'It was a fun idea': The Norwegian island that wanted to abolish time

Seven years after a bizarre plan to abolish time made headlines, what is life really like on this remote Arctic island?

In 2019, a tiny island community in the Norwegian Arctic made headlines around the world with an extraordinary proposal: it wanted to abolish time.

Residents of Sommarøy, a fishing village 56km west of Tromsø, were supposedly campaigning to become the world's first time-free zone during the 69 days each summer when the Sun never sets. Watches were hung from a nearby bridge and a local hotel owner presented a petition bearing residents' signatures to a member of Norway's parliament. The international media enthusiastically embraced the idea, lauding the town's efforts to live without reference to time.

There was just one problem: the campaign wasn't quite what it seemed.

Many locals were mystified by all the fuss, baffled by the idea that anyone could live entirely beyond time. How could a hotel operate without check-in or check-out times? Was a cafe supposed to remain open forever in case someone wanted lunch at 04:00? What about children attending school?

It turned out that Innovation Norway, the government agency for promoting tourism, had orchestrated the campaign. Although some islanders had participated, others were reportedly unaware of it. When the agency's involvement emerged, its head was forced to issue a public apology. The watches soon disappeared from the bridge, and the campaign sank, seemingly without a trace.

And yet, if you take away the cynicism of a government trying to manufacture a popular movement to attract visitors, there is something appealing about the idea.

High above the Arctic Circle, Sommarøy experiences uninterrupted daylight each summer from 18 May to 26 July, when the Sun never sets and the usual boundaries between day and night start to dissolve. In deep winter, the Sun never rises and lunch can be eaten in deep darkness. Could a place like this really change the way people experience time?

I decided to travel to Sommarøy to find out.

The first vexing issue was that I would have to hurry if I wanted to reach Sommarøy – the bus was leaving at the inconveniently precise time of 11:30. If I missed it, I would have to wait until tomorrow. But this was, after all, I reasoned, Tromsø, not Sommarøy. And no town can be an island.

Once on board, the bus crosses bridges and skirts fjords, passing small villages as the traffic gradually thins. Beyond Eidkjosen, the road climbs away from the water's edge and finally leaves Tromsø's outer orbit.

One hour and 40 minutes........

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