Longyearbyen, the world’s northernmost town, has 24-hour summer daylight, vast tundra, and a packed list of must-sees. Take a fjord cruise to calving glaciers. Discover Svalbard’s coal mining, arctic exploration and World War II history. Enjoy an Arctic brew or a floating sauna.
Our 2-day Longyearbyen summer itinerary links all these unique experiences into an unforgettable Svalbard visit.
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Where is Longyearbyen, Svalbard?
Longyearbyen sits at 78° North within the Svalbard archipelago, a remote Norwegian territory halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The North Pole is about 1,300 kilometres away.
Clustered along the floor of a wide Arctic valley at the edge of a fjord, Longyearbyen’s colourful buildings stand out against a stark backdrop of rugged mountains and treeless tundra. With around 2,400 residents, it is the world’s northernmost permanently inhabited town.
Founded in 1906 as a coal mining settlement, the town has reinvented itself as a hub for Arctic tourism and research. More on that colourful history later.
Arrival – Cruise Port and Airport
Longyearbyen has become very popular as a cruise ship destination. The SeaWalk pier and passenger terminal opened in 2021. Smaller expedition vessels and cruise ships use Longyearbyen as a turnaround base for exploring the Arctic wilderness.
Tourists also arrive by air. The town’s airport, one of the world’s most northerly commercial airports, is a big part of the appeal. Tourists can fly in and out rather than spending days at sea to reach the high Arctic.
Cruise passengers typically have one day in port, while those flying in, usually stay two or three days. We experienced both modes of transport, flying in and then leaving by cruise ship.
2-Day Longyearbyen Itinerary
We’ve designed our Longyearbyen itinerary to work for both 1-day and 2-day visits. Our recommendation is to pair a day trip with a town walk on Day 1, saving the museums and the edges of town for Day 2.
Day 1 is perfect for cruise passengers’ single day visit and pairs well with Day 2 for travellers with more time.
Day 1 – Day Trip and Town Walk
- Browse the shops on “Main Street”.
- Enjoy a day trip from town. We did the Wildlife and Glacier Cruise.
- End the day with dinner at one of the Longyearbyen Restaurants.
Day 2 – Museums and the Edge of Town
- Tour one or more of the Longyearbyen Museums.
- Walk to the Polar Bear Warning Sign at the edge of the town safety perimeter.
- See Svalbard Church’s beautiful stained glass window and its quiet view over town.
Additional options
- Toast the Arctic with a glacier-water beer at Svalbard Brewery.
- Sweat then plunge into the fjord at the SvalBad Floating Sauna.
- Sail further afield to abandoned Pyramiden or active Barentsburg via a boat day-trip.
Longyearbyen Attractions Map
Longyearbyen’s must-sees are noted on the map with stars to help you get oriented and not miss a thing during your visit.
Longyearbyen “Main Street”
In the centre of Longyearbyen is a compact commercial zone. Explore the town’s stores and attractions along “Main Street”, the name given by locals for this paved pedestrian-only path. Many stops are the “world’s northernmost something”.
Lompen Senteret, a compact two-floor mall and the northernmost shopping centre, was constructed in 1985 as a laundry, changing room, and café. Miners came to wash up and swap out their coal-blackened work overalls. Those overalls were stiff, soot-covered outfits and nicknamed lomper by the locals, a nod to traditional Norwegian potato flatbreads, which led to the current name of the building. It was converted into a shopping mall in 1997.
Find outdoor gear, souvenirs and a spa. There are several food options: Stationen for Norwegian food, Fruene café for light meals and sweet treats, and Saenphet Thai for authentic Thai food. The Karlsberger Pub, which boasts one of Europe’s finest selections of armagnac, whisky, and cognac, with over 1,000 varieties in total.
The modern building across the street from the mall opened in 2021 housing the Svalbard Store (Svalbardbutikken), the northernmost department store. This is the only place in town for residents (and tourists) to buy groceries, household items, and electronics including phones (both Apple and android), cameras, chargers and memory cards. Nordpolet, Svalbard’s only liquor store is also inside as well as a deli with fresh cheeses and prepared foods. A wide selection of tax-free goods reflects Svalbard’s VAT-free status.
At the south end of the same building, on the second floor, is the Nordover Art Centre & Cinema, the northernmost art centre. It houses a permanent collection by Norwegian artist Kåre Tveter, known for capturing Svalbard’s light and landscapes. The 32-seat cinema screens films including “Cold Coasts: A Brief History of Svalbard Art & Culture”.
