Alta is the largest town in Finnmark, lying at the inner reaches of the Altafjord.  It is the northernmost county of Norway and forms part of Lapland, which contains parts of Norway, Sweeden, Finland and Russia and is the home to the Sami people.

The city of Alta lies in an area with a relatively mild climate in the otherwise cold north.  Here you can experience Sami culture up close, see UNESCO protected rock carvings, spend the night in a ice hotel.  In the winter half of the year you can hunt for the northern lights or you can try dog sledding or join a snowmobile safari, framed in the brilliant blue light that is so distinctive for Finnmark.  The blue season in Alta lasts from November to January, after which the days get gradually longer. During winter nights you can often see the aurora borealis dancing across the skies, and the world´s first northern light observatory was actually built here at the end of the 19th century.

In beautiful nature surroundings at the bank of the Altaelva river lies the Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel, a luxurious hotel where everything both inside and outside is made of snow and ice.  The hotel opens its door in January each year and melts away in the spring.  In the summer you can visit the rock carvings in Hjemmeluft, which bear the traces of a settlement dating from around 4,200 to 500 BC.  The rock art constitutes the most important piece of evidence documenting the existence of human activity on the fringes of the Far North in prehistoric times.

During World War II, the German battleship Tirpitz used the Kåfjorden, an arm of Altafjorden, as a harbour, and was damaged here by attacking allied warplanes.  The town Alta was seriously destroyed by fire near the end of the World War II.  It was rebuilt in subsequent years.