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Northern Lights · Food

Vegetarian and Indian food in Tromsø and Rovaniemi

Neither Arctic hub is cheap, but both are easy for vegetarians and manageable for vegans. Here's where to eat in each, what it costs, and how we kept our own bill in check.

By Nikita Bhandari & Ashutosh Pandey · March 2026

See daily meal costs The hotel breakfast trick
₹2,000 to ₹3,200
A sit-down dinner per person in Tromsø
₹1,400 to ₹2,400
The same meal per person in Rovaniemi
25 to 50% less
By eating at bakeries and cafes, and carrying ready-to-eat food from India

Planning a Northern Lights trip? This is one of our 9 free guides covering flights, visas, stays, food, tours and budgets.

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Most Indians arrive in the Arctic worried about two things: whether there will be anything to eat, and how much it will cost. Both worries are fair. A plain sit-down dinner in Tromsø can cross ₹2,500 a head, and the menus lean heavily on fish and reindeer.

The good news is that neither city is hard for vegetarians, and it's manageable for vegans. Bread, cheese, pasta, pizza and falafel are everywhere, oat milk is standard, and hotel breakfasts do a lot of heavy lifting. Here's where we ate in each city, what it cost, and how we kept our own bill down.

Start your day right

Start with the hotel breakfast

Norway and Finland both take hotel breakfast seriously, which works in favour of vegetarian and vegan travellers.

  • Book a breakfast-included rate: many hotels offer one, so choose it when you book. A good buffet covers your morning food properly, and it is the one meal where the price is already settled.
  • Some hotels include more than breakfast: Clarion Collection hotels are known for free afternoon waffles or cake and a light evening meal, and Thon offers a light evening meal at some hotels on weeknights. Worth checking when you book.
  • What is usually on offer: breads and crispbreads, cheeses, boiled eggs, oats and muesli, yoghurt and skyr, fruit, juices, and often a hot station.
  • Vegan travellers: oat milk is common at the drinks station, and fruit, oats, bread and jam alone make a solid plant-based plate. Ask staff about plant-based spreads or yoghurt kept behind the counter.
💡 Our trick Eat a proper, unhurried breakfast. It sets you up for a morning out in the cold, so you aren't hunting for food at ₹2,000 a plate in the middle of a cold day out.

For which hotels have the best breakfast and the most central locations, see our Tromsø stay guide.

Want a premium, breakfast-included hotel in Tromsø for less? Contact us. We can often help you get 60 to 70% off a stay at one of the city's top hotels.

Ask about hotel deals
What a day costs

What a day of food costs

Approximate, per person, based on current Tromsø restaurant prices. Rates change, so treat this as a planning guide rather than a fixed bill.

MealTypical choiceVeg / VeganCost (NOK)Approx ₹
BreakfastHotel buffetBoth, widelyIncluded₹0 extra
Mid morning snackPastry and coffee at a bakeryVegan options marked90 to 120₹900 to ₹1,200
LunchFalafel wrap or plateVegetarian and vegan150 to 200₹1,500 to ₹2,000
Lunch (budget version)Bread, cheese or hummus, fruit, from a supermarketVegetarian, some vegan60 to 100₹600 to ₹1,000
DinnerPizza, pasta or Indian main courseVegetarian and vegan options200 to 320₹2,000 to ₹3,200

1 NOK is about ₹10 as of August 2026. Check the rate before you travel, it moves through the year.

Eating out for every meal
₹4,000 to ₹6,000roughly ₹4,000 to ₹6,000 a day
One meal carried from home
₹2,500 to ₹3,500roughly ₹2,500 to ₹3,500 a day
Self catering most meals
₹1,500 to ₹2,500roughly ₹1,500 to ₹2,500 a day
View from Jordbaerpikene in Nerstranda, with the harbour outside
View from Jordbaerpikene in Nerstranda, with the harbour outside
Cheapest good food in town

Backstube, the best value in town

Backstube, on the main street at Storgata 70, is a large self serve bakery that turned out to be the best value food we found in Tromsø. It's bright, centrally located, and open seven days a week.

