Plan the Best Svalbard Cruise With These Top Tips

If you’re seeking wildlife, rugged, untouched landscapes, and vast seas of pack ice, then a Svalbard expedition cruise might be your perfect adventure. 

Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the High Arctic, is an icy wilderness located between the North Pole and Norway. It’s best explored by a small expedition ship, allowing you to easily visit remote bays and untouched islands. 

However, due to Svalbard’s remote location, unique wildlife, and harsh climate, it helps to be prepared ahead of time with what to expect. Here’s how to plan the best Svalbard cruise, ensuring you make the most of your Arctic adventure. 

Visiting Oslo before your Svalbard cruise 

To reach Svalbard, you’ll generally need to first arrive in Norway. Most guests will fly into Oslo, but you may also arrive in Tromsø. Since you’ll already need to be in Norway, it’s a great idea to spend a day or two sightseeing before your cruise. 

Oslo is an incredible city with so much to see and do, but arriving early also helps you acclimatise to jet lag and catch up on sleep, ensuring that you feel well-rested before the start of your cruise. 

From Oslo Airport (OSL), it’s an easy 20-minute train journey into the city, but taxis and Ubers are also available. If you plan on sightseeing, pick up the Oslo Pass, a tourist card that gives you access to over 30 museums and attractions, including public transport. It includes access to both the National Museum and the MUNCH Museum — but if you’re hoping to see the most famous version of ‘The Scream’, painted by Edvard Munch, it’s in the National Museum, not in the MUNCH Museum, as you might expect. 

Understanding your charter flight to Longyearbyen 

Most expeditions to Svalbard require you to add on a charter flight to Longyearbyen, the largest town within Svalbard. This is due to limitations on commercial flights but also ensures everyone on the cruise arrives together. For your charter flight, you’ll travel from the international airport, even though you are still technically within Norway. However, note that duty-free purchases are not available. 

The flight time from Oslo is around three hours, but if you can, try and reserve a window seat. The arrival into Longyearbyen is phenomenal, with dramatic mountains and glaciers as far as you can see. 

What to do in Longyearbyen before your Svalbard expedition cruise 

After arriving in Longyearbyen, you’ll have a few hours to explore before boarding your ship in the late afternoon. It’s a unique and interesting place — here are some of the places you may want to visit. 

Svalbard Museum

This well-organised museum covers 400 years of Arctic history, including unique geology and local wildlife. You can also see a preserved and mounted polar bear, seals, reindeer, and foxes. 

Café Huskies

As the name suggests, you will receive a warm welcome from the resident huskies, and the welcoming cafe also makes a great cup of coffee. If you do grab a bite to eat in town, note that all food and supplies must be shipped or air-freighted in from the mainland and are priced accordingly. 

Svalbard Global Seed Vault

This essential building safekeeps a supply of all the world’s seeds. Entry is strictly controlled, but you can observe it from the outside. 

Souvenir shopping

Longyearbyen is a great place to buy any souvenirs, as there are not many other options once you board your ship. 

Polar bear sign

The famous polar bear crossing sign is a photo opportunity that you won’t want to miss! It’s right near the port, so you can take a picture while you’re waiting to board your ship. 

Key packing tips for Svalbard 

When packing for your charter flight, bring your waterproof pants and a beanie in your carry-on baggage. This is because your cruise embarkation may be via zodiac, depending on tides and weather conditions, and waterproof gear will help keep you dry and warm. Remember to bring binoculars as well, and carry them with you onboard! 

You don’t want to have to run back to your cabin if wildlife is spotted, as you could miss it. Spending time out on the deck is highly recommended if you hope to see animals. 

You can also read more of our Arctic packing tips, helping you understand what gear is best to bring along for your excursions. 

Understanding Polar exploration may help you appreciate your cruise more 

The history of Arctic exploration, and the race to the North Pole, is fascinating and well worth reading up on. If you don’t already know much about the topic, learning more about renowned explorers like Willem Barentsz and Roald Amundsen, who was the first to reach the North Pole, can add a lot of value to your cruise.

For example, if your cruise visits Ny Alesund, you’ll get to see the mast post where Amundsen and his team took off in the Norge airship, completing the first flight to reach the North Pole. 

Take time to notice the flora of the High Arctic 

Tall trees and plants don’t grow in Svalbard, thanks to the harsh climate and permafrost. However, you’ll quickly come to notice and appreciate the persistent flora that is found in the High Arctic. 

Delicate flowers, moss, lichen, and other low-growth plants are found throughout the region. However, they can be slow-growing, so please take care to avoid stepping on any plant species as you walk and hike. 

How to spot polar bears 

Many travellers visit Svalbard in search of polar bears, as it’s one of the best places to observe them. A top tip: if you’re looking for polar bears, it helps to look for seals too. Seals are their main food source, and polar bears can smell them if nearby. 

When you’re in Svalbard, bears can appear anywhere, so your ship will travel with a rifle patrol, setting up a safety perimeter each time you visit a landing site. They’ll be in high-vis vests and stationed on high vantage points so they can easily spot a polar bear if it appears. Note that the rifles are only used as a last resort. If bears get a bit too close, they will let off a flare that makes a loud bang as a deterrent. 

Be prepared for 24 hours of daylight

Svalbard cruises often visit the High Arctic in the peak summer months of June and July. Since you’ll be so far north, this means you can expect close to 24 hours of daylight. It can be easy to lose track of time and realise it’s way past your bedtime, but it does mean that wildlife can be seen well into the night.  

Visiting Alkefjellet 

Whether you love birds or find them intimidating, it helps to be prepared for Alkefjellet. Many Svalbard cruises visit this dramatic cliff within the Hinlopen Strait. It’s known as ‘Bird Mountain’ as it’s the best place in Svalbard for bird watching — the cliff is home to around 60,000 pairs of breeding Brünnich’s guillemots, along with many other species, including puffins. 

Birds fill the sky here, and it can be an incredible place to visit. However, if you don’t like the idea of thousands of birds flying all around you, you might find this excursion a little too intense. 

On Svalbard expedition cruises, there are no long sea crossings 

When you cruise Svalbard, there are generally no sea days, with the exception of the day sailing in the pack ice. This means each day offers the opportunity to get off the ship and explore - weather depending - ideal for anyone seeking an active holiday. 

If you’ve been to Antarctica, you likely know about the long sea crossing of the Drake Passage, but there is nothing like this in Svalbard. Once you board your ship, you are straight into the action, with your first landing likely the following morning after embarkation. The seas around Svalbard are usually very calm as well in the summer months, so the risk of seasickness is low. 

Are you ready to plan your Svalbard expedition cruise? Whether you’re ready to book or just have questions at this stage, our team of experts is here to help. We can help you find the best Svalbard cruise, along with international flights, travel insurance, and more.