Discover Svalbard & Norwegian Arctic | SH Diana

The Arctic gateway, Tromsø at 69 degrees north, is renowned for the midnight sun in summer and the Northern Lights in winter. The Arctic Cathedral, with stained-glass windows, hosts midnight concerts. The Fjellheisen cable car offers panoramic views from Mount Storstei­nen, while the historic centre features old wooden houses. The Polar Museum chronicles early polar explorations, and the thriving Alpine Botanic Garden adds to Tromsø's charm.

Skarsvåg, Europe’s northernmost fishing village on Magerøya Island, is a short journey from Nordkapp (North Cape)—Europe's northernmost point above the Arctic Circle, marked by a striking globe monument. Only Svalbard stands between here and the North Pole. Along the coast, Atlantic puffin colonies and over a million seabirds nest, including arctic skuas, razorbills, northern gannets, white-tailed eagles, common eider ducks and great cormorants.

The greatest bird cliff in the Barents Sea is on Bear Island, or Bjørnøya, Svalbard’s southernmost island. Atlantic puffins, northern gannets, glaucous gulls, great skuas, black-legged kittiwakes, little auks, common guillemots, and Brünnich's guillemots, nest on the steep cliffs near Kapp Kolthoff, south of Sørhamna. The ocean has sculpted sea stack rock columns, sea caves and tunnels, with a notable tunnel at Perleporten.

Svalbard is the kingdom of the polar bears, deep in the Arctic Circle, featuring varied polar landscapes and gargantuan glaciers. Beyond magnificent fjords in the north, the remaining sea ice serves as prime hunting grounds for polar bears. Closer to Longyearbyen, tundra and beaches replace snow and ice. Alongside 600 polar bears, this Arctic hotspot is home to walrus, Svalbard reindeer, ringed seals and arctic fox.

The world's most northerly town, Longyearbyen, on Spitsbergen, Svalbard's largest island, also claims the most northerly high street and pub. It's home to The North Pole Expeditions Museum chronicling early pole-reaching efforts by air. Arctic waters around are populated by whales, including bowheads and narwhals, while walruses are regularly seen hauling out.