Finnsnes is a city and administration center in Senja municipality in Troms and Finnmark. Finnsnes is the regional center for Mid-Troms. The place has city status from 1 January 2000, and is located partly west facing Gisundet and Finnsnesrenna, and partly south facing Finnfjorden. The town is connected to the village Silsand on the Senja side with the 1,147 meter long Gisund bridge. Finnsnes town has 4,782 inhabitants as of 1 January 2020, but when you talk about the city, you often count the town Silsand which has 1,586 inhabitants.
Finnsnes today
The city has experienced strong
growth in recent years and the lack of central plots has led to
increased construction of apartments and apartment blocks in the
last 5 years.
New commercial buildings have also been added
over the past 30 years, including the culture house, with cinema
(1995), Statens hus and Kvistad center. On October 20, 2005, the
Amfi Finnsnes shopping center opened. Today, the center has 45
stores, including eateries.
Adjacent to the culture house is
Lenvik town hall (1977). Finnsnes Church is from 1979.
The
city has had a health center (now the District Medical Center) since
1980. Finnsnes also has a study center with a college offer. The
local newspaper Troms Folkeblad is published in Finnsnes with
Steinulf Henriksen as editor-in-chief. The head office of AS TIRB
(Troms Innland Rutebil) is also located in Finnsnes. TIRB currently
operates, among other things, the transport company Cominor, which
serves most of the bus routes in Troms, Ofoten and Nordre Salten.
The football team Finnsnes IL plays in the 2nd division, and the
matches are played at Finnsnes stadium.
In 2006, the new
Finnsnes traffic terminal at Lundkaia opened, with an embarkation
and disembarkation ramp for the speedboats, a waiting hall, a café /
kiosk and storage boxes.
In the middle of the city is
Finnsnesvannet, surrounded by the city park. Both the town hall and
the church, as well as Arvid Hanssen's square are close to the park.
Communication
Finnsnes has a fast boat connection to Tromsø
and Harstad. Hurtigruten also calls at here. The nearest airport is
Bardufoss Airport in the neighboring municipality Målselv, approx.
45 min drive from Finnsnes (via county road 855 and europavei 6).
The airport is operated several times a day by Norwegian, with
departures to Oslo.