SOME FACTS ABOUT CLIMATE, NATURE AND POPULATION

• Kirkenes has 3500 inhabitants, the municipality of Sør-Varanger has 10.000 inhabitants
• Sør-Varanger shares a border with both Russia and Finland
• Our main business sectores: Tourism, Kimek Ship Yard, business with Russia, hospital, military base (GSV)
• The Midnight Sun shines in Kirkenes is from 17 May to 21 July.
• The Polar Night season in Kirkenes is from 21 November to 21 January.
• Compared with other costal destinations in Norway, Kirkenes has a dry climate with low precipitation year-round.
• Northern lights can be seen from September until end of March. If you are lucky they will appear but it has to be dark and clear sky.
• The municipality is important from a geological perspective as the place in Norway with the oldest bedrock (approx. 2.8 billion years old).
• The area around Kirkenes has Norway’s largest brown bear population with around 40 individuals registered (2015).
• The average temperature in July is 10 °C, while the average temperature in January is -13 °C.
• The record low temperature in Kirkenes is -42 °C, while the record high is 30.3 °C.
• Sør-Varanger has a National Parc in the upper Pasvik Valley: Øvre Pasvik Nationalparc. The Visitor Center for the Parc is located in Svanvik

WEB CAMERAS IN THE KIRKENES AREA
View over center town: www.youtube.com/watch?v=69qgs-4i1T8
View over the Bøkfjord: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE4MDRNwGU8

WHERE TO SLEEP IN KIRKENES

Kirkenes and the region offers a ranch of different accommodations: hotel, guesthouse, cabins or private accommodation. For more information you can also check https://www.visitkirkenes.info/en/sleep/

Thon Hotel Kirkenes www.thonhotels.com
Scandic Hotel Kirkenes www.scandichotels.no
Private accommodation www.airbnb.no
Cabins at Snowhotel Kirkenes

WHERE TO EAT IN KIRKENES

Good food and local ingredients are something you get to experience in Kirkenes: reindeer meat, king crab, fish and much more.
You can get the freshest and best king crab meat on one of our excursions, which all include a king crab dinner. The tours run all year round.
Please check here for our king crab tours: www.bookingkirkenes.no/shop/

Aurora Restobar (menu added) in Dr Wesselsgate. Open every day, Sundays closed
Surf & Turf (menu added) in Dr Wesselsgate. Open every day.
Thon Hotel Restaurant
Scandic Hotel Restaurant
China Restaurant, Dr Wesselsgate 3
Thai food at Bangkok Restaurant. Dr Wesselsgate 9. Open every day until 21.00
Snowhotel Restaurant Kirkenes.
For more information you can check: www.visitkirkenes.info/en/eat

Useful web pages you can check

For booking of tours and accommodation at Snowhotel: www.bookingkirkenes.no/shop/
More info about Kirkenes and the region: www.visitkirkenes.info
Info about the National Park “Øvre Pasvik”: www.pasvik.no
Interesting film about the region, 45 min, in German language: www.youtube.com/Kirkenes Ostseereport NDR