Svalbard and Jan Mayen Travel Blogs

Longyearbreen glacier walk...
Jun 30, 2006 (19 photos)

... order to ensure that I got a window seat. The Lonely Planet describes the descent to Longyearbyen, the main settlement in Svalbard, as "otherworldly" provided the weather's clear. Unfortunately it was quite cloudy for me, but there were enough gaps to get ...

25 days of adventure in the true north!!!!
Sep 13, 2008 (5 photos)

... brief details of our trip from 20.7-15.8.2008 to svalbard spitsbergen, 1. day plane: vienna - munich - oslo - longyearbyen 2. day resting and organizational matters 3. day boattravel to the ghosttown pyramiden 4.-8. day hikes around pyramiden 9. day ...

Leaving Svalbard
Apr 4, 2008 (6 photos)

... them. We went back to hotel, had a coke and some chocolate and then boarded the bus to the airport. Ate lunch at the airport after checking in then boarded the plane for the flight via Tromso to Oslo. Good clear day so more pics of Svalbard from the plane.

Friendly seagull
Jun 6, 2004 (3 photos)

A very nice seagull...standing on the balcony of our Norwegian and Danish friends, Hilde and Sigve. They even liked to eat from their hands (what Bea checked personally).

Longyearbyen, the solitary Norwegian town
Aug 1, 2003 (36 photos)

... (1700 inhabitants), but its coal mining related activities are decreasing in favour of others as tourism and scientific research (being Svalbard a natural outdoor laboratory to test many important facts as the magnitude of the global climate change). ...

Arctic fox
Apr 15, 2004 (2 photos)

Arctic fox... One of the most interesting (and few) mammals in Svalbard. It is quite evasive, partially beacause it needs it (they can feed from the remains left behind by polar bears), but beautiful as well, both in its summer and its winter coats. As you ...

Polar Bear!!!
May 8, 2004 (2 photos)

From the R/V Jan Mayen (although it took us a while to get the camera ready, and the pics are not from very close), we saw a polar bear. Those were very tense minutes, because before we saw it, the captain of the ship warned us about the high probability ...

Reindeers
Jan 15, 2004 (10 photos)

... arctic herbivorous animal! We have a special affection for these "little" boys, maybe because they are cruelly killed there by biologists and hunters who think that it is a nice sport! We had a lot of nice experiences with them because they were in every ...

Arriving in Svalbard
Apr 1, 2008 (5 photos)

Clear weather as we approached Svalbard meant we got some good pictures from the plane. Arrived in Longyearbyen a little late due to the extra passenger issue at Tromsø. We had to walk across the tarmac in Longyearbyen, -19C when we arrived so it was a ...

And Even Further North...
Jul 12, 2009 (5 photos)

... The main attraction for tourists here is polar bears.  There is a stable population of about 3000 bears in the Svalbard area and if you plan to venture from any settlement there are dire warnings about possible polar bear attacks.  My hostel was ...

Land of the midnight sun
Aug 23, 2008 (9 photos)

The starting point for my Arctic Expedition around Svalbard, an island archipelago lying North of the Norwegian mainland, was Longyearbyen.   Longyearbyen, lying at 78 degrees North, is the main town of Svalbard, with  about 1900 ...

Svalbard
Jul 13, 2007

... sadest thing was the huge amount of rubbish that was on the beach.  It all washes up from the gulf stream and ends up on the shores of Svalbard.  We collected ove 50 kgs on the way back to the Zodiacs on our return to the ship.In ...

Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous...and Polar Bears!
Jul 14, 2009 (34 photos)

... economical cabin.  The pictures on the website looked nice but I've been fooled by that before so I was pleasantly surprised and found myself giggling while exploring my deluxe (by my standards) cabin:  champagne on ice, fresh fruit bowl, flat ...

Snowmobiling to East Coast of Svalbard
Apr 3, 2008 (4 photos)

... and have a very brief introduction into driving a snowmobile. We left at 9.45am for a 10 hour trip to the east coast of Svalbard and back. S was given a few chances to get up to speed for the trip but the dogsled fall left her low on confidence and she ...

Dogsledding in Svalbard
Apr 2, 2008 (3 photos)

... half way when we hit our first hill. Driver had to push the sled up the hill in knee deep snow. Switched places with S driving and me as passenger at the half way point. After a few minutes we hit a bump and S fell from the sled, luckily I managed to ...

