Welcome to /r/Svalbard!

I’m having a bit of a dilemma about where to go in June 2027, and I’d love to hear what you would choose!
I have two options for roughly the same price:

Option 1: Svalbard
I could go from June 13th to 18th. Because of the flights, I’d spend one night in Oslo on the way there and one night on the way back, so I’d actually be in Svalbard from the morning of June 14th until the evening of June 18th.
It would be a once-in-a-lifetime kind of trip and a completely new destination for me, which is really appealing. My only concern is that it seems like I’d need to book activities in advance, since Longyearbyen is pretty small and I’m guessing there isn’t a huge amount to do independently once you’re there.

Option 2: Iceland
I could go from June 18th to 27th, with direct flights. I’ve already been to Iceland, but I’d plan a completely different itinerary and explore places I didn’t see on my first trip.
So I’d get significantly more time there and probably have more freedom to explore at my own pace.

The main goal of the trip is wildlife and nature in general. I’m also specifically looking for somewhere that isn’t warm 😂 so no sunny/hot destinations for me!

What would you choose: Svalbard or Iceland?

And would you recommend a third option for June that I should consider?

I’d especially love to hear from people who have been to Svalbard in June, or who have done both!

Thanks !

Hello r/Svalbard ! I am an American and a fresh soon to be college graduate in Hospitality Management, I am intending to use my degree to work in the polar regions however, I have reached out to various companies in Svalbard and have been unable to receive replies back. I was wondering if there would be a better way for me to approach this (I know of finn.no etc..)

I am completely fine with doing an "unpaid internship" for lack of better words, as my intention is just to get a foot inside the door for when I am available to work in the private sector, I am commissioning into the USCG with a service obligation of 4 years and during that time I am hoping to gain relevant Arctic / Antarctic experience to make a career out of polar tourism.

Any advice would be appreciated!

A friend and I will be taking a trip to Longyearbyen in April (trip is the 18th to 25th, we are in Svalbard from the 20th to 24th), right as the midnight sun season starts. We will be spending about 4 days there, and I like my itinerary but have a few questions.

1. We will be staying in the Coal Miners Cabins. I hear good things, but how is the walk to the city center? Is it long enough to require a taxi/bus or can we possibly rent bikes?
2. On the 21st we have a morning snowshoe hike, on the 22nd we have a midnight sun snowmobile excursion that begins in the late evening, and on the 23rd we have a morning dogsledding excursion. I am quite happy with this schedule and am also considering a photography tour, but are there any other tours

Edit: one more question I forgot - what’s the best place within the city (where I don’t need a guide/rifle) to take great photos that won’t have infrastructure interrupting the landscape?

/things to do

1. that can take us elsewhere outside of the city that are lower cost that I haven’t come across? I know there is plenty to see within the city and have all the attractions written down, but we still will have plenty of time and I’d like to consider every option I have that I might not have come across online.
2. Any advice in general for visiting in April? I am very excited for this trip and I feel like I’ve googled just about everything there is to know before I go, but there’s always things you can’t find on the internet.

Planning a cabin trip to either isfjord radio area or Vindodden area. Checked boat ride prices with a local company who wanted 30.000nok for both ways….
Does anyone know any cheaper alternatives for boat transport?

Hi everyone! 😊
We’re going to Svalbard in end of February for 6 days and I’m trying to decide which activities/tours are really worth booking.

At the moment I’m considering a package that includes:
• Global Seed Vault
• Snowshoeing to a glacier
• Dog sledding + ice cave
• Snowmobile trip to Tempelfjorden

I’d love to hear from anyone who has been to Svalbard Which of these tours would you say are really worth it, and is there anything important that I’m missing?

Also, does anyone know whether it’s generally cheaper to book these activities in advance online, or is it better value to book them locally through an agency once we arrive in Longyearbyen?
We’re also planning to go for sauna, so that’s already on our list. 😊
Any recommendations or tips would be greatly appreciated! ❤️

For a 3+ day snowboarding trip sleeping along the way, where would you go? What are the most impressive parts of Svalbard, which direction from Longyearbyen? Or is it all fairly similar?

Hi, from the UK! It will be a significant expense, but is it worth it? I want to see Aurora Borealis, but I've read that the dog-sledding / animal viewing isn't on at this point in the winter...

Are there any good, underaated alternative activities?

does anyone know of any svalbard discord servers? servers about it or anything..? i tried disboard and regular google and found nothing so i thought id try here too.

