A king crab safari Tromso lets you catch fresh Arctic crab and eat your haul. We compared eight tours from $265 with free cancellation; the top tour rates 4.4 from 87 reviews. The crab grounds run west along the mainland where the sea turns warmer.
From, per person
8 tours compared$265
Today's lowest king crab fare across all 8 tours
Average rating
All 8 tours47
1,333 verified reviews across 8 tours
Your day
Shortest to longest2–11h
Shortest: Polar Fishing
Longest: Saariselkä Safari
Everything you can book here
Eight listings. Three are king crab safaris out of Tromsø itself, where the pots come up over the rail and the catch turns into lunch. Two are Arctic fishing trips from the same quays, for cod rather than crab, and they start at $96. Three run from Kirkenes, 800 km further north-east: a RIB in summer, a snowmobile sled over the ice in winter, and a full day in from Saariselkä.
★ 4.4 · 87 reviews
★ 4.8 · 27 reviews
★ 4.8 · 743 reviews
★ 4.7 · 431 reviews
★ 4.7 · 40 reviews
★ 4.6 · 5 reviews
Three questions
Eight listings, and they come down to three decisions: how many hours you have, how much you want to spend, and whether the crab, the ice or the fishing is the point. Pick what matters and the page picks the trip.
See it before you pay for it
A pot breaking the surface with a crab the width of a dinner table inside it, the fjord around Tromsø in whatever light the season is giving, and a plate of split legs with butter and lemon at the end. Kirkenes adds the ice: the same crab, hauled up through a hole in a frozen fjord.
Side by side
Everything here is one of three things. A king crab safari from Tromsø, which is what most people mean: a boat from the town quay, the pots, and a king crab meal at the end. A Kirkenes safari, where summer is a RIB and winter is a snowmobile sled across a frozen fjord. Or an Arctic fishing trip from the same Tromsø quays, which costs a third as much and brings up cod instead.
Swipe the table sideways →
| MOST BOOKEDTromsø: King crab cruise & self-captured lunch in restaurant | Kirkenes: Winter King Crab Fishing & King Crab Meal | Tromsø: Fishing Sea Safari | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price per person | $265 | $369 | $174 |
| Duration | 4.5 hours | 3 hours | 3.5 hours |
| Cost per hour | $58.89 | $123.00 | $49.71 |
| How you get out | By boat, all year | By snowmobile sled, in winter | By boat, all year |
| Departs from | The town quay in Tromsø | Kirkenes, pickup available | The Operations Base, Tromsø |
| What you see | The pots, a crab in your hands, and a king crab lunch in a restaurant ashore | A snowmobile sled over the frozen fjord, your own trap, and a crab meal | Cod and coalfish in the fjord, with a soup cooked from your own catch |
| King crab meal | Yes, in a restaurant | Yes, served on the ice | Fish soup instead |
| Rating | 4.4 · 87 | 4.6 · 5 | 4.8 · 743 |
| Best for | Doing it once and eating your own catch | The ice, and a trap of your own | A day on the fjord for a third of the fare |
| Book this one→ | Check dates | Check dates |
Free cancellation up to 24 h · Reserve now, pay later
Verdict
The pots, a crab in your own hands and a king crab lunch in a restaurant ashore, four and a half hours from the middle of Tromsø: the three things people come for, in one booking. The one reason to book something else is the crab itself: the fishing safari at $174 carries 743 ratings, the most on this page, and brings up cod instead.
Check dates and availability→Before you book
One listing on this page carries 743 ratings and two carry none at all. That does not make the new ones weak — but an unrated listing tells you nothing yet, and five reviews tell you very little. Read both numbers before you decide.
Two-minute check
Eight listings and a lot of near-identical titles. Three answers narrow it to one: how many hours you have, what you want to spend, and whether the crab, the ice or the fishing is the point.
How long have you got?Two hours, half a day, or a full one
What are you willing to spend?Per person, meal included where it says so
Crab, ice or fish?Three listings leave from Kirkenes instead
You'll get a straight yes or no, the flight that fits your day, and the specific thing that would trip you up at check-in.
Six kinds of trip
Ratings are the operators’ own numbers on GetYourGuide, shown exactly as published. We do not write reviews and we do not average other people’s into a score of our own. Six of the eight listings carry a rating; the most reviewed has 743, and two are new enough to carry none yet. We say which is which on every card.
