Find Thrill and Adventure in Svalbard

The cold, hostile terrain around Svalbard’s capital of Longyearbyen might not seem like an obvious tourist spot – especially considering nobody ventures beyond the town's limits without a gun due to roaming polar bears. Despite this, those brave enough to venture out into the sparse landscape are in for quite the reward.

Previously, only whalers, fur trappers, and intrepid fishermen would venture to this utterly remote archipelago on the northernmost reaches of the planet. Then came the coal miners, followed by the scientists. Today, some 700 students from 50 nations attend Longyearbyen University, and the opening of the Svalbard Satellite Station, run by NASA and the Norwegian Space Centre, has brought in even more crowds.

An ideal destination for a trip with a touch of trepidation, Longyearbyen isn't for the faint-hearted.

One of the reasons to venture beyond Longyearbyen is Barentsburg. Though only 55 kilometers southwest from Longyearbyen, it takes a three to four-hour snowmobile ride to get here, depending on the weather – and any polar bears on the horizon.

The only hotel, the ominously named Tristesse, serves hearty fare and low-cost vodka that, when teamed with the spectacle of the Northern Lights in the pitch blackness of winter, is sure to lift the spirits.

Pyramiden, roughly 60kms northeast of Longyearbyen, has a similar backstory. Originally founded by Sweden and sold to the Soviet Union in 1927, it was once a thriving mining town of a thousand souls with a theater, library, art and music studios, and the world’s northernmost swimming pool. It was abandoned in the late 1990s and now attracts only the most intrepid of tourists. To that purpose, the Pyramiden hotel was reopened in 2013, and in 2019, the movie theater was restored to host a film festival dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Soviet cinema.

→ The Global Seed Vault, the world’s secure backup facility for crop diversity, is hidden inside a mountain overlooking Longyearbyen’s tiny airport.

→ Huset Restaurant in Longyearbyen, recognized as the world’s northernmost fine dining restaurant, with a legendary wine cellar of almost 15,000 bottles.

This area of the planet isn't easy to get to and is even harder to explore, but our expert travel curators can put together your ideal trip to this incredible, extreme destination.