Driving to Kiruna

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(Road) Construction Area, comments/additions welcome!

Leaving the Tromsø site, take the road down into Fargarnes and turn left (away from Tromsø). Follow the main road (E8) to Nordkjosbotn, 52 km from the site. Here you may wish to detour a few hundred metres to the Shell or Statoil gas stations, both of which which also have small shops; Nordkjosbotn is the first place for 'cheap' petrol after leaving Tromsø. The Statoil gas station is open until 2400LT.

At this point, you have several choices,
  1. The shortest route, which has two variants:
    1. South on E6 to (nearly) Narvik, then east over Bjornfjell to Kiruna on E10,
    2. The scenic route using highway 87 to bypass E6 between here and Bardufoss. This takes less than 30 minutes longer.
  2. Take the longer route through Finland (better in really bad weather).
For the shorter route, take the E6 south (just follow the main road) along the other side of the fjord towards Narvik.

For the scenic route, go northeast 10 km on E6 to Øvergard and turn right (south) on road 87, which is marked "to Øverbygg". The road goes over a spectacular pass. It is generally passable in winter but shouldn't be attempted if there is an avalanche hazard. Turn left at Øverbygg" in 37 km, and left again at Rundhaug in another 20 km. Highway 87 rejoins E6 in another 19 km at Elverum. You can extend your scenic drive another 9km by turning left on the Fjellstad road about 200m before the E6. This parallels the E6 for 9km, joining it about 10 km from Bardufoss.

Amongst the many possibilities, we have used the vei kro at Olsberg (102km) and Fossbakken (169km), but usually we chose to stop at either the Grill Cafe (few hundred metres past the Shell station, right hand side) in the middle of Bjerkvik, or the Bjerkvik Hotel (a few hundred metres along the road to Harstad). At Bjerkvik, the E6 meets the shore of Ofotfjorden and one can often see the lights of Narvik on the other side. The Shell station here is open 24 hours a day, has the usual mini-supermarket and a small cafe area just right for a coffee.

The road sweeps left along the side of the fjord; follow it for about fifteen kilometres until you reach the left turn onto the E10 for Kiruna, 213 km from the site.

In the winter, the next section of the E10 is frequently troubled by snow and convoys accompanied by snowploughs are not unusual; this is called Kolonnekjøring. You can check out the conditions at the Statens vegvesen website, which is automatically updated. Note that the road may be closed during the night (2330-0700 Monday to Friday and 2300-0730 on Saturday and Sunday) if there is a lot of snow or high winds, which cause deep drifting.

Follow the E10 up over Bjønfjell to the Swedish border and continue through the little ski resort of Riksgransen down to Kiruna, 160 km from the E6 turn-off.

On reaching the T-junction at the Kiruna Town Hall (easily identified by its destinctive bell tower), turn right and continue a further 9 km at which point you will find The Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF) and EISCAT Headquarters on your right and the Kiruna site a few kilometres down a dirt road to your left.

On your way out of Kiruna, you will pass a Statoil gas station which also has a small supermarket; it closes at 2400.

Here's a condensed distance chart, your milage may vary (ours did):


   From Tromsø            Place          From Kiruna

        0 km             Tromsø Site            386  km
       51                Nordkjosbotn           335
      102                Statoil, Olsberg       280 
      169                Fossbakken             213
      198                Bjerkvik               185
      213                E10/E6 turning         169
      241                Border post            142
      374                Kiruna Town Hall         9
      383                EISCAT Headquarters      0
Allow about five to six hours for this trip; look out for reindeer, particularly on the E10.
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Updated by Bill, 17 August, 1995.