★★★★★
Based on 1,333
verified reviews
Every rated listing on this page, scored by the people who took it on GetYourGuide.
Read all 1,333→Tromsø: King crab cruise & self-captured lunch in restaurant
From $265 · 87 reviews
★★★★★
Four and a half hours from the middle of Tromsø: the boat, the pots, and your own catch served as a king crab lunch in a restaurant afterwards. 87 ratings at 4.4.
Tromsø: Fishing Sea Safari
From $174 · 743 reviews
★★★★★
An Arctic fishing trip with a skipper and a guide, gear and suits included, and a soup cooked from what you catch. 743 ratings at 4.8 — the strongest evidence here.
From Tromso: Polar Fishing Adventure
From $96 · lowest fare here
★★★★★
Two hours out with local fishermen from Tromsø, with all the gear and an insulated suit handed out at the quay. 431 ratings at 4.7.
The official Tromsø king crab fish tour
From $361 · 40 reviews
★★★★★
Three hours into the fjords aboard the Senjafjell with a small group, the pots, and a king crab meal on board. 40 ratings at 4.7.
Kirkenes: Summer King Crab Safari by RIB with King Crab Meal
From $279 · 27 reviews
★★★★★
A guided safari through the Kirkenes fjord by RIB, past wartime sites on the shore, with a meal of the crab you just pulled up. 27 ratings at 4.8.
Kirkenes: Winter King Crab Fishing & King Crab Meal
From $369 · 5 reviews
★★★★★
A snowmobile sled across a frozen fjord to a hole in the ice, your own trap on the end of the line, and a king crab meal served Northern Norwegian style. 5 ratings at 4.6.
What it really costs
A king crab safari from Tromsø runs from $265 to $361, and the crab meal is inside that price. Our top pick is $265, which is also the lowest crab fare here. An Arctic fishing trip from the same quays starts at $96.
Swipe sideways →
| What you are paying for | Price | What you get | Cancellation |
|---|---|---|---|
| A king crab safari from Tromsø | $265–$361 | Three to four and a half hours, the pots, and a king crab meal on board or ashore | Free cancellation 24 h |
| A king crab safari from Kirkenes | $279–$896 | A RIB in summer or a snowmobile sled over the ice, with the crab meal included | Free cancellation 24 h |
| An Arctic fishing trip from Tromsø | $96–$174 | Two to three and a half hours for cod, with gear, thermal suits and soup from your catch | Free cancellation 24 h |
The honest answer
For the meal alone most people say yes, and the reason behind the trip is geography. Tromsø sits at the western edge of the king crab’s range. The crab spread west along the Norwegian coast from the Barents Sea and stopped around here, where the water runs warmer. Every listing on this page is a boat ride to the far end of that range, and a plate at the end of it.
The trip, hour by hour
The boats tie up in the middle of town, a few minutes from Storgata. Thermal suits, gloves and boots are handed out before you step aboard.
Twenty minutes to half an hour of open water, with the island and the bridge behind you and the peaks of the mainland ahead.
The crew finds the buoy, the winch takes the strain, and the pot breaks the surface with the crabs inside. This is the part everybody films.
Legs across two hands, and heavier than it looks. The crew shows you where to hold it and how to tell a male from a female.
Undersized crabs and females go straight back over the side; the rest go into the tank. Norway fishes this crab under quota, and the crew explains how that works.
Split legs, butter, lemon and bread, and about half a crab a head. On our top pick the table is in a restaurant ashore; on the small-group boats it is on deck.
Four and a half hours door to door on the Tromsø cruise, three on the shorter boats, and the rest of the evening is yours.
The one thing to know
Everything else on this page is a preference. This one is geography. Red king crab was carried from the Pacific into the Barents Sea in the 1960s, settled on the seabed and walked west along the Norwegian coast for sixty years. The dense grounds reach about as far as Tromsø and stop there, because the sea to the south runs warmer than the crab likes. That is why every safari on this page leaves from Tromsø or from Kirkenes further north-east, and why there is nothing like it further down the coast. You are booking a boat to the western end of a range that took sixty years to grow.
Four parts of the trip
The pot comes up over the rail with the crabs in it, and the crew hands you the first one.
