September, October and November are usually rather full, as are March/April. December, January and February except the January Film Festival are less full, with possibilities for a bargain. Also the Easter week between Palm Sunday and Easter Monday, the Ascension long week-end Thursday to Monday and occasionally the Whitsun week-end are less busy. Timing your visit to low season will save you some kroner, and many of the low seasons are good times to visit Easter, Whitsun, August etc..