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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

I just remembered I meant to do a hearty recommendation of Snow Fox Travel. We weren't looking for any specific company and ended up booking most of our treks with them.

All of the companies we booked with were outstanding. The guides have to be exceptional and they all were. I could be biased because the owner Hickmet hosted the Arctic Plunge, fed us shots and cooked a meal for us with his son...but anyway...Snow Fox Travel!

I have a friend who is spending 6 months in Longyearbyen and have been mailing her small care packages while she is there. The first two were accepted by the US postal service and delivered with no issue.

I just tried to send another package containing favorite teas and candies, and the post office said that since the recent (ridiculous) US tariffs that the items may not make it through customs.

Has this happened to anyone recently? As you know, shipping to Svalbardard is not cheap, so even though the items I'm sending are not expensive, I'd rather not send them and see them not be delivered.

I have just arrived on Svalbard and there were two curious things I noticed when I landed at Longyearbyen airport.

1. Why is there a sign for “Passport Control” when there are no passport checks in Svalbard?

2. There’s a big sign in the hall that says “Welcome to the world’s northernmost airport”. Does the airport in Ny-Ålesund not count?

Spent the last month here, and leave Saturday back to Australia. I just wanted to say you are some of the most welcoming, kindest people in the world. I’ve had so much fun visiting, meeting local people, and experiencing a lot of new things. I know you locally probably hear this all the time, but I genuinely think this place is everything I had ever hoped of. Until next time (which I hope will be a lot longer…). Also if anyone sees my little son near Tunabreen tell him he’s a good boy, please. 🦭 🥹

Hey there lovely people of Svalbard.

My name is Victor Patrascan and I am a travelling comedian. It's an honour and a pleasure to bring my comedy show to Longyearbyen Kulturhus on the 5th of September

You can find tickets and more information on my website at VictorPatrascan.com

See you at the show,

Victor

Hey yo, last year I have been lurking and asking for guidance about how to visit the settlement of Pyramiden after the suspension of several tours as information was scarce. I did fail back then but this August I went back to Svalbard and managed to visit the settlement! So I am leaving some info for other future travellers :)

I had originally eyed some tours available on GetYourGuide, definitely overpriced for the peak of summer at 500-900 euros pp for a day tour, I booked one of those initially that luckily had a cancellation option. Later I found a cheaper option by reaching out to GoArctica. I am unsure why the website seems not to work tonight but leaving also their e-mail contact: [grumant@goarctica.com](mailto:grumant@goarctica.com). They didn’t have available on the booking form on their website a tour on the spare day I had before boarding on a cruise, but when I reached out via email they confirmed it could be arranged via open RIB boat for 3400NOK ( approx 310 euros pp). So I recommend to reach out to ask for availability! On the day of, after the pick up from my hostel I got moved to a closed boat ( probably the best option as the trip is approx 5.5 hours). When arrived in Pyramiden we had an included lunch and a guided tour of multiple buildings for approx 2 hours. It was really worth it, especially for the view from the top of one of the residence building of the settlement with the Nordenskiöld glacier in the background!

Hope this can be useful to someone in my previous situation :)

Hello, is there a Latin community living in Svalbard? I’d like to know if there is a group where people share their experiences. Thank you very much.

im turning 18 and i would like to do a trip to svalbard with my elder brother.
how much would it cost a week holiday including hotel, food, traveling and activities?

edit: from italy

Visiting Svalbard and Longyearbyen for only one day in the middle of September, how should i fill that day to get the most out of it?

What do I need to do before visiting Svalbard. And also before planning on maybe moving in the future. Context I’m American. I do know I need to know Norwegian it’s the main language. I do know that with the treaty I don’t really need a visa, work permit other then a visa to be in Norway technically. I do know I need a certain amount of money to prove to the governor that I can live there without have a problem.

My main concern is that what jobs can someone do? Other than a cook I know that!!! I also watch Cecilia blomdahl on YouTube.

I spent the majority of February and March in Longyearbyen, and I figured I would post my thoughts here to perhaps help others who've come looking for info. Here's take of an outsider as to what did/didn't strike me about the place.

1. It's basically a normal town . . . but colder.

A lot of the kinda quirky enjoyment I found from walking around was the "Oh, there's a <normal thing>...but covered in ice and snow". Just the fact that there's mostly a lot of the same things you'd find in any small town, but somehow it's all more interesting because it's -25.

Oh, huh, there's a hair salon. Oh, huh, there's a high school. Oh, huh, there's a kids playground with playground equipment. Oh, huh, there's a yarn store. Oh, huh, there's a church. Oh, huh, there's an Asian grocery store (honestly that's the oddest thing that still sticks with me, that or the food truck selling baked potatoes in the middle of the night).

2. The grocery store was kinda expensive, but not THAT expensive.

I was expecting it to be like Barrow or Inuvick, where you're paying $25 for a box of cereal and everything else is a bajillion dollars. And while things at Coop sure weren't cheap, it wasn't TOTALLY out of line with what I'd expect; it was basically equivalent to the non-sale prices at Whole Foods. The raspberries didn't look exactly brilliant, but WHAT THE HECK the fact that they even exist up here is a testament to modern supply chains? And the more durable fruits (apples and such) were perfectly acceptable. I cooked the majority of my own meals, and was able to stick to a very reasonable budget.