A full-grown king crab spans more than a metre from claw to claw and weighs what a small dog does.
Split legs, butter, lemon and bread. The usual portion is about half a crab a head.
The water the pots sit in: open all year at Tromsø, frozen over at Kirkenes in midwinter.
Start here
Here is the fact that decides where a king crab safari can happen at all, and it is not the boat: Tromsø is the western edge of the king crab’s range. The crab spread west along the Norwegian coast from the Barents Sea, and the dense grounds stop around here, where the sea runs warmer. South of Tromsø there is no safari to book, because there is no crab to pull up.
The crab itself is a newcomer. Red king crab was carried from the Pacific into the Barents Sea in the 1960s, settled in, and walked west along the seabed for sixty years. Norway now fishes it under quota, and a safari is one of the ways the catch reaches a table.
The Tromsø trips take three to four and a half hours. A boat leaves from the town quay, runs twenty minutes or so into the fjord, and the crew hauls pots that were set the day before. You pull, you hold one for the photograph, and the crab goes into the tank for lunch. From $265 with the meal in the price.
Kirkenes is the other way to do it, and it changes with the ice. Eight hundred kilometres north-east of Tromsø, on the Russian border, the fjord freezes hard enough to drive on. Summer there is a RIB across open water; winter is a snowmobile sled to a hole cut in the ice, with the trap coming up through it.
The meal is the part people remember. Split legs, butter, lemon and bread, and the usual portion is about half a crab a head, which is more meat than it sounds. On our top pick the table is in a restaurant ashore; on the small-group boats the crew cooks on deck.
The fishing trips are the same fjord for a third of the price. Two hours with local fishermen from $96, or three and a half with a skipper and a guide for $174, and the soup at the end comes from whatever you pull up. Cod rather than crab, and the most reviewed trip on this page is one of them.
And the last thing, which no listing says plainly: these boats are small and the departures are few. Ten to twenty seats, one or two runs a day, and Tromsø fills up in every season now. Book a few weeks ahead and the date is yours; leave it to the morning and it is whatever is left.
If you are heading further north-east
The Tromsø boats all do the same thing well: the town quay, the pots, and a king crab meal at the end. These three leave from Kirkenes, 800 km up the coast on the Russian border, where the fjord freezes and the safari changes shape with the season.
3 h · ★ 4.8 (27)
$279See dates 3 h · ★ 4.6 (5)
$369See dates 11 h · ★ New (0)
$896See datesPractical
Four things decide how this goes: which listing you booked, whether you are in Tromsø or Kirkenes, what the season is doing to the light, and how much crab you were expecting on the plate.
Four and a half hours, you haul the pots, lunch ashore. 87 ratings at 4.4.
Three hours in the fjords aboard the Senjafjell, crab meal on board.
You bait, set and haul the traps, then seafood served on deck.
Three hours through the fjord in summer, with a king crab meal.
A snowmobile sled to your own trap under the ice, in winter.
Cod rather than crab, with gear and suits, and soup from your catch.
The winch, the rail, and the crabs inside it. Every trip here does this.
More than a metre from claw to claw on a full-grown male.
Open water in all twelve months, with the peaks white above it.
The meal at the end, about half a crab a head.
A frozen fjord you cross by snowmobile sled, from December to April.
Polar night in midwinter, midnight sun in midsummer, aurora in between.
The quays are in the middle of town, near Storgata.
800 km north-east, and a separate flight from Tromsø.
Every boat and sled here provides the outer layer and gloves.
Wool or fleece next to the skin, and a hat that stays on in wind.
On six of the eight listings; the fishing trips serve soup instead.
The Tromsø fjord stays open; Kirkenes swaps the RIB for a sled.
On every listing on this page.
Ten to twenty seats a boat, and one or two departures a day.
The fishing safari has 743; two listings are new and carry none.
Tromsø boats meet at the quay; Kirkenes trips often collect you.
King crab on six listings, fish soup on the two fishing trips.
Weather moves departures in midwinter more often than in summer.
Best time
Safaris run all year. In Tromsø the boats go out in every month, because the fjord stays open; in Kirkenes the shape of the trip changes with the ice, from a RIB in summer to a snowmobile sled in winter. The crab on the plate is the same in all twelve months.
