Trondheim was founded in 997 by Olav Tryggvason and was Norway's capital through the Middle Ages. Olav Haraldsson was killed at Stiklestad in 1030, buried here, and declared a saint, and the church built over his grave grew into Nidaros Cathedral: the northernmost medieval cathedral in the world, the traditional coronation church of Norwegian kings, and the destination of the St Olav Ways, the pilgrim routes that still run across Scandinavia.
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What it is now is a university city of about 215,000 where roughly a sixth of the population are students at NTNU, Norway's technical university. That gives it a cheerfulness and an affordability that the fjord towns lack, and a few genuinely odd civic touches: the Trampe, a funicular for bicycles that pushes you up the Brubakken hill by the foot, is the only one in the world. The old wooden warehouses along the Nidelva at Bakklandet are the picture people take, and they are Trondheim's, not to be confused with Bergen's Bryggen further south.
What Makes Trondheim Different to Pack For
Coastal, wet and milder than the latitude suggests
Trondheim sits at 63 degrees north at the head of a fjord, and the Gulf Stream keeps it moderate: summer runs 13°C to 20°C, winter hovers around minus 3°C to 3°C with as much rain as snow. Precipitation is spread across the whole year, roughly 200 days of it.
A merino wool base layer for women is the first layer of the Norwegian system and the reason it works here is damp rather than cold: wool keeps insulating when it is wet, and in Trondheim something is usually wet.
The light swings hard
In late June there is no real darkness and the sun sets around 11pm. In December there are about four and a half hours of usable light and the sun barely clears the rooftops. That changes what you can do in a day far more than the temperature does.
It is a hill city on a peninsula
The centre is flat, and everything around it climbs. Bakklandet, Kristiansten fort and the Tyholt tower all involve going up.
Cheaper than the rest of Norway, and still Norway
The student population keeps prices down relative to Oslo and Bergen. It is still expensive by any other standard.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Trondheim Packing List
Footwear
Waterproof hiking shoes or waterproof boots with grip, for the same reason as everywhere on this coast: the cobbles at Bakklandet, the wooden steps and the riverside paths are wet most days and iced for months.
A dry second pair for indoors, and remember that Norwegians remove shoes inside homes. In winter, add micro spikes or studded overshoes, which locals genuinely use and which cost very little: Trondheim's pavements glaze over and the city grits sand rather than salt.
Clothing
The three layer system: wool base, wool or fleece mid, waterproof and windproof shell with a hood. An umbrella is less useful than a hood because of the wind off the fjord.
A packable rain jacket only if it is genuinely waterproof rather than shower resistant. Warm hat, gloves and wool socks from September to April.
Nothing formal is needed. Trondheim dresses practically and the student population dresses casually. Swimwear if you intend to use a sauna, and the floating saunas on the canal are a real local habit with a cold plunge into the fjord attached.
For sun
A wide brim sun hat and sunglasses for the long summer days, which catch people out at this latitude: the sun is up for twenty hours in June, it comes in low and hard off the water, and people burn at 16°C. Sunglasses matter more in March, when low sun on snow is dazzling.
Practical
A card, because Norway is effectively cashless and works on buses and in toilets. A power bank, since cold drains batteries. A refillable bottle for excellent tap water. A head torch for winter, when it is dark by three. And an eye mask for summer, when it never gets dark.
What to Wear at Key Sites
Nidaros Cathedral
Norway's national sanctuary, begun around 1070 over Olav's grave, with a carved west front of statues, a rose window, and the crown jewels of Norway kept in the adjacent Archbishop's Palace.
Practically: the cathedral is unheated and colder inside than out in winter, so keep your coat on. Shoulders and knees. The tower can be climbed by a narrow spiral stair in summer only, and the view over the city and fjord is worth it. The Archbishop's Palace museum holds the original sculptures and the regalia, and it is indoors and warm.
Bakklandet and the Gamle Bybro
The old artisans' quarter on the east bank of the Nidelva, wooden houses in ochre, red and mustard, reached over the Old Town Bridge with its red portals, which Trondheim calls the Portal of Happiness.
Practically: cobbles and wooden steps, slippery when wet, iced in winter. This is the most photographed part of the city and it is small, so go early. The cafes here are the best in town. People live in these houses; keep the noise down.
The Trampe bicycle lift
A funicular for cyclists installed in 1993 up the Brubakken hill, which pushes against the rider's foot as they steer up a 130 metre slope. It is the only one in the world.
Practically: free to use with a card from the tourist office, and genuinely entertaining to watch even if you are not cycling. Walking up the same hill takes five minutes.
Kristiansten Fortress and the viewpoints
A seventeenth century fort above Bakklandet, built after the town burned in 1681, which held off a Swedish attack in 1718 and was used by the Gestapo for executions during the occupation.
Practically: a short steep climb, grassy and muddy in the wet. Free to walk around. The view takes in the cathedral, the river and the fjord. There is a memorial to those executed here, which is quiet and worth reading.
Munkholmen and the fjord
An island in the fjord that has been a monastery, a prison, a fort and a customs house, reached by a short boat in summer.
Practically: boats run from Ravnkloa roughly late May to early September only. Windy and exposed, so take a layer more than the city needs. There is swimming off the island, in water around 12°C to 16°C at best.
Eating, and the student city
Trondelag is a serious food region and the city has more good restaurants per head than it should: the Ravnkloa fish market, Nidelven's baked goods, and a Michelin presence. The student bars around Solsiden and Nedre Elvehavn are cheap by Norwegian standards.
Practically: book at weekends. Note that many places close early on Sundays and that alcohol sales in shops stop at 6pm on Saturdays and not at all on Sundays, which surprises visitors.
What Not to Bring
Leave an umbrella. Leave cotton next to your skin. Leave smooth soled boots for a winter visit, which is how people break wrists here.
Leave the assumption that a coastal Norwegian city at 63 north is arctic, because it is milder and far wetter than that. Leave heavy formal clothes. And leave the expectation of daylight in December or darkness in June.
Essential Resources for Women in Trondheim
Emergency numbers in Norway: 112 for police, 113 for ambulance, 110 for fire, and 120 for sea rescue. English is spoken by essentially everyone, including emergency operators.
Tourist support: Norway has no tourist police force. The Trondheim tourist information office at Torvet handles practicalities and trail conditions, and a theft is reported at the Trondheim politistasjon for insurance purposes. Norwegian police are approachable and speak English.
US Embassy: the US Embassy in Oslo at no.usembassy.gov covers Norway. There is no consulate in Trondheim, and Oslo is about an hour by air or seven by train. Enrol in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program at step.state.gov before you travel.
Main hospital or clinic: St Olavs Hospital is the university hospital for central Norway, a large modern facility integrated with NTNU's medical faculty, with a 24 hour emergency department and a good standard of care. The legevakt covers out of hours non-emergency care. EU and UK visitors should carry the European Health Insurance Card or the UK Global Health Insurance Card, which Norway accepts through the EEA agreement; everyone else needs travel insurance.
Official health authority: the Norwegian Institute of Public Health at fhi.no, with helsenorge.no for patient guidance. For planning, yr.no from the Norwegian Meteorological Institute is the forecast people actually use, and Varsom carries the avalanche and landslide warnings if you head inland to the Trollheimen or Dovre mountains.
US State Department travel advisory for Norway: current advisory level and detail. Norway sits at the lowest level. Read it directly rather than relying on this page.
UK FCDO travel advice for Norway: entry requirements, safety and health guidance, including the outdoor and weather safety sections and the note that Norway is outside the EU but inside the EEA and Schengen.
Official tourism authority: Visit Norway at visitnorway.com, with Visit Trondheim for the Munkholmen boat season, the cathedral tower opening dates and the St Olav Ways pilgrim information. Note that visitnorway.com sometimes blocks automated requests, which is a bot filter rather than a broken site.
Solo women safety assessment: Trondheim is extremely safe and unusually easy for a woman travelling alone, and the student population is part of why. Norway has very low violent crime, near universal English and high social trust, and this is a compact city where a sixth of the population is under 25 and out in the evening. A woman walking alone at any hour is unremarkable, the buses run late, and there is no district a visitor needs to avoid. Crime against visitors is minimal and limited to opportunistic theft: bicycle theft is the local complaint, and the occasional bag lifted in a busy bar. The one social caution is the weekend: Norwegian student drinking is heavy, alcohol is expensive so people pre-load at home, and Solsiden and the bars around Nedre Elvehavn late on a Friday or Saturday are loud and very drunk in a way that is tiresome rather than threatening. Buy your own drinks and keep an eye on them. Street harassment is rare. The genuine risks here are seasonal and physical. Ice is the first and it is the most likely way to get hurt: from roughly November to April the pavements, the Bakklandet cobbles and the wooden steps glaze over, the city grits sand rather than salt, and broken wrists are routine. Locals wear studded overshoes and so should you. Darkness is the second, and it is more of a practical problem than a danger: four and a half hours of light in December compresses what you can see, makes the riverside paths unappealing and affects mood on a longer stay. Third, cold water: the Nidelva runs fast and the fjord sits between 4°C and 16°C, there are unfenced quaysides in the city and cold shock is immediate, which is worth remembering after a night out near the water. If you head inland for hiking, the Trollheimen mountains carry real weather and avalanche risk in winter, phone signal fails, and yr.no should be checked before you go. Driving means winter tyres from October and a drink drive limit of 0.2 that is effectively zero.
Reading On
Trondheim is seven hours from Oslo by a scenic train, an hour by air, and the start of the coastal route north. The Norway travel guide for women is the parent for the country and the Norway packing list for women covers a trip across it, with what to wear in Norway in October for the shoulder season. South, the Alesund packing list for women covers the Art Nouveau town, the Geiranger packing list for women the UNESCO fjord, the Bergen packing list for women the rainiest city and Bryggen, the Stavanger packing list for women Preikestolen, and the Oslo packing list for women the capital. North, the Lofoten packing list for women and the Tromso packing list for women reach the Arctic. The travel packing guide for women is the parent for all destinations. For why wool rather than cotton in a city that is damp 200 days a year, the best merino wool base layers for women explains the fibre, and the Roman Trail collection is where the tops themselves live.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