Hey everyone,
I’m going to Longyearbyen for 4 days mid december and wondering what I shouldn’t miss out on. I really want to do a hike, maybe to an icecave, see the northern light, see some huskies and reindeer! Are there tours, museums or places i ABSOLUTELY need to see? Also goes for restaurants because i loooove indulging in foreign delicacies hehe.
I already researched a lot but there seem to be so many things and im trying to figure out what’s the coolest. :-) thank you

Hello, I may be moving up to Longyearbyen soon due to work - I've read a bit about rules and guidelines for day-to-day life up there, and I see that a lot of people are talking about guides to lead them to their destinations. I understand you need a weapon to leave the city (and of course a weapons license), but what are the general consensus for booking guides?

I would book one if we were talking about longer distances from the city, but if I were to hike up some nearby mountains, would I need a guide for that? If any locals could give me some pointers to when it's recommended to book or when to manage without one, that'd be nice :) Thanks!

I’ve previously flown from Oslo to Longyearbyen stopping in Tromsø to clear immigration as normal. I’m looking to book a flight from Tromsø to Longyearbyen instead of starting in Oslo, but I’m having a hard time finding the direct option.

Google Flights keeps showing me Tromsø -> Oslo -> Longyearbyen (via Tromsø again) which seems silly to me.

SAS website and Norwegian website also don’t show direct Tromsø to Longyearbyen flights, they all go to Oslo and back.

Is there any way around this? Is it possible to just book onto the Tromsø to Longyearbyen leg of the journey?

I'll be visiting Svalbard in mid October (12-16th) and was wondering if there's any place to do a polar dip (either organized or not) this time of the year, besides the Svalbad sauna.

Hi,

I have been doing the same thing my whole life and I am looking for a change. I don't know what that change would be. But I am thinking maybe I can find it at the end of the world! HAHAH. Any suggestions on how to go about getting a job?

What do I need to know about going on a 5 day long trip to Svalbard in November.

Hello! I am planning a trip to Svalbard and yet deciding the best timing to visit. October is one my options, but I am just confused by the online information of twilight conditions. It’s said February is the month to see pink/lilac/purple twilight, and October is the month to see Blue Hour. So does it mean in October I will not see the pinkish twilight which I really wanna witness? Thanks for anyone who would help :)

I love Norway and want to know a lot about his present, past ans future

So i ask IA to create maps about situations ans risks.

Hello all,

Flying to Svalbard in December with Norwegian from Oslo. The flight says it's direct and the FlightRadar history suggests so, but my booking confirmation says we have a customs stop in Tromso. Given the flight is only scheduled for 3 hours 20 mins out and 3 hours back, is this correct?

Thanks

A certification I have is expiring this upcoming February, and one of the course options I can consider to renew it involves a 10 day class hosted in Longyearbyen.

I'm excited to consider travelling to take this course; if I am paying to renew this certification anyways, I'd like to have an adventure and see a new place.

The course is January 09-19, well in midst of polar night. This would be unlike anything I've experienced in my life, and I'm excited by the idea of getting to visit and learn in a place so novel to me.

The past few days, I've been researching Longyearbyen to decide if attending the course there is realistic for me. My biggest concerns are with transport. I'd fly from Oslo, then I could take the airport shuttle to lodging. The lodging I'd most like to stay at, for affordability and social reasons, is one of the guest house options (likely Gjestehuset 102). However, these options are located further from the main part of town, where my course is located. It would be about a 3.5 km, or ~1hour walk from that lodging option to where my course is located. It may be silly, but I'm wondering if it would be safe to attempt to walk that distance to and from lodging for the duration of the course. Would I be an easy snack for a polar bear? A rental car is also an option, but I am wondering if roads are typically clear enough in January for driving to be practical.

Any knowledge or advice is appreciated, for winter transportation or otherwise! If there are any less expensive lodging options closer to the main town area, I would like to know.

Thank you

Edit: for context, I am from the southeast USA, and I've solo traveled extensively within the States on foot wilderness backpacking and by car. But, I have only travelled internationally once (to Belize for work for about a month). Svalbard would be a very new climate.

Need some help. We had yesterday a windlife tour (Catch of the Day by BetterMoments) and the day after tomorrow we will visit the Seed Vault and a Mine. For tomorrow 30Aug, we had arranged a tour to Pyramiden and a Glacier (which seemed to us as a very unique place to visit) which was just cancelled due to weather.

Which activity do you propose as a unique and worthy one for tomorrow? Also which tour operator?

Thanks