Romanianflyer

Thanks lhrpete, it is a stunning sight for sure.

By fit enough I mean that the day can be a bit tiring (it was for me being relatively fit in my mid 30s - although I had a short night of sleep the night before) and in general should not be underestimated. Yet on our tour group we had men, women, young and old. I'd say a good comparison is taking a long drive in an old manual-drive car without power steering on roads you are unfamiliar with. If you can drive such a car for eight hours in a day on country roads (with a big break in between) you will definitely be OK. Note that a valid driving licence is needed to operate a snowmobile.

Romanianflyer

Part 7: A day in Longyearbyen

Originally I planned to take a boat trip to Pyramiden – the abandoned Russian mining town further north up the Isfjorden – but I heard that due to ice conditions the boat would not be able to dock and drop passengers off. Instead I decided to just stay in town for a relaxed day, wandering a bit around, snapping some pictures and having a pint or two in one of the local pubs. Looking out of my hotel window it was again a lovely winter day.



Upon leaving the hotel I was however again reminded how cold it was when taking my gloves off for a few seconds to snap a few shots of the hotel compound. The blue skies and shining sun is really deceiving when it comes to this!





The Polarrig hotel where I was staying is located on some small industrial area mainly existing out of some warehouses. It is however not far located from the centre of Longyearbyen, which is some 10 to 15 minutes away on foot.



Before heading into town I first walked down to the Isfjorden to snap a few pictures. The views were magnificent – but due to the strong winds it was way too cold to stay here for long. The difference in temperature and comfort between the shoreline and the main road just a few hundred feet up was massive.





Longyearbyen is not a big town and has a population of around 2,500. It basically exists out of a main paved road along the fjord, and another road leading uphill inland. Parallel to this you will also find a small pedestrian street among which all shops and other facilities are located. As space is abundant on the island, most residential houses and hotels are a bit spread out.





The big building here on the picture below is the most notable in town and is home to a research centre and the Svalbard museum – which is well worth a visit.



From the museum, a pedestrian street runs all the way up on the hill. On this street, you will find all you need for your stay on the island. There is a well-stocked, rather big supermarket, a post office, bank, some shops to buy outdoor equipment and clothes, and of course a few cafes, pubs and restaurants.











I did some shopping at the supermarket and drank a beer in one of the pubs before heading back down along the pedestrian street towards my hotel.



Even though it was getting really cold I could not stop myself from halting, taking off my gloves, and shoot a picture or two of the scenery.







To save some money, I had bought a couple of craft beers and food from the supermarket for a dinner in my hotel room. The beers (from Svalbard Bryggeri) were excellent. The sunset views from my room were not bad either.



Even though Svalbard is way above the auroral zone where you are geographically closest to see the northern lights up in the sky (the layer is most often more south towards Iceland/northern Norway) you can spot it in Svalbard if you are lucky enough. Unfortunately, while the apps I consulted gave a favourable forecast due to high magnetic activity, there were clouds over Longyearbyen and the nearby area towards the south, ruining any chances for me to see it. Next time more luck, hopefully!

lhrpete

Thanks Romanianflyer, that's helpful. I'm nearly twice your age so maybe it's an adventure I'm past!

Romanianflyer

If you are interested but might have doubts if you would be able to handle it for a full day, you can always start with a shorter drive of just 2-3 hours or so. It is also possible by the way to go on such tours as a passenger on the back of a snowmobile - in which case you only have to sit down, stay warm and move your body a bit to the left or right when making a turn (just watch how the driver moves his body slightly to a side and follow). There are lots of different tour options out there, and I did see those in their sixties embarking on them!

nequine

Excellent photos!

What temperature was it?

Romanianflyer

Thanks nequine. Temperatures hovered around -20 degrees Celsius (-4 F). The coldest temperature I measured was -25 degrees Celsius. It's doable as long as you have a good winter jacket and dress up in two to three layers of warm clothes. Only in the wind (eg. down at the fjord when with the wind coming from the sea fully blowing in your face) it was just too cold to be outside.

Romanianflyer

Part 8: Svalbard (LYR) to Oslo Gardermoen (OSL) on SAS in economy class
Flight SK4491 - Boeing 737-700 - Seat 7D - 200 EUR for OSL-LYR r/t
STD 1.10pm - STA 4.05pm (flight time 2h55m)

After two full days on Svalbard it was time to fly home again. Two days is the bare minimum which you need to do the trip justice (one in town, one to make a day trip into the nature). Admittedly I wish I had more time available, at least a full third day for a second day trip, but work schedules made this impossible.

