Svalbard in Depth

Known as the Arctic gateway, Tromso is a remote Norwegian city at 69° north, 250 miles above the Arctic Circle, where you can take in the soft glow of the midnight sun. Make time to attend a midnight concert at Tromso’s distinctive Arctic Cathedral or learn more about early polar explorations at the Polar Museum. Famed for the Northern Lights on winter nights, you can find out more about this natural spectacle at the Science Centre.

As you cruise to your next port of call, spend the day at sea savouring the ship’s facilities and learning about your destination’s many facets from the knowledgeable onboard experts. Listen to an enriching talk, indulge in a relaxing treatment at the spa, work out in the well-equipped gym, enjoy some down- time in your cabin, share travel reminiscences with newly found friends: the options are numerous.

The greatest bird cliff in the Barents Sea is on Bear Island, or Bjørnøya, Svalbard’s southernmost island. Thousands of breeding seabirds - Atlantic puffin, northern gannet, glaucous gull, great skua, black-legged kittiwake, little auk, common guillemot and Brünnich’s guillemot colonies nest on the steep cliffs south of Sørhamna around Kapp Kolthoff. Only Zodiacs can come alongside, where distinctive sea stack rock columns, impressive sea caves and tunnels, such as Perleporten, have been created by the battering seas.

Considered by some as the most beautiful fjord in Spitsbergen, Hornsund is surrounded by spectacular landscape, mountains, glaciers and drift ice (bergs and growlers) due to a unique polar current that also attracts migrating polar bears. The climate creates a high-polar ecosystem drawing scientists to study the concentrated mix of subarctic and high arctic fauna in one small space. Part of the South Spitsbergen National Park, most of Svalbard’s little auks breed here and you can often see Svalbard reindeer.

Surrounded by snow-capped mountains, glaciers and tundra, Bellsund is a 20 km long sound - wider than a fjord - on the west coast of Spitsbergen. Brünnich’s guillemots, black-legged kittiwakes, little auks and northern fulmars make their breeding homes on the cliffs while pink-footed, barnacle and brent geese nest below. Reindeer roam the lush tundra flats strewn with whalebones. Bellsund attracts thousands of moulting ringed seals inviting unwarranted attention from prowling polar bears.

Spitsbergen’s longest fjord - more than 100 kilometres long - now forms part of the Inner Wijdefjord National Park created to protect the rich flora of high arctic steppe vegetation, unique in Europe. The dry, windy climate gives rise to grasses, herbs and willow shrubs such as tufted saxifrage and arctic white campion on the western side in Andrée Land with its old red sandstone landscape. Limited wildlife live here aside from the occasional Svalbard reindeer and arctic fox.

One of the three largest islands in Svalbard, separated from Spitsbergen by the icy Hinlopen Strait, Nordaustlandet is mostly covered in ice caps including Austfonna. Part of the Nordaust- Svalbard Nature Reserve, the coasts are made up of rocky beaches and cliffs filled with seabirds. In the north, you may spot polar bears in their denning area and snorting Atlantic walruses hauling out, while Svalbard reindeer roam the cushiony tundra of this polar desert.

Blue-and-white icebergs calve from the five-kilometre front of the Monacobreen glacier as it debouches into Liefdefjorden (Love Fjord). Considered one of Spitsbergen’s most beautiful glaciers, it is an unforgettable sight cruising through these ice-filled waters with the occasional beluga whale spotted alongside, the silence only broken by the bergs cracking from the icy glacier. Shore landings include walking above the glacier. Keep your eye out for polar bears prowling the icy wilderness for hapless walrus.

The world’s northernmost settlement at 79 degrees north, Ny-Ålesund is on the shores inside Kongsfjorden on the island of Spitsbergen. Its location makes it well suited to be a major Arctic research station with scientists from over 100 countries and the Svalbard Rocket Range that launches rockets to investigate earth’s magnetic field. In 1926, Roald Amundsen set off from here on the airship Norge on the world’s first verified expedition to the North Pole.

Longyearbyen is the world’s most northerly town and with it comes the world’s most northerly high street and pub. On Spitsbergen, Svalbard’s largest island, Longyearbyen is home to The North Pole Expeditions Museum which chronicles early efforts to reach the pole by air. The nearby Svalbard Global Seed Vault preserves duplicates of seeds held in gene banks worldwide. The surrounding Arctic waters are populated by whales including bowheads and narwhals, while walruses are regularly seen hauling.