Hi...I recently posted about my plans for a trip to Norway and Svalbard in August. I'm just wondering if anyone has been to Svalbard, where they stayed, and what activity tours they might recommend. I've viewed several in the LP guide, and even tripAdvisor... Ideally, I will go from Tromso to Longyearbyen and stay for 3 or 4 days. I know there are "daily" excursions, and cruises. My biggest goal would be to see polar bears in the wild, but the midnight sun is also my dream. There are only a few options for accommodations, the Trappers Mine looks quirky, but not super comfortable. The Polarigg looks the best. I would like to plan a day on a boat into the fjords and to Barentsburg, but can you just go looking at wildlife for a day? It seems like most tours are for 3 or 4 days, and very pricey....Any personal recommendations are appreciated...thanks.
Yes i have been to Svalbard, many years ago on the 'Hurtigruten' cruise. The thing that sticks in my mind about the area, in the Southward leg of the journey you approach Svalbard from the North, seeing the 'Lotowen Wall', your first sight of the Lotowen Islands, a series of peaks arrising from the ocean, in very dramatic fasion indeed, that seem to go on forever, i seen them in winter and them coming out of the mist was very dramatic indeed. I wonder is there a ferry or tour you can go on that approaches from the North?
My biggest goal would be to see polar bears in the wild
Its difficult to achieve that by a short trip to Longyearbyen, because the ice all melts in the Longyearbyen fjord, and you have to some distance to find the sea-ice they like to hunt off. You have to go on a multi-day cruise to have a reasonable chance of seeing polar bears. You have a better chance if you go on a 7-10-day cruise that takes you around the whole archipelago.
and very pricey
With such a short tourist season, and operating where everything has to be shipped in to a remote arctic archipelago, and administered by one of the highest wage countries on the planet, where people expect to be very well paid for living there, what do you expect?
the midnight sun is also my dream
Continuous polar day lasts until 23 August at Longyearbyen. At (true) midnight the sun is due north. However L has mountains to the north, so the midnight sun won't be visible at L as late as 23 Aug. To see the sun at midnight, you need a clear view to the north, or else the sun sufficiently high in the sky at midnight that it is above whatever topographical obstructions are to the north. You also need a clear sky, and in my personal experience of attempting to see the midnight sun, this is the main problem.
Lotowen
Lofoten. Not relevant to OP.
Sorry, i sometimes get my towns mixed up as i am now somewhat dyslecic. I do mean Svolvear in the Lofoten Islands, and sorry that my spelling does stink thesedays.
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I stayed in Longyearbyen in early June last year. I took the ferry trip to the crumbling Russian settlement at Barentsburg, went fossil hunting with an armed guard on Longyearbyen Glacier, and enjoyed the midnight sun. If you'd like to see what this was like, here are a few photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnthefinn/sets/72157624125464701/
can you just go looking at wildlife for a day?
Not advisable. You need a firearms licence to hire a rifle nowadays, and this is essential if you're going to go strolling into the wilds unaccompanied. You can see from the fossil trip guide's armament that polar bears are not to be approached lightly.
I was told it was rare for polars to come into town but two did the week I was there. One strolled around my hostel on my last night and had to be chased away (I didn't see it, dammit). The hostel (102, a former miners' dorm) was decent, only four beds per room and well equipped.
Edited by: johnthefinn
@johntefinn
I think what OP means is to ask whether you can go for a one-day wildlife-watching tour, as opposed to three or four days.
There are boat tours going to cliffs where colossal numbers of birds nest. These last a few hours. Otherwise there isn't a whole lot of wildlife to see other than a few reindeer, which you can even see in Longyearbyen.
Actually, you can see the midnight sun in Tromso every night from mid May 'till mid August.
Actually, you can see the midnight sun in Tromso every night from mid May 'till mid August.
(1) Tromso is not in Svalbard.
(2) Not according to the usual understanding of the term "midnight sun" you can't. I think you are confusing white nights with the midnight sun. The sun is only perpetually above the horizon until 26 July in Tromso, and in the last few days you probable can't see it from the town centre because of topographical barriers to seeing the northern horizon. However the white nights - doesn't get dark at night - will continue until mid August.
I should be more specific....I am thinking of 3 to 4 days in Svalbard. Probably fly from Tromso. Once there, I am trying to think of the right activity tour. I have seen daily tours to the russian settlement and the Isfafjord (spelling?) Most show 3 or 4day or more cruises on the giant boats. (all prohibitively expensive). I was trying to find a smaller tour, perhaps a one or 2 day, otherwise, I don't really know how to plan accommodations and a tour...for example....do I book ahead for 1 night, and hope to plot a tour that day. From reading guidebooks, they show you can book "activities" upon arrival...or I can just try and book the tour first, and then see if they can arrange accommodations....its tricky....but thanks for all your responses.
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