Svalbard, or Spitsbergen

Svalbard, or Spitsbergen

In 2015 I went to Svalbard. That’s a while ago, but because Svalbard only gets about 30k tourists a year, it’s still somewhat undiscovered. Around that time I didn’t have my DSLR camera yet, so please bear with me for the pictures. Spitsbergen is the name of the largest island of Svalbard and it was discovered by a Dutchman, cool!

I visited Longyearbyen, which is the capital. And Pyramiden, an abandoned Russian coal mining settlement. Depending on whether you like the cold you can decide to go in the summer or in winter. Even in the summer the mountain peaks will be snowy.

There’s various cruises you can do around Svalbard. With a cruise you can also go further up north to Ny-Ålesund, which is just a bit further north than Pyramiden. If you come in by plane, make sure to look at the mountains closest to the airport. It stores the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, it stores various plant seeds, even a couple that are already gone extinct. You cannot visit there, but you can take a digital tour.

When you arrive you can take the airport bus which visits all the hotels or take a taxi. Hotels range from quite luxurious hotels to hostels which offer rooms with shared facilities. I stayed at the hostel at the very edge of Longyearbyen. The city is quite small and there’s a lot of industry but the houses are beautiful. Coal trucks come around often from the still active mines.

After strolling through the town and enjoying the beautiful scenery, you should start off at the Svalbard Museum, it gives a good introduction of Svalbard. If you’re not lucky enough to see polar bears on this trip you can cheat and view the one in the museum. Also make sure to photograph the iconic polar bear sign, there’s one on the east edge of Longyearbyen.

You cannot go too far outside of Longyearbyen. You’d need to pack a survival kit because of the polar bears, including a flare gun and a rifle. Of course there are a lot of rules attached to this, you cannot just shoot a polar bear!

Around Svalbard you will also see remains of coal mines. It’s probably not allowed nor safe to explore them, but we did a little climb to one of them to take a peek. Not everything seemed stable so we didn’t went too far. However, it’s amazing what people managed to build in such a remote location with limited resources.

A major form of transportation still used is dog sledding. Even though there was no snow, we still liked to try it. The husky farm girl assured us that they still liked going, even though they had to work harder. We believed her as the dogs were still very enthusiastic and cheerful before and after, while also being tired after. They used a special cart instead of a sleigh. Starting off and going uphill the driver needs to help push the sleigh, otherwise it would be to heavy for the dogs.

The fun starts when preparing the sleigh. You can help with getting the huskies into their outfit. The ones not being selected for the trip will be disappointed they cannot go with! They are carefully selected, the leaders go in the front and the strongest go in the back. I think it would be even more fun and easier for the dogs if there was snow. However, I do think the experience on Svalbard is better than other more visited dog farms in north Scandinavia, there they will do the same lap every time, automatically. On Svalbard, the driver really decides where to go.

Pyramiden is a must see. It’s an abandoned coal mining town from Russia. Time stood still here and there are still a lot of remains from the Soviet era. You can easily visit with a day trip. The boat will visit Pyramiden and a glacier close by it. During your voyage from Longyearbyen to Pyramiden you may see whales, so keep an eye out for them.

Once you reach Pyramiden, you will be greeted by the tour guide. In our case it was Sasha. He will have a gun because polar bears can roam around in Pyramiden. Because there are very few people here, you have a good chance to see wildlife. I saw an Arctic Fox running through the settlement. You’ll get a tour through Pyramiden. There’s a museum and hotel, where you can even stay at if you want. Furthermore there are various abandoned places from the Soviet time. You will visit a library, a swimming pool and a theater.

Afterwards we visited the glacier close by. It’s pretty impressive due to the size of it. Together with the peaky mountains and the floating pieces of ice in the sea it gives a beautiful view. But for me the highlight was the polar bears we could see here. Of course you have to be quite lucky to see them. It were a mother and a cub on a big piece of rock in front of the glacier. With binoculars they were very visible. Unfortunately my camera couldn’t really capture it very well.

There’s one restaurant you simply may not miss. I’ve had my fill of delicious steaks of all kinds of animals. But one of the best steaks I’ve ever had was the whale steak at Mary-Ann’s Vinterhagen. They serve reindeer, whale and seal, depending on stock and season. You may have ethical objections to whale meat. The one most commonly served in Svalbard is Minke Whale which is considered Least Concern, so that’s why I still decided to try.

There are a few more places to eat and drink. Some beers are even brewed locally. Taxes are low but living cost is high. Fresh produce is expensive, while alcohol is inexpensive, compared to mainland Norway. If you’re here you can probably do all restaurants and cafe’s. How about for example the Svalbar?

You can get a good impression in Svalbard in just a few days. If you’re into hiking you can stay a lot longer because there are a lot of mountains! Or if you’re taking a cruise or doing a land tour.

This trip was made in 2015.

If you have any thoughts or questions feel free to leave a comment!

 culture hiking island nature