'I've found the ultimate white Christmas destination you need to book for next year.'

As a child, I dreamed of a white Christmas.

As an adult, I've visited London and New York searching for the classic experience. Both cities have elite Christmas decorations, but I never experienced snow.

Well, I just found my white Christmas Winter Wonderland without even intending to!

My husband and I planned a visit to Tromsø, Norway, booking a five-night stay to maximise our chances of viewing and photographing the Northern Lights. We even bought a new digital camera and I sent my husband off on a half-day photography course. Planning done!

We arrived in Tromsø to find icy, slippery footpaths, and snow on the ground, but not falling. A few hours after we arrived, it started snowing. And it didn't stop for four whole days!

Watch: Modern Etiquette: Travel. Post continues below.

Tromsø, the northernmost city in the world, is situated in the Arctic Circle. In late November/early December when we visited, it was the Polar Night. That means that the sun does not rise above the horizon from about November 21 to about January 21. "Light" arrived at around 10am and disappeared by 2pm, and most hours are pitch dark.

The overcast skies made the "daylight hours" darker but the brilliant, white snow brightened the whole town. Plus, every shop, shopping street and house is decorated with lights — there were golden fairy lights twinkling wherever you looked. It must be a license to print money to manufacture or sell fairy lights in Tromsø, but I love fairy lights so I was there for it.

Snowy, twinkly Tromsø. Image: Supplied.

We didn't grow tired of the snow. It was powdery soft, thick and glorious. Fairyland, Winter Wonderland, Christmas movie set, Hallmark card… Tromsø was all of them!

Amidst the snow, the town functions. With a population of about 70,000, Tromsø locals don spikes on their boots, change their car tyres to winter tyres, set their alarms earlier in case they have to dig their cars out of the snow and carry on with their lives.

A regular occurrence in Tromsø. Image: Supplied.

The roads are regularly cleared of snow. On the days we were in Tromsø, we saw the piles of cleared snow grow bigger and bigger and the piles of snow on the moored boats grow higher and higher.

Tromsø is a town set up for tourists and winter is peak season. No wonder — the snow is a tourist attraction, especially for those of us unused to seeing it. There are also really unique experiences on offer. Reindeer experiences, whale watching, husky sledding and snowmobiling are the activities that we did, but there are other experiences too. We simply ran out of time.

Before we had our few days in Tromsø, we cruised the Round Voyage with Havila Voyages. This cruise took us from Bergen to Kirkenes and back, and as part of this cruise, we stopped in Tromsø for a few hours and we chose to do an excursion to a reindeer farm. There was no snow yet so the reindeer sleigh portion of the excursion was not able to run but we were still able to feed the reindeer and to pat them. Talk about childhood dreams come to life!

Feeding reindeer. Image: Supplied.

The reindeer excursion was led by a Sámi guide, Luna. The Sámi are the indigenous people of the North, an unofficial territory spanning Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. The Sámi reindeer-herding family in Tromsø has nurtured reindeer for generations. The herd of about 300 reindeer runs wild in the summer and, in the winter, the herd is cared for by the Sámi (and fed by the tourists!)

Luna told us about her people's culture and sang us songs ("joiks" in the Sámi language). We sat around a roaring campfire in a traditional Sámi tent called a "gamme" and drank hot chocolate, as Luna told us of a beautiful local tradition: When a woman is pregnant, a melody comes into her head and she sings it to her unborn baby. When the baby is born, she adds words and the family honours the person by singing the joik. The person never sings their joik, as that would be considered bragging but it is their special song. Sometimes, the personal joik is sung at the person's funeral.

When we returned to Tromsø for a few days, we booked an activity a day. The first day we were there, the snow was so hard and the seas so rough that our activities (a fishing charter for my fishing-mad husband and a sedate walking tour for me) were cancelled. Cue snow play for the day!

The next day was whale watching where we saw orcas and humpback whales off Skjervøy. In the interests of complete honesty, this was the one activity that I did not love. It was a three-and-a-half-hour boat trip each way, the water was rough at times and the whales were at least 100 metres from the boat. The trip had also been cancelled the previous two days, so the boat was packed to the rafters.

Back to what I did love… We went snowmobiling where Norway meets Finland meets Sweden. (Such a weird concept to an Australian, who can fly four hours and still not leave our country!) Our snowmobiling trip was an afternoon activity but, due to the Polar Night, it was pitch dark, misty and eerie.

The lights of the snowmobile lit up the path as we zoomed along the groomed forest trail, driving on our snowmobiles 24km deep into the wilderness. Tall trees lathered in snow dotted the area. It was exhilarating!

So. Much. Snow. Image: Supplied.

After our drive, we went into a Sámi hut and drank warm, blackcurrant juice accompanied by traditional Norwegian fish soup and bread.

The next morning, we drove a sledge pulled by Alaskan huskies. My husband drove the sledge for about half an hour and then we switched. But to call it 'driving' is a stretch!

The dogs are well-trained and they follow the sledge in front. All we, as drivers, needed to do was stand on the sledge and apply the brake when necessary. It was about zero degrees and there was no snow falling for most of our experience, so visibility was amazing.

Part of the trail is called Fairytale Lane, and it's aptly named. Gliding along the thick snow, through a valley with snow-covered mountains on all sides, was pure joy.

When the drive was over, we were able to pat the gorgeous dogs — there were 160 of them at the camp that we visited. The sledges were pulled by five dogs each. We learnt that the front two dogs are the leaders and have to be smart, so they are usually female! The rear dogs are the biggest and strongest so they are usually male.

Our magical experience finished with tea, coffee and cake in a Sámi tent with a roaring fire. Yes, roaring fires are a central theme of this incredible Winter Wonderland.

A Sámi-style tent. Image: Supplied.

Tromsø has several museums too. We visited two — the Polar Museum, which was fascinating and the world's most northerly aquarium, Polaria.

We also spent hours just meandering through the snow, making snow angels, throwing a few snowballs and marvelling at our surrounds.

Travel never ceases to surprise. We planned to spend a few days in Tromsø to maximise our chances to view the Northern Lights but the snowy, overcast conditions thwarted any chance of that. Yet we had an unforgettable few days, being treated to a magnificent display of snow, doing unique activities and seeing the most picture-postcard scenery in this Winter Wonderland.

If you're thinking about the ultimate white Christmas destination next year, I've found it for you. It's called Tromsø!

The writer sailed the Round Voyage as a guest of Havila Voyages. The rest of her time in Norway (including her stay in Tromsø) was at her own expense.

Feature image: Supplied.