Sep – Nov
Dark evenings return and the aurora season opens again, while the fjord is still open water. The Tromsø boats run daily and the light on the water is the best of the year.
Dec – Feb
Tromsø spends late November to mid-January without a sunrise, and the fjord turns blue at midday. In Kirkenes the fjord freezes, and the safari becomes a snowmobile sled over the ice.
Mar – May
The brightest snow of the year, with the sun back and the peaks white above the water. The ice safari in Kirkenes runs into April; after that the RIB season takes over.
Jun – Aug
The sun stays up from late May to late July, and an evening safari looks like an afternoon one. Kirkenes runs its summer RIB trips, and the fjord is at its warmest for the crossing.
Worth knowing
Book a few weeks ahead. Ten to twenty seats on a boat and one or two departures a day, in a town that now has visitors in every month. The date you want goes first.
Wear wool under the suit they give you. The thermal suit handles the wind and the spray; what you put underneath decides whether the last half hour on deck is comfortable.
The portion is about half a crab a head. That is a plate of split legs and more meat than most people finish. Arrive hungry and skip the big lunch beforehand.
Ask the crew where the pots were set. They go down the day before, which is why the haul takes minutes rather than hours, and the crew will show you the buoy line on the way out.
Kirkenes is a separate trip, not a day out from Tromsø. Eight hundred kilometres north-east and its own flight. Book it into the itinerary rather than onto an existing day.
Read the review count, not just the score. The fishing safari here carries 743 ratings at 4.8. Two crab listings are new and carry none at all, and we label them that way on every card.
Round out the trip
Go deeper
Common questions
From $265, and the king crab meal is inside that price. That listing is also our top pick. The small-group crab boats run to $361, and an Arctic fishing trip from the same quays starts at $96.
You haul the pot and hold the crab. The pots go down the day before, which is why the trip is three hours rather than three days, and the crew hands the winch to whoever wants it.
About half a crab a head is the usual portion, served as split legs with butter, lemon and bread. On our top pick the table is in a restaurant ashore; the small-group boats cook on deck.
Tromsø if it is already on your itinerary: the boats leave from the middle of town and run all year. Kirkenes if you want the ice, because the fjord there freezes and the winter safari crosses it by snowmobile sled. Kirkenes is 800 km away and needs its own flight.
The red king crab spread west along the Norwegian coast from the Barents Sea, and the dense grounds reach about as far as Tromsø, where the sea turns warmer. It is the far edge of the range, and the last town on the coast with a safari to book.
Yes, in every month. The fjord at Tromsø stays open all year, and thermal suits are handed out at the quay. In Kirkenes the winter trip swaps the RIB for a snowmobile sled and a hole cut in the ice.
On most of these boats, yes, with the age limits stated on each listing. The crab handling is supervised, the suits come in smaller sizes, and the haul itself is the part children remember.
The boat or the sled, the crew, the thermal suit, the pots, and the king crab meal on six of the eight listings. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before on every listing here.
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One PDF: all eight listings by hours and price, which ones include the king crab meal, which leave from Tromsø and which from Kirkenes, and what the light is doing month by month.
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Why trust this page
Prices, durations and ratings are read off the live listings rather than copied from other affiliate pages. Departure points, what each trip includes and how the meal is served come from the operators’ own descriptions.
Every listing here is sold on a crab and priced on an afternoon. We put the length on every card and the cost per hour in the comparison, because that is the number that separates a two-hour fishing trip from a full day in from Saariselkä.
One listing here carries 743 ratings and two carry none at all. All of them can be good; only some have been tested, and we label them that way rather than sorting everything by score.
Eight listings, ordered as a shop window rather than by price, ranked on what they include and how much evidence stands behind them. We earn a commission when you book, and it does not change what we recommend.
The answer
If you are booking one king crab safari in Tromsø, book the crab cruise with lunch ashore at $265. It carries 87 ratings at 4.4, leaves from the middle of town, and turns your own catch into a king crab lunch in a restaurant. If the crab is not the point, the fishing safari at $174 carries 743 ratings, the most on this page, and comes with soup from whatever you pull up.
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All eight listings by hours and price, which ones include the king crab meal, and what the light is doing month by month.
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Tromsø: King crab cruise & self-captured lunch in restaurant
★ 4.4 · 87 reviews · Free cancellation 24 h