  • Vegan items are clearly labelled on the shelf, including vegan borek, vegan cronuts and pretzels.
  • Vegetarian pastries, sandwiches and savoury rolls make up most of the counter.
  • Coffee is self serve from machines, though oat milk is usually kept behind the counter, so just ask.
  • A pastry and a coffee together comes to about ₹1,000, noticeably less than a sit down cafe meal elsewhere in the city.
🧳 We booked this We came back here more than once, not because we ran out of options, but because everything genuinely tasted good and the prices made sense. The cinnamon rolls, pizza slices and croissants were easy repeat orders.
Familiar comfort

Pizza and pasta places

When you want a proper sit down meal without hunting for something entirely new, these two cover most of Tromsø's Italian food scene.

Wood fired

Casa Inferno

Vestregata 2, city centre
₹2,000 to ₹3,000per person, per pizza

A wood fired, Neapolitan style pizzeria with an unusual steampunk interior. Vegetarian and vegan pizzas are on the regular menu, not a side note, and gluten free bases are available too.

  • Proper wood fired crust
  • Vegan cheese option
  • Books up on weekends
Best for: a satisfying, familiar dinner after a cold day out.
Quick and casual

Pastafabrikken

Sjøgata 17, near the harbour
₹1,300 to ₹1,700per main course

Order at the counter with a QR code or at the till, get a buzzer, and collect your food. Simple, fast, and one of the more reasonably priced sit down options in the city, with a handful of vegetarian pasta dishes on the menu.

  • Good value for Tromsø
  • Fast service
  • Vegetarian choice is limited, not absent
Best for: a quick, budget friendlier lunch or dinner near the harbour.
Fully vegetarian menu

Green Falafel, the easiest vegan meal

Green Falafel, on Strandgata, focuses entirely on Mediterranean style vegetarian and vegan dishes. It's one of the few places in Tromsø where you don't need to double check anything on the menu before ordering.

  • Falafel wraps and plates, hummus, and fresh salads make up most of the menu.
  • A wrap or plate typically runs about ₹1,500 to ₹2,000.
  • Good option to break up a run of pizza, pasta and bakery meals with something lighter.
A taste of home, at Arctic prices

Indian restaurants in Tromsø

A small but real Indian scene, all central near Storgata, and all priced like any other sit-down restaurant here. Treat them as a comfort splurge.

Well reviewed
Indie

On Grønnegata, one of the better-known Indian kitchens in town. Mains around ₹2,200 to ₹3,200.

Central, with takeaway
Elefant Indisk Restaurant

On Storgata, with takeaway if you'd rather eat back at the hotel.

Simple and central
Indian House Restaurant

A smaller, straightforward spot, also on Storgata, with outdoor seating in good weather.

⚠ On spice levels Norwegian kitchens cook milder by default. If you like real heat, say so clearly when ordering.

The hot dog stand on Storgata

A tiny, century-old stand in the middle of Storgata, known as one of the smallest in the world. It does a proper vegan hot dog, and it suited an Indian palate better than we expected. Order it with a hot chocolate, eat standing in the snow, and it costs a fraction of a sit-down meal.

The hot dog stand on Storgata, vegetarian option on the board
The hot dog stand on Storgata, vegetarian option on the board
When you just want cheap and easy

McDonald's and 7-Eleven in Tromsø

Two familiar names are genuinely useful in Tromsø, both for the budget and for a quick, no-surprises meal.

  • McDonald's (Storgata 70) is the northernmost in the world, central and open late. The fries are a reliable vegetarian option, and Norway's menu has offered a plant-based burger, though availability varies, so check.
  • 7-Eleven has several branches across the centre, open long hours, with a range of vegetarian grab-and-go items and hot Margherita pizza slices from about ₹290, roughly $3, which is genuinely cheap by Norwegian standards.
🧳 We booked this McDonald's fries were reliably good, and the vegan burger actually suited our Indian palate, more so than some of the plant-based burgers we tried in Switzerland and Germany. The 7-Eleven pizza slice became our go-to cheap snack between sights.
The northernmost McDonald's in the world, on Storgata
The northernmost McDonald's in the world, on Storgata
Rovaniemi

Now, over to Rovaniemi

Rovaniemi is smaller than Tromsø, but the same playbook works: a big hotel breakfast, one meal carried from home, and a handful of reliable veg-friendly spots. It runs on euros rather than kroner.