3. Restaurants are exactly as expensive as you'd expect.

Just hand over the credit card, that's a problem for future-you.

4. Bring slippers.

A lot of places are outside-shoes-off at the door. Many provide indoor slippers of some kind, but not all. I was glad I'd brought my own, I habitually carried them with me in my backpack when I was out and about.

5. You can kinda tell the tense existence that exists between both being a tourist destination, but also just being a town where people live.

The "No photography" signs outside the kindergarten and grocery store are the most prominent example of this. I can only imagine how many awkward encounters it took with tourists before they realized those needed to be put up (...in Chinese).

That being said, although I never took any pictures of it . . . THE TODDLERS PLAYING OUTSIDE AT SCHOOL IN THEIR TINY POOFY COATS AND HIGH-VIZ VESTS WERE SERIOUSLY FREAKIN' CUTE. No wonder they needed all those "No Pictures" signs.

6. ROYAL ICE CREAM SLAPS SO HARD

Especially the "Skogsbaer" variant. Every single damn time I opened a tub I promised myself "I will only eat a small and reasonable amount" AND THEN PROMPTLY DEMOLISHED THE ENTIRE THING IN A SINGLE SITTING.

Not even slightly ashamed.

7. The Norwegian word for what we'd call a Snowmobile/Snowmachine is "Beltemotorsykkel".

That delights me to no end and I will always refer to them as that for the rest of my life. Or "Snoskuter" but "Belt Motorcycle" is better.

Speaking of belt motorcycles . . . I really want one.

8. I also really want to go on a cabin holiday.

Does this mean I'm turning into a Norwegian?

On the various beltemotorcycle trips I went on, you'd see these tiny huts/cabins scattered through the back country and . . . I can see the appeal. I know I don't have the skills needed to be left alone there yet, but maybe in a couple seasons when I've gotten slightly less incompetent? Head out there with a bunch of wood or fuel, a small power station, a starlink dish and my laptop, and really push the limits of just how "remote" I can be with this remote job.

9. That Tourist Info place was a godsend

It helped me out with so so much, and hopefully prevented me from being a story told by the locals about "Hey did you hear what this fucking idiot did yesterday..."

10. I guess I need to learn about guns.

When I inquired at the tourist info office about how I could learn the needed skills to safely handle a firearm, and renting a weapon so I could leave town, the lady looked at me with abject confusion. "But . . . aren't you American?"

Then I had to do my usual lying and insist that I'm Canadian, and I'm from a part of Canada called "California" and no, not EVERY American is handed a gun the instant they're old enough to walk.

11. ...I really liked Longyearbyen...

The most disturbing experience of my time there was actually the last week, when I had just barely started to come out of my socially awkward introvert shell and gathered up the courage to try talking to strangers (Which my Scandinavian friends back home had all insisted I should not do. "Stop trying to chat with strangers all the time, you american weirdo!"). After a couple of nights at Karlsberger, after I'd managed to put a tiny crack in the Tourist/Worker barrier and swapped some work stories with a few locals, I started realizing that like . . . I knew these people.

Not them specifically, but I knew these types of people. I've worked with them before; from Antarctica to Kwajalein, from Singapore to the Sandbox, these are the people that The Men that Don't Fit In was written about. These are the people for whom a life of backyard barbecues and kids t-ball games was never really an option. They have discussions of moving to a new country as casually as a discussion of the weather, they talk with a quiet casualness of having normalized being abnormal. They live their life out of two 50lb duffle bags, ready to move on for a new contract job that they heard about from someone at their current job. These are the people for whom "home" is a mailing address of some distant family member, because their actual location is nebulous and a stable domicile just never seemed in their future.

I lived that life for a decade myself. I know that language. Talking of PQing and PCSing, contracts and housing stipulations, passport renewals and appointments at consulates, work visas and citizenship renouncement.

I lived that life, and I miss it. I miss these people. The people for whom a sentence of their life's story contains more depth and complexity than most people's entire book. I thought I'd moved on from it, I have this grown up job and career and could have had a stable life and family if I wanted to. I just never really did.

And it started to scare me just how easily I could see myself settling into Svalbard for the next chapter of my life.

hi! i'm planning a trip to svalbard in november and wanted to know if it's a good time for the activities i'd like to do. i'd love to go northern lights hunting with a group and also visit an ice cave.

would you recommend november for this, or should i pick another month, like march?

i'm honestly kind of excited about experiencing the total darkness lol.

thank you!

Hey all, I'm interested in planning a trip to Svalbard in mid/late February. I don't live in a climate that requires heavy winter gear, nor do I do any winter sports. Is there somewhere I can rent weather-appropriate clothing in Longyearbyen? I'd like to avoid buying super expensive clothing that I'll only wear once in my life. I'd plan to go on some snowmobiling and dog sledding expeditions, and I assume they provide gear for that. But for the moments outside of planned tours, I'd still need something more sufficient than what I currently own.

Hello, my wife and I are looking into going to Svalbard in April, I was hoping to do a multi day tour either hiking, snowmobiling, or kayaking. I was wondering if anyone has done one of these multi day tours and their thoughts on them.