Norway
Svalbard
Svalbard: Expedition Landings in the High Arctic
Expedition days in Svalbard are spent among the archipelago's islands and fjords, away from the town of Longyearbyen. The midnight sun lasts 99 days at the archipelago's southern edge and 141 days at its northern tip, so summer landings happen in round-the-clock daylight.
Good to know
Landing in the Wilderness
Tourist landings in nearly all of Svalbard's protected areas are allowed only at specific mapped sites, and you stay ashore only with a guide who knows the area's nature and history. The same rules also cap how many people may be on land at once.
- The exceptions are the Nordre Isfjorden and Sassen-Bünsow Land national parks, and areas where all traffic is already banned, such as the bird reserves.
- A ship calling at a national park may carry no more than 200 passengers.
- Anyone moving outside the settlements must carry a suitable means of scaring off polar bears.
- Summers are cool, fog is common, and wind chill makes it feel colder than the thermometer says. Pack warm, windproof layers.
- Svalbard is outside the Schengen area, and you need a passport to travel there, even from another Nordic country.
Visiting Rules
Svalbard's environmental law protects both wildlife and the traces of people who came before, and its rules apply on every landing. Breaking them can bring a fine.
- Polar bears: It is forbidden to disturb, attract or pursue a bear without need. Keep at least 300 m away, or 500 m from 1 March to 30 June, and if you find yourself close to a bear, you must withdraw.
- Walruses: Boats must stay at least 150 m from a walrus haul-out and go no faster than 5 knots within 300 m.
- Bird cliffs: From 1 April to 31 August, no drone may fly within 500 m of a bird cliff, and drones are banned outright in protected areas.
- Bird reserves: Sixteen reserves along the west coast protect nesting birds, and they are closed to all traffic from 15 May to 15 August.
- Old remains: Every trace of people from before 1946 is protected automatically, from huts, graves and blubber ovens to walrus and whale bones. Do not move, dig up, cover or take anything, and remember that a 100 m zone around each site is protected too.
- Leave no mark: Visitors in protected areas must avoid leaving new lasting traces or wearing down the ground.
A Brief History
Svalbard's recorded history starts with a sighting in 1596 and runs through whaling, hunting and mining to today's research and tourism. Norway's sovereignty rests on a treaty of 1920.
- 1596: The Dutch navigator Willem Barentsz sighted the main island and named it Spitsbergen, for its pointed mountains.
- 1604: An English ship made the first recorded landing, on Bjørnøya, and began hunting walrus.
- 1611: Spitsbergen became a base for hunting the bowhead whale.
- 1619: Dutch and Danish whalers founded Smeerenburg, "blubber town," on Amsterdamøya in the northwest, where whale oil was boiled out on shore. It was abandoned around 1660, as the local whales were depleted and whaling moved out to sea.
- Late 1600s and 1700s: Russian hunters came and stayed through the winter to hunt polar bears and foxes, and Norwegian walrus hunting began in the 1790s.
- 1890s: Arctic tourism began, coal was found, and the islands became a base for polar exploration.
- 1920 and 1925: The Svalbard Treaty recognized Norwegian sovereignty, and in 1925 Svalbard became a full part of Norway and took its present name.
- 1928: Umberto Nobile's airship Italia crashed on the pack ice off Foyn Island.
- To learn more ashore: The Svalbard Museum, in the Svalbard Science Centre at Vei 231-1 in Longyearbyen, covers the archipelago's cultural and natural history.
Svalbard with Children
Expedition landings suit children who can stay close to the group, walk on rough ground and cope with cold and wind. Wildlife and old whaling sites give every age something to look for.
- Younger children: Svalbard reindeer are much smaller than reindeer elsewhere, and they live nearly everywhere that is free of ice. They were almost wiped out by hunting by 1925.
- School age: Walruses lie together on the shore at their haul-outs. Both males and females have tusks, which can reach a meter long, and the animals use them to pull themselves out of the water.
- Teenagers: About 60 percent of Svalbard is covered by glaciers. Count how many you can see from the ship, and ask the expedition team about the one in front of you.
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