💡 Self catering in Rovaniemi For groceries, Lidl is usually the cheapest, with K-Market, S-Market and Prisma also central. The same bread, cheese, hummus and fruit lunch that works in Tromsø works here too.
Eating on the go

Meals on day tours

Many day tours include food, so check before paying for lunch separately, and always pre-book the veg option.

  • Santa Claus Village tours (Rovaniemi): several include a Finnish buffet lunch, with vegetarian and vegan options on request. If yours does not, the Village has its own cafes and restaurants.
  • Kvaløya and other Tromsø day tours: fjord, reindeer-camp and husky day trips often include a hot meal, or at least hot drinks. The default dish (often reindeer stew) isn't vegetarian, so ask for the veg or vegan option when you book.
  • Northern Lights tours: usually hot drinks and snacks, sometimes soup or a campfire meal. We cover this in detail in our guided tour guide.
The budget lever

Self catering from a supermarket

Groceries in Norway cost far less than eating out, and Tromsø has supermarkets within easy walking distance of most central hotels.

  • Rema 1000 and Kiwi are the cheapest chains, both central
  • Coop Extra is a larger, similarly priced alternative
  • Bread is about ₹250 a loaf, and stores slice it for you
  • Cheese, hummus, peanut butter and jam are cheap and everywhere
💡 Practical tip A simple bread, cheese, hummus and fruit lunch from a supermarket costs a fraction of a sit down meal, and takes minutes to put together. Keep it for lunch and save your appetite and budget for one proper dinner out.
Indian groceries at a Kronespar supermarket in Tromso
Indian groceries at a Kronespar supermarket in Tromsø
Before you fly

Carry food from India

  • Theplas and khakhras travel well, need no fridge, and cover a meal or two in the first few days.
  • Ready-to-eat pouches from Haldiram's, MTR or Gits only need hot water, which most Northern Lights tour operators carry, as we cover in our guided tour guide.
  • Use it for one meal a day and you can cut a full day's food bill nearly in half.
FAQ

Questions we get asked

Is Tromsø easy for vegetarians?

Yes. Bread, cheese, eggs, pasta, pizza and falafel are widely available, and most cafes and restaurants clearly mark vegetarian dishes. Hotel breakfast buffets in particular are very vegetarian friendly.

Is Tromsø easy for vegans?

It's manageable but takes a little more planning. Oat milk is widely available, bakeries such as Backstube clearly label vegan pastries, and spots like Casa Inferno keep a vegan option, though it can sell out. Self catering from a supermarket is the most reliable fallback.

Do Norwegian hotels include breakfast?

Often, but it depends on the rate you book, so choose a breakfast-included rate to be sure. Some Clarion Collection hotels also add free afternoon treats and a light evening meal.

How much should I budget for food per day in Tromsø as a vegetarian?

With breakfast covered by the hotel, lunch from a bakery or grocery store, and one sit down dinner, budget roughly ₹4,000 to ₹6,000 per person per day. Carrying food from India for one meal a day can bring this down further.

Should I carry food from India to Tromsø?

Yes, it's one of the simplest ways to cut costs. Theplas, khakhras and ready to eat pouches travel well, need no fridge, and can replace one restaurant meal a day, especially useful on long Northern Lights tours where operators often carry hot water.

Are there Indian restaurants in Tromsø?

Yes, a handful, including Indie, Elefant Indisk Restaurant and Indian House Restaurant, all fairly central. Prices are in line with other casual sit down restaurants in the city, so they're a comfort food option rather than a cheap one.

Is there Indian food in Rovaniemi?

Yes. Curry Masala, an easy walk from the city centre, is a well-known Indian restaurant, with a good value lunch buffet and plenty of vegetarian and vegan choices.

Is Rovaniemi easy for vegetarians and vegans?

Yes. Alongside Curry Masala, bright cafes like Cafe 21 and WOODSS, and Finnish chains like Kotipizza and Hesburger, both with vegan options, make it manageable. Supermarkets such as Lidl and K-Market cover self catering.

Keep planning. Our full Northern Lights series covers when to go, how to reach, where to stay, what to pack, what it costs and what to eat.

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