The Svalbard Tourist Information office is about 100 metres further south down the street. It is an essential stop to get yourself oriented in this interesting town. Staff provide practical guidance on polar bear safety, hand out maps of the town’s safety zone, and detail unique local activities like dog sledding, snowmobiling, and glacier tours.
Longyearbyen Guided Tours and Day Trips
With most of Svalbard off-limits to independent travel, guided tours are the way to see the Arctic beyond town. The four short-format outings below are the easiest to slot into a half-day or full-day visit in the summer.
| Name | Known for |
|---|---|
| Wildlife and Glacier Catamaran Cruise | Catamaran cruise to glaciers with whale, seal and walrus sightings. This is what we did! Full details follow. |
| Gruve 3 Coal Mine | Suit up in miner’s overalls and venture into a real coal mine to discover what daily life was like for the miners who worked in the world’s northernmost settlement. |
| Global Seed Vault and Landmarks Tour | Take a scenic ride out to the exterior of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (“Doomsday Vault”) paired with stops at other iconic landmarks around town. |
| Summer Dog Sledding on Wheels | Ride husky-pulled carts through Adventdalen when there’s no snow. |
Wildlife and Glacier Catamaran Cruise (through the Billefjorden)
We chose to go on the Billefjorden boat tour, a six-hour round-trip cruise north from Longyearbyen aboard MS Bard, a hybrid-electric catamaran. A shuttle bus collects passengers from several designated hotels in town for transport to the dock.
From Longyearbyen, the route follows the broad sweep of Isfjorden into Sassenfjorden, which divides into Tempelfjorden to the south and Billefjorden to the north.
At the head of Billefjorden, which is roughly 30 kilometres long and 5 to 8 kilometres wide, we reach the journey’s highlight Nordenskiöldbreen. This tidewater glacier is framed by the Terrier and Perrier mountains. Stretching about 25 kilometres, it actively calves ice into the fjord’s waters.
Sightings of seals, walruses, whales and seabirds are common, and lucky passengers occasionally spot a polar bear on the shore. While polar bears stayed out of sight, we watched several walruses lounging in the water.
The route passes Skansbukta, a small bay known for its castle-like mountains and a history of gypsum mining. From the water we could clearly see the abandoned mining camp, its short railway, and further along, a shipwreck on the beach.
We saw Pyramiden, the abandoned Soviet mining town founded in 1910 and shuttered in 1998, from a distance as the boat continued through the fjord.
Onboard, panoramic windows and outdoor decks make viewing easy, and a café-bar serves snacks. A warm vegetarian lentil soup with crispbread, the traditional Nordic flatbread, is provided along the way, and proved perfect for thawing out after long spells on deck looking for wildlife and at Nordenskiöldbreen.
It’s easy to book your cruise tickets directly with Svalbard Adventures.
Longyearbyen Museums
For a town of just 2,400 people, Longyearbyen surprises with three distinct museums that between them cover 4 centuries of Arctic history, from whaling and trapping to coal mining, polar exploration, and modern research.
The compact town centre makes it easy to visit them all in one day.
Svalbard Museum
The Svalbard Museum, the world’s northernmost museum, is the central institution for understanding the archipelago’s natural and cultural history. Located in the modern Svalbard Science Centre along with the local university, we spent an enjoyable 45 minutes here.
The core exhibition, “Life in Light and Ice”, traces 400 years of Svalbard history. Highlights include taxidermied polar bears, walruses, and reindeer, a recreated trapper’s cabin from Rekvika with original Russian joinery, and a try-pot oven once used to render whale blubber into oil.
Geological displays reveal that one of the world’s first forests grew here 380 million years ago, when the landmass sat near the equator. However, the famous coal seams mined here beginning in the early 20th century were formed much later, the result of lush, temperate forests that blanketed the region around 60 million years ago.
Across the road is a small museum dedicated to the exploration of the northern polar reaches.
North Pole Expedition Museum
The North Pole Expedition Museum, also known as the Spitsbergen Airship Museum, chronicles the early 20th-century race to reach the top of the world. We spent about 30 minutes in this small museum. On two floors, the exhibition centres on the Norge and Italia expeditions. The Norge completed the first verified overflight of the North Pole in 1926. The ill-fated Italia expedition 2 years later triggered the largest Arctic rescue operation of its time.
See original expedition film footage, telegrams, newspapers, polar maps, and models of ships and planes. Many of the exhibition texts are written by relatives of the explorers themselves, lending personal weight to figures like Nansen, Amundsen, and Nobile.