Skidoo, seal and sun
Apr 26, 2007 (22 photos)

... polar bear and to do a treck in the Spitzberg. All the day done under the supervision of our guide armed with a riffle gun to use if a polar bear wants to get a small human snaks!! One good thing to add for Svalbard, if that the island is free of tax.

Midnight sun
Apr 25, 2007 (9 photos)

... earth First of all, if you are going near the north pole, please make sure that there is no marathon! I arrived in Svalbard (for those who wants to read a book in english: Northern lights from Philippe Pullman) in the beginning of the afternoon, ...

Arctic Adventure
Aug 23, 2008 (27 photos)

Life in the Arctic   For my expedition around Svalbard, I was on the Russian ship: Akademik Shokalskiy.  It is an ice-strengthened ship which can take about 50-60 passengers.  The captain and crew are Russian, while the hotel and ...

Retour par l'autoroute
May 6, 2005 (6 photos)

Nous voilà déjà sur le retour, 2 jours de skis pour retourner au bercail. Le guide qui voulait qu'on reste groupé, a maintenant récupéré la pulka avec les chiens et se laisse traîner par les chiens 500 mètres devant nous. Cool la vie. De plus, à moins qu'il soit ...

Nightswimming in the Arctic
Jul 9, 2007 (8 photos)

... other 2 got out that water very quickly much to the enjoyment of the crowd. Definitely feel dirty after swimming in there but i can now say i have swam in Arctic water and survived!!! when i find a suitable computer i will upload some comical photos.

Cercle Arctique : Spitzberg
May 1, 2005 (3 photos)

... me suis coincé le bas du dos. Ca va être folklo le trek !!! Quelques mots sur le Spitzberg, c'est l'île principale de l'archipel Svalbard géré par la Norvège au niveau du cercle polaire à 78° Nord Mon billet d'avion sous les yeux, je m'envol pour Oslo puis ...

Préparation
May 2, 2005 (3 photos)

J'ai bien du dormir 5 heures... Tu te réveilles le matin, il fait soleil dans la chambre, tu penses qu'il faut te lever à cause du jour, tu regardes ta montre, et non il est 5 heures du matin. Le matin est prévu pour la préparation du matériel, j'ai amené ...

Spitzberg by night
May 8, 2005

Avant de repartir, j'ai demandé au guide où ça bougeait le soir en ville. Alors, avant d'aller guincher, on est allé dans un resto histoire d'essayer un plat un peu différent : On trouve de la baleine (importée car pas de pêche dans le coin), alors en ragoût ...

Tire fesse avec des chiens
May 3, 2005 (9 photos)

Ca y'est c'est le grand départ, aujourd'hui en va faire une sorte de tire fesse particulier : 2 équipages de chiens de traîneau vont nous tirer pour nous amener à notre premier camp. On porte des harnais et on s'accroche à une corde qui traîne derrière ...

C'est parti pour la banquise
May 5, 2005 (5 photos)

Lever 6h du matin, ça parait tôt mais non, on s'est couché à 21h00. De toute manière, il fait toujours la même luminosité. On remballe les tentes et tous le matos sur les pulkas. Objectif : 6 heures de marche pour rejoindre l'autre coté du fjord en ...

Blubber, Birds, Blue Ice and Bountiful Seas
Jul 9, 2009 (30 photos)

Eastern Svalbard and Nordaustlandet July 8-9 Bountiful Seas, Blubbery Wildlife, Birds and Blue Ice The harshness of the Arctic winter makes survival extremely difficult and the wildlife have adapted to slightly increase the odds of surviving. Polar bears ...

Secret Arctic Island Under the Clouds
Aug 10, 2005 (5 photos)

... landscape of clouds formations. We descended through layer upon layer of cloud islands and cloud rivers and cloud springs, until, somewhere just outside the center of the Earth, the mists parted and afforded this, my first, glimpse of Svalbard.

Dog Sledding
Aug 11, 2002 (2 photos)

Sunshine, Shrinking Sea Ice, Stalking Wild Species
Jul 5, 2009 (45 photos)

... pre kerosene world where night lighting from whale oil was prized over all else. Spitsbergen is the largest island in the Svalbard Archipelago and its west side is the northernmost spot for the warm Gulfstream current. This keeps the harbor ice-free for 8 ...

Barentsberg & Esmark Glacier
Aug 10, 2002 (2 photos)