I waited in front of my hotel for the airport bus to arrive. It departs approximately two hours before each scheduled flight departure – and each hotel will have a schedule at which time it will make the stop near your hotel.



Svalbard airport is located some five kilometres the west of Longyearbyen on a beautiful position overlooking the Isfjorden.





I did love this sign outside of the airport entrance. The North Pole is closer by than Oslo!



The airport feels like a giant warehouse and can best be described as functional. There were four check-in kiosks, which all were operating at the time. Two for SAS, two for Norwegian. No priority lines here for *G or priority passengers (not that it was needed!).



There is only a security check at Svalbard airport, as passport control is only done on arrival in Oslo as you will re-enter the Schengen zone there. There is not much to do after security. There is a cafe, a souvenir shop, and about enough seats for the two departing flights which would arrive and depart within minutes of each other.





Boarding is very simple – you just walk to your aeroplane. No airbridges, no bus gates. Just walking. Which is great of course for those who want to snap some pictures.









I had assigned myself seat 7D. Normally I would always opt for a window seat, especially when departing from gorgeous places like Svalbard. The exception are times when I am in a hurry and want to be off the plane as soon as possible. This was one of the tricky times in which I had to opt for an aisle seat above a window seat. I had booked a second ticket Oslo-Istanbul-Bucharest, with one hour and 45 minutes from the moment I would arrive in Oslo and the departure of my Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul. Quite tight – but doable by what I read. Especially as I wouldn't have any hand luggage, and the SAS flight seemed to be on time for about 90% of all previous journeys judging by flight history data.

However, my SAS flight left Oslo already one hour late en route to Svalbard – which at this point reduced my virtual time at OSL to just 45 minutes...

nequine

-20C is bearable depending on the wind. i had expected you to say it was much lower than -20C!

I can see why you were sorry to leave, the place looks so beautiful.

bludnik

It really is a small world... I remember seeing you at Mary Ann's Polarrigg when i visited Longyearbyen with my wife. And now, reading this trip report

Loose Cannon

Thanks for taking the time for the Trip Report and the Pictures.

halfcape

Thank you for taking the time to post your report and photos, it was a really different and interesting trip.

Loose Cannon

What time was sunrise and sunset on Svalbard when you were there?

bludnik

Have a look at https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/norway/longyearbyen. Gives a really good visual representation of every day in the year for the sun cycle

It really changes quickly up there in spring; a week makes all the difference.

15FEB:0h0m daylight
01MAR: 7h23m daylight
15MAR: 11h10m daylight
01APR: 15h34m daylight

747FC

OP: Thanks for the great TR! Wonderful pictures and commentary.

Question: Were you there long enough to get a sense of prevailing social problems faced by the residents?

Romanianflyer

It is a gorgeous place nequine, I would love to come back one day or visit a place similar to Svalbard.

Ha that is indeed a very small world Bludnik! How did you end up liking your trip to Svalbard?

Thanks for reading Loose Cannon, pleasure is all mine to write/post it!

Thanks halfcape - an unusual place it is for sure! I'm already thinking where to spend my winter holidays doing a similar trip.

Seems that Bludnik already answered your question, Loose Cannon! Fyi such weather-related historical data is easy to look up on websites like https://www.wunderground.com/history/

Quite interesting to see those numbers written like this how fast the amount of daylight is increasing!

Thanks for reading 747FC!

I'm however not sure exactly what you mean by prevailing social problems here?

I'm not a Svalbard expert, but it seemed to be a well-off place in general. Sure, food and services are expensive, but salaries are also higher (and taxes much lower compared to mainland Norway. Additionally, there is no VAT). What I read there is no social welfare, but then again it is technically illegal to be unemployed as you can only reside on the island if you have work (you would basically be deported to mainland Norway if you are fired and don't find another job). So I don't think any of the locals have problems making a living and paying for a roof above their head and food on their table.

If you might mean problems with poverty or high suicide rates which are unfortunately very common in many Arctic communities (for example Greenland) then as far as I know these are almost non-existent on Svalbard. Human inhabitants on the island are a fairly modern concept - as there are no indigenous people or so. The island was just used for many centuries for the whaling industry and afterwards mostly for mining (although now also tourism and scientific research are big industries - think of the Global Seed Vault on the island) so it's more of a place where many people actually volunteer to work and live (there are many Thai people for example working in restaurants/hotels).