Svalbard Holidays from the UK

What do Svalbard holidays really involve?

Picture stepping off the plane into air so clean it almost stings, with bare mountains striped in snow rising straight from the fjord and the light still bright at midnight. That's Longyearbyen in summer, the little town on Spitsbergen where almost every trip to the archipelago begins. From here the wilderness starts at the edge of town, ready to explore, and it's polar bear country.

That last part shapes everything.

Svalbard sits halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, and no roads link its remote settlements. You get about by boat, by snowmobile in winter, or on foot with someone carrying a rifle. A holiday here is an Arctic adventure where the way you travel decides what you'll experience, whether that's walrus, reindeer and the edge of the pack ice, or the northern lights over a frozen valley.

Three ways to holiday in Svalbard from the UK

An expedition cruise round the islands

A small ship carries you away from town into the fjords, along glacier fronts and north towards the ice, with Zodiac landings ashore and a team of naturalists choosing each day's route by the conditions. It's the only way most visitors reach the wild north and east of the Svalbard archipelago, where the walrus beaches, bird cliffs and polar bear habitat are. Here's how a cruise to Svalbard from the UK works.

A base in Longyearbyen with day trips

Flying in and staying in a hotel, lodge or basecamp gives you a short break built round day trips. In summer that means boat trips across Isfjorden, glacier hiking, a paddle by sea kayak and a visit to the ghost town of Pyramiden. Winter swaps them for dog sledding and snowmobiling. It's flexible and works all year. You won't travel far, though, and Visit Svalbard is clear that no tours set out to find polar bears.

A coastal voyage up from Bergen

Hurtigruten's Svalbard Line sails up the Norwegian coast, crosses to Spitsbergen and comes back, with meals and selected drinks included and flights left to you. It suits you if the journey north matters as much as the arrival, and our Hurtigruten Svalbard Line page has the details.

Summer, winter or sunny spring: picking your season

Visit Svalbard splits the year into three, and each makes for a very different trip. Their dates sit in the box at the top of this page, and the Visit Svalbard seasons page explains each.

Polar summer and the midnight sun

Round-the-clock daylight arrives in late April, and by early summer the fjords have broken free of their winter ice. This is when the ships sail. The tundra greens up, Arctic fox and Svalbard reindeer graze near the shore, seabirds crowd the cliffs and the ships head north to look for polar bears along the drifting ice.

Northern lights winter and the polar night

Through the darkest weeks the sun doesn't rise at all, and the sky over Adventfjorden turns deep blue at noon. It's a strange, beautiful time for husky rides by headtorch, ice cave visits and the northern lights, which can glow even at lunchtime! Ships don't sail the archipelago now, so winter trips stay in Longyearbyen.

Sunny winter

Late winter brings the light back over deep snow and a wilderness made for adventure. It's the classic time for dog sledding and longer snowmobile trips across the frozen valleys, with remote cabins and old trappers' huts to explore along the way.

Our page on the best time to visit Svalbard goes month by month, with the wildlife and weather for each.

What you'll see and do on a Svalbard trip

Arctic wildlife is the big draw, and a summer trip puts most of it within reach:

• Walrus hauled out together on pebble beaches
• Svalbard reindeer, short-legged and stocky, grazing the tundra
• Arctic fox patrolling below the bird cliffs
• Whales feeding in the fjords
• Guillemots and kittiwakes crowding the cliff ledges

The polar bear is the animal everyone hopes for, but no operator can promise one, and a sighting depends on the ice, the route and the weather. Read about polar bear holidays to see how ships look for them and what affects the odds.

Then there's the human story. Longyearbyen began as a coal mining town and still feels like a frontier town, with the Svalbard Museum telling the tale of the whalers, trappers and miners who came before. A boat ride away lies Pyramiden, a Soviet mining town left frozen in time, and Barentsburg, a Russian settlement that's still lived in. Just outside town, the entrance to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault juts from the mountain, though you can only see it from outside.

What an organised voyage takes off your hands

You can piece a trip together yourself, but there are connections to time through Norway and you can't walk out of town unarmed. On an organised voyage, that's somebody else's job. Here's what Travelsphere's Arctic Explorer covers, from its own page:

It's the simplest package here for a first trip. You turn up at your local airport, and the next thing you'll need to sort out yourself is the drive home.

The Svalbard voyages compared on facts

Each is checked against the operator's own page; the cards above show dates and prices.

Travelsphere Arctic Explorer

Norway's capital and its polar history first, then a night in Longyearbyen and a week sailing the archipelago with landings ashore, all with UK flights and a Holiday Director. It's rated active, with wet landings. See our page on the Arctic Explorer voyage.

HX Circumnavigating Spitsbergen

An all-inclusive cruise that tries to sail right round Spitsbergen, ice permitting, with flights from Oslo, which you reach yourself, and a night in Longyearbyen. More on circumnavigating Spitsbergen.

Titan Arctic Wonders

A longer escorted circuit of Svalbard on MS Fram, with flights from Gatwick, Titan's chauffeur from home, hotel nights before sailing and a tour manager throughout.

Exodus Svalbard in Summer

A small-ship voyage reached by charter flight from Helsinki, with hotel nights there and an expert leader. You fly to Finland yourself.

Planning a trip to Svalbard from the UK

Flights and passports

There are no direct flights from Britain. Scheduled flights reach Longyearbyen from Oslo or Tromsø, and as Svalbard sits outside the Schengen area you'll pass passport control on the way, so take your passport. Check the UK government's Norway entry requirements before you book. Our page on how to get to Svalbard covers the routes and connections.

The rules once you're there

Svalbard protects its wildlife and its visitors more strictly than almost anywhere, and it's worth knowing before you start planning. Visit Svalbard's safety rules tell you not to leave the settlements without a suitable gun and the experience to use it, and they recommend organised tours. It's against the law to seek out or disturb polar bears, and the Governor of Svalbard sets minimum distances from bears and limits landings to set sites.

For you, that means who you travel with matters as much as where you go.

Which Svalbard trip suits you?

• First Arctic trip, wildlife the goal: a cruise with flights from the UK, like the Arctic Explorer
• Northern lights and husky sledding: a winter break in Longyearbyen
• The longest time near the ice: a circumnavigation with HX or Titan
• The sea journey itself: the coastal voyage up Norway
• Short on time: a few nights in Longyearbyen with boat trips in summer

Over sixty? Age matters less than balance on a small ship. You'll step down into a Zodiac from a gangway, wade ashore on wet landings and climb steep stairs on board, and Travelsphere says its Arctic Explorer isn't suitable for limited mobility. Much of the wildlife experience happens from deck, though. Our Arctic cruises for over 60s page goes through each step.

Choosing your Svalbard holiday

For a first trip with flights, hotels, guides and a host all arranged from a UK airport, the Arctic Explorer is the easiest way to see the real Svalbard. Happy to reach Norway or Finland yourself? The other voyages give you longer at sea or a coastal route. For snow, huskies and the aurora, it's a winter stay in town. Whichever you choose, the best Arctic adventure starts with the wildlife experience you most want. Every voyage we follow is on our Svalbard cruise home page, and our Longyearbyen page covers the town where it all begins.

Questions people ask