Svalbard Expeditions

South Spitsbergen National Park encompasses the southern end of Spitsbergen island and includes Wedel Jarlsberg Land, Torell Land and Sørkapp Land. The park contains four bird sanctuaries, one of which is the Isøyane Bird Sanctuary, a wetland area that's home to breeding populations of barnacle geese, common eiders, black-legged kittiwakes and thick-billed guillemots.

This national park, rather surprisingly for some visitors, is home to two hot springs, the Troll and Jotun hot springs which are located along the edge of the Bockfjorden fjord. At almost 80 degrees north latitude, they are the most northernmost documented hot springs on earth. Arctic bird species such as puffins, arctic terns and purple sandpipers are found in the park.

Longyearbyen, the world’s northernmost city, is located on Spitsbergen and is the capital of the Svalbard archipelago. It started as a mining operation in 1906 but much of the original town was burned down during the Second World War and the coal mines are gone. Today, Longyearbyen (population: 2,368) is a jumping-off point to explore the Norwegian Arctic, offering the amenities of art galleries, museums, pubs, a school, university, and sports complex. (The Svalbard Museum and the North Pole Museum, which focuses on the history of North Pole exploration, are worth visiting to learn about the Arctic territory you’re exploring.)

The name Smeerenburg means “Blubber Town” and that’s precisely why the town was originally established. It was a whaling station in the first half of the 17th century. The most obvious sign of its bygone era are the large cement-like remains of blubber from ovens where the whale carcasses were boiled. Much care has been taken to preserve what remains of the town’s whaling history. The surrounding area is scenic: fjords, tall glacier fronts and steep, rugged mountains. There’s a memorial in Smeerenburg that honours whalers who lost their lives in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Monaco Glacier (or Monacobreen) is one of the largest glaciers in Spitsbergen, and is located in Liefdefjorden. It owes its name to Prince Albert I of Monaco who surveyed the glacier on an expeditions in 1906 and 1907. The foot of the glacier is about 7 km wide, and 60 metres high and often impresses people by its eye-catching bluish tint. Visitors on a Zodiac cruise along the fjord are apt to witness glacier calving. Polar bears frequent the area, mostly to prey on the seal population.

The 14th of July Glacier is a 16-kilometre long glacier (covering a total area of 76 square kilometres) in Haakon VII Land in the northwestern part of the island. The bay attracts purple sandpipers, common eiders, barnacle geese and arctic terns. Small numbers of Atlantic puffins can be viewed nesting on nearby cliffs, whilst Svalbard reindeer and Arctic fox can sometimes be spotted nearby.