On a hill overlooking town is the newest museum in town.
Coal Cableway Centre
The Coal Cableway Centre (Taubanesentralen) is the large, distinctive building perched on poles overlooking the town. It opened as a visitor attraction in 2025. We spent just over an hour on a guided tour.
The current structure was built in 1957 on the site of an earlier facility. This building was the central hub where eight cableways delivered coal from mines including Advent City, Hiorthhamn, and the King Olav V Mine (Mine 5). The coal was redirected inside the building down to the shipping dock at Hotellneset. The aerial tramway towers which supported the cableways are still visible throughout town and off into the distant hills.
The system ran from 1921 until 1987. The interior has been left largely untouched since operations ceased. Information panels describe each line’s supplier, length, speed, and dates of operation. Standing inside the uninsulated steel structure, you get a real sense of the conditions cableway workers endured through Arctic winter storms even during a summer visit.
From the Cableway Centre, the church is visible to the south.
Svalbard Church (Svalbard Kirke)
Svalbard Church, the world’s northernmost civilian church, is a striking red wooden building perched on a hill above Longyearbyen. The current church was consecrated in 1958, replacing an earlier 1921 structure destroyed by German World War II attacks in 1943.
See original silver altar candlesticks and a baptismal bowl, gifts from King Haakon VII and Queen Maud, which were evacuated to England along with the citizens during the war. A votive ship hangs from the ceiling in the Scandinavian tradition. The church is always open 24/7 to visitors, with a fireplace lounge to warm up in.
After four months of polar night, the sun’s first rays reach Longyearbyen on 8 March. On the hill near the church, the local community gathers each year to welcome the light back and mark the moment with the week-long Sun Festival (Solfestuka).
In the area around the church, there are visible remnants of the first town known as Longyear City. The 1906 settlement was largely destroyed by German naval bombardment in 1943. Wooden posts, called pilings, sticking out of the ground are all that remain of the original foundations. Pilings, crucial for building on permafrost, are still used today.
At the brow of the hill where Vei 300 curves northward sits the Krigsminnesmerket (War Memorial), unveiled by Crown Prince Olav in August 1949. It honours 26 individuals who lost their lives on Svalbard and other fronts during World War II. This towering monument, locally referred to as a bautastein but carved in the distinct shape of a stone obelisk, was designed by sculptor Ørnulf Bast.
At the end of the road running northwest toward the Cableway Centre is the Governor of Svalbard Residence. This red-and-white building, completed in 1950, serves as the official home of Norway’s highest representative in the archipelago. The building is not open to the public. The Governor’s responsibilities in Svalbard are unlike any other in Norway, overseeing administration, law enforcement, environmental protection, and search and rescue operations. Most unusually of all, the Governor’s office also manages polar bear encounters in and around town. Should you spot one nearby, call the Governor’s office to report it.
Polar Bear Warning Sign
An iconic photo stop, the Polar Bear Warning Sign, marks the edge of Longyearbyen’s town safety perimeter with the open Arctic beyond. From the Svalbard Museum, it’s an easy 15-minute walk.
The sign’s warning is no joke. Svalbard’s polar bear population is estimated at around 3,000, which exceeds the entire human population of the archipelago. Before leaving the settlement, travellers must carry deterrents and a big game rifle.
Next to the sign, a small man-made lake serves as a favourite nesting spot for common eider ducks in summer. We watched several paddling around while we were there. An information panel nearby notes that more than 20,000 eiders nest across the Svalbard archipelago each year.
If you’d rather skip the walk, there’s a second polar bear warning sign just outside the airport terminal. It’s an alternate selfie spot for fly-in visitors.
Longyearbyen Harbour Area
Longyearbyen Harbour is both an industrial logistics hub and an excursion launch point for further Arctic adventures.
There are two other attractions in this area worth checking out.
The Svalbard Brewery, the world’s northernmost commercial brewery, opened in August 2015. Founder Robert Johansen, a former miner and pilot, spent five and a half years campaigning to overturn a 1928 law that banned alcohol production on Svalbard.
The brewery crafts its signature lineup using ice harvested from the 2,000-year-old Bogerbreen Glacier. Once thawed, this glacier water makes up 16% of the water in each batch, giving their beers a remarkably smooth texture and a distinct Arctic character. 90-minute guided tours with tastings are popular and require advance booking. For hours or to book a tour, visit the Svalbard Brewery website.
SvalBad Floating Sauna offers one of the most distinctive wellness experiences in the high Arctic. The wood-burning sauna and its floating pier were built largely from reclaimed materials salvaged from demolished buildings in Longyearbyen and Svea. Moored in Adventfjorden near Port Longyear, its bravest visitors take the “Polar Bear” plunge directly into the cold waters of the fjord. Advance booking is required.
Day Trips – Settlements You Can Visit
Beyond Longyearbyen, a handful of unique remote settlements can be reached on day trips by boat.
We visited Ny-Ålesund as part of our Hurtigruten Svalbard Line cruise. Our Ny-Ålesund article has more details about our trip to the world’s northernmost settlement.
| Name | Known for |
|---|---|
| Barentsburg | Active Russian coal-mining town with Pomor Museum and Red Bear Brewery |
| Pyramiden | Abandoned Soviet “ghost town”, former coal mining settlement, preserved due to cold. See the world’s northernmost Lenin monument and a cinema, theatre, and ballet studio. The Nordenskiöld Glacier is nearby. |
| Ny-Ålesund | World’s northernmost civilian settlement and international Arctic research hub |
Longyearbyen Restaurants
For a town of just 2,400 residents, more or less at the edge of the world, Longyearbyen has more restaurants than you would expect. Menus include Arctic ingredients like reindeer, ptarmigan, Arctic char and king crab, often paired with permafrost-cooled wines.
| Restaurant | Known for |
|---|---|
| Vinterhagen Restaurant & Peisen Bar | Glass-walled “winter garden” inside Mary-Ann’s Polarrigg, Arctic menu. (We ate here!) |
| Stationen | Whale-hunting themed restaurant in the old miners’ wardrobe building. |
| Huset Restaurant | World’s northernmost fine dining, 6,000-bottle permafrost wine cellar. |
| Karlsberger Pub | “KB” to locals; one of Europe’s biggest whisky, cognac and armagnac collections. |
| Fruene AS | World’s northernmost chocolatier and knitting cafe, polar-bear-shaped chocolates. |
| Restaurant Kroa | Cozy local favourite with reindeer burgers and wood-fired pizza. |
| Svalbar – Pub & Cocktails | Polar-explorer-themed gastropub on the main pedestrian street. |
| Gruvelageret | Fine dining in a restored 1946 mining warehouse with drill-bit chandeliers. |
| Café Huskies | World’s northernmost cafe, with retired sled dogs. |
| NUGA Sushi & Noodles | World’s northernmost sushi restaurant, shoes-off dining inside The Vault. |
Longyearbyen Hotels
Expect Arctic themes, mountain views and the occasional reindeer wandering past the window.
| Name | Known for |
|---|---|
| Radisson Blu Polar Hotel, Spitsbergen | World’s northernmost full-service hotel, opened 1995, 128 rooms. |
| Mary-Ann’s Polarrigg | Converted miners’ barracks with mining-themed décor and red miners’ bus. We Stayed Here! |
| Svalbard Hotell Polfareren | Modern central hotel inspired by the Global Seed Vault. |
| Funken Lodge | Boutique 1947 lodge on “The Hill” with 300-vintage wine cellar. |
| Gjestehuset 102 | Budget guesthouse in 1946 miners’ barrack “Millionærheimen” in Nybyen. |
| Basecamp Hotel | 16-room trapper’s lodge with glass-ceilinged Cognac Attic. |
| Coal Miners’ Cabin | Historic 1940s barracks in Nybyen with shared kitchens and bar. |
Quirky Facts About Longyearbyen
Longyearbyen’s extreme location and unusual history have left it with a list of rules, customs and quirks that surprise first-time visitors. These are some of our favourites!
- Shoes off indoors. A coal-dust legacy, the custom is observed at hotels, restaurants, museums, the library, and even the church. Slippers are usually provided, and some places have heated shoe racks.
- No burials. Since permafrost preserves bodies, the local graveyard stopped accepting newcomers in the 1950s. Seriously ill residents are sent to the mainland.
- No births either. The hospital doesn’t handle baby deliveries either, so pregnant women fly out about a month before their due date.
- More polar bears than people. Around 3,000 bears roam the archipelago, outnumbering Longyearbyen’s roughly 2,400 human residents.
- You can’t leave town without a rifle. Law requires a rifle and flare gun outside the marked zone. By the way, the airport is technically beyond the town limit.
- Cats are banned. Cats were outlawed by the governor to protect ground-nesting birds. Dogs, however, are everywhere. At Café Huskies, like a cat cafe, enjoy coffee with the dogs.
- Pipes run above ground. Permafrost would warp and collapse underground infrastructure, so water, sewage and heating pipes snake exposed through town. Buildings sit on pillars for the same reason. Driving the pillars deep into the frozen earth elevates the buildings, creating an air gap that allows cold winds to circulate underneath, keeping the permafrost permanently frozen and stable and the buildings safe.
- The world’s northernmost everything. Church, university, museum, commercial airport, kindergarten, gourmet restaurant, ATM, chocolatier, sushi restaurant, blues festival, brewery, Longyearbyen claims them all.
- Snowmobiles outnumber people. Roughly 4,000 snowmobiles serve about 2,400 residents, and locals use them like cars in winter, often parked outside the supermarket.
- Anyone can move here. While no visa or residency permit is needed, thanks to the 1920 Svalbard Treaty, you must prove you have a job, income, and somewhere to live.
Svalbard History
Svalbard’s recorded history begins with the Dutchman Willem Barentsz, who sighted the archipelago in 1596 and named it Spitsbergen, “sharp-peaked mountains”, for its jagged skyline. Ancient Icelandic texts claim Norse sailors had reached a place called Svalbard as early as 1194, and the modern Norwegian name was taken from those old sagas when the islands officially became Norwegian on 14 August 1925.
The early centuries were brutal. European whalers nearly exterminated an estimated 50,000 bowhead whales along Svalbard’s coast within 40 years, rendering blubber into lamp oil and stripping baleen for corsets and carriages. Whaler burial grounds at Likneset and Gravneset were in use for almost 200 years, and permafrost has since pushed several coffins back to the surface. Russian Pomor hunters from the White Sea overwintered here from the early 18th century, followed by Norwegian trappers from 1794 onward.
Svalbard was a true no-man’s-land until the Svalbard Treaty of 1920 gave Norway sovereignty while keeping the islands open to signatory countries for hunting, fishing and trade. During World War II, the entire population was evacuated in autumn 1941, and both Allied and German forces ran weather stations across the archipelago. Today more than 70% of Svalbard is protected, glaciers cover 60% of its 61,000 square kilometres, and roughly 3,000 people share the islands across Norwegian and Russian settlements.
Longyearbyen History
Longyearbyen began as a company town in 1906. American industrialist John Munro Longyear bought coal-mining rights from Trondhjem-Spitsbergen Kulkompagni and founded the Arctic Coal Company. Longyear had first visited Svalbard as a tourist, arriving on a cruise with his wife and five children before recognising the commercial potential beneath the mountains. The settlement was soon nicknamed “Longyear City.”
Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani bought out the Americans in 1916 and ran the town for decades, controlling housing, the school, shops, roads and welfare. The town centre shifted several times as the mines moved. Women were not permitted to work in the mines until 1985, and class divisions only began to soften from the 1970s onward as living standards rose.
Modern Longyearbyen looks different in every sense. The colourful pointed-gable houses date from 1976. The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) opened in 1993 and now teaches Arctic biology, geology, geophysics and technology to students from more than 40 nations. In 2002, Longyearbyen finally got its own democratically elected local government, completing its slow transformation from coal camp to international Arctic town.
Coal Mining History
Coal made Svalbard. After whaling and trapping faded, only the coal seams buried in these mountains proved profitable enough to justify the climate and the distance to market. The story is short, dramatic and still visible everywhere in Longyearbyen, in the cableway towers, the abandoned headframes and the warehouse buildings now reborn as restaurants and hotels.
John Munro Longyear’s Arctic Coal Company opened the first commercial mine in Adventfjorden in 1906. Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani bought him out in 1916 and ran the valley as a company town until the Norwegian state took over its shares in the 1970s. Mine 2, developed by Americans in 1913, became infamous when the German battleship Scharnhorst shelled the site in 1943, igniting a coal seam in the eastern section that smouldered underground until 1962. Despite the fire, mining continued in a separate western shaft, where a tragic gas explosion killed six men in 1952 before Mine 2 finally closed for good in 1968.
Production then shifted east. Mine 5, the King Olav V Mine, opened in 1959 between Endalen and Todalen and was Svalbard’s main producer for years, using a retreating longwall method that nearly doubled earlier productivity. Mine 6 followed in 1969, closing in 1981. Today, coal mining has effectively ended in Longyearbyen. The massive Svea mine was shut down in 2016, and the historic industry came to a definitive close when the final Norwegian operation, Mine 7, ceased production in 2025. The industry has been replaced fully by tourism and research.
While Norway has entirely exited the Arctic coal industry, a final vestige remