Tana bru is famous for its good salmon fishing sites

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What to do and see in Tana

When you visit Tana bru ('bru' means 'bridge'), you are at one of the best salmon fishing places of the whole Tana river. This is also the administrative centre of the Tana municipality and a shopping center.

These places may be worth seeing depending on your likes.

The museum at Polmak with its exhibitions of river Sami culture. The picture to the left shows the old salmon fishermen's cottage at the Tana museum. In this cottage many English salmon fishers stayed when fishing in Tana river. (The museum page is only in Norwegian, but there are pictures from the exhibition). Go by road 895 from the E-6 at Skiippagurra. See map.

Galleri Martin with the trophies of rally driver Martin Schancke from Tana

Tanamunningen nature reserve with birds and seal

The court building with its modern art and interesting architecture. See pictures here.

Tana Silver at Tana bru

Polmakmoen Gjestegård with accommodation in old style turf huts (modern inside) plus a large, turf assembly building. They also offer healing.

Tana church at Rustefjelbma which is the main church of Tana (site in Norwegian only, but there are nice pictures and contact info)

Polmak church which is the oldest church in Tana. (site in Norwegian only, but there are nice pictures and contact info)

Other churches and chapels. Ask at the parish administration at Tana bru.

The King Oscar cairn. Ask at the municipality information office at Tana bru.

In addition you may like to experience some of these:
(Ask at the municipality information office).

Tana winter market

Tana summer market (Langnesmarkedet)

Fishing salmon in Tana river

Char and trout fishing

Fishing in the Tana fiord

Grouse hunting

Snowmobile trips

Cross country skiing

Reindeer rides and Sami culture

Husky safaris

. (Site only in Norwegian, but you'll find contact info. And they speak English).

The Finnmarks-løpet dog sledge race goes through Tana

Tana's nature

From Tana bru you may go on day trips to some of Tana's natural pearls. Below are some of them.

Rastegaissa

This is the highest mountain in Eastern Finnmark with its 1076 metres. From the top you can overview 9 parishes. There is a path from Levajok. At the Levajok Fjellstue they can tell you much more about Rastegaissa and the Levajok area.

The sandy beaches

Along the Tana river there are many kilometres of nice sand beaches where you can go for a walk. What about a cold swim? Most locals know where these beaches are. Just ask, or ask at the municipality service office, the hotel or the petrol stations to find the nearest beach.

Stangnestind and the Tanamunningen nature reserve

This is the highest mountain on the Varanger peninsula (Varangerhalvøya) with its 724 metres. Stangnestind (picture to the left) really stands out when you come to the lower parts of the valley with its majestic shape.
From Tana bru you follow the Rd 890 on the eastern side of the river to the Tana fiord area and look for the sign Høyholmen.

Lavonjarg is a small picturesque place within the Tanamunningen nature reserve area. From Høyholmen you can get to Lavonjarg by boat. Contact the Kildesli (see link below).
Today there are only two residents. I have to mention that the author of this article was born at Lavonjarg. At Lavonjarg we can see some old houses that have been restored.

From Lavonjarg you can walk to Vagge with its old 19th century stone walls, and to Setra which is an idyllic place worth seeing. Ask at the Kildesli Sea Saami Nature House (link below).

To get more details about the mountain and the Tanamunningen nature reserve, you may ask at the Kildesli Coastal Saami Nature House.

Birdwatching in Tana

Nore and more birdwatchers have detected the Tanamunningen nature reserve as a good location for watching many kinds of birds. Especially goosanders occur in large quantities - up to 27.000 at the same time in autumn.
Read more about bird watching in the Tanamunningen nature reserve.

War remains

At Gavesluft and Smalfjordnes there are still many war remains from World War II.

Thus World War II has become the most visible part of Gavesluft's history. The Germans had some 12-15 buildings for different purposes there.

Read more about the war remains at Gavesluft and Smalfjordnes.

In neighbouring Berlevag municipality you can see war remains at Kongsfjord, at the Veines peninsula.

Snowmobile trips and races

Snowmobile trips are possible in Tana. Ask for information at Tana tourist information.

Here is a map of all snowmobile trails in Tana and Finnmark.
(Then click "Loyper" in the left menu + tick for "Snoskuterloyper i Finnmark")

Now a then there are also exciting snowmobile competitions in Tana.

Fishing in Tana river

The Tana river is famous for its salmon (salmo salar). You need to know about the rules applying to fishing in this river.

Here are the rules for the Finnish side of the border river - and the Norwegian side.

(Left photo: Finnish lady with her catch at Tana bru rapids. Photo: Olav E. Johansen).

If you want to fish on the Finnish side of the border, you'll find the regulations here (the site is in Finnish, but in the righthand column you'll find the link "Teno-info in English").

Here are the fishing rules for freshwater fishing (see page 16 in pdf-file) for people living outside the Utsjoki, Karasjok or Tana. "Freshwater" mainly means lakes in this connection.
There are special rules for fishing in the Tana river and tributaries. New rules for the river will be ready for the 2012 fishing season.

Music related to Tana

The band Deatnugatte Nuorat (The banks of Tana youth) from the Tana valley became famous from 1974 when they made their first LP.
Listen to their song about the Tana river Vuoi min Deatnu. They always sing in the Sami language.

And here is their song about the beautiful girl, Majja (Mary) from Tana. The song is called Deanu-Majja (Mary from Tana)

The Arctic coast

From Tana bru it possible to take day trips to the Arctic coast. Then Berlevag is a good choice.
Just follow road 890. Another choice is Batsfjord fishing village. Take road 891 from Gednje crossing.

The Finnish side

From Tana it's easy to visit our neighbours on the Finnish side of the national border. It takes only 20 minutes to drive from Tana bru to the shopping centers at Nuorgam in Utsjoki. See map.

Accommodation in Tana

At this stage we'll include only accommodations with their own web sites:

At Polmakmoen Gjestegård you can stay in modern turf cabins. The site is only in Norwegian.

Hotel Tana is at the municiplality centre. The hotel also has a campsite

Storfossen Camping is situated on the Finnish border at one of the best fishing locations of the Tana river. The site is only in Norwegian.

Another campsite is the Tana familiecamping at Skiippagurra. The site is only in Norwegian.

Tanabredden Opplevelser near the Polmak church has som nice cabins.

Half way between Tana bru an Karasjok is the famous Levajok Fjellstue.

At the bottom of Tana fiord we find the Kildesli Sea Sami Nature House.

Other resources

Here is a large description of the E-6 route Alta-Kirkenes, also with side trip possibilities.

What about reading about the Lapland section of the E-75 Simo-Vardo?

Here you can find out about distances from Tana bru to different places:

Read more about Tana.

Here you find an overview of mountains i Tana.

Here are some old pictures from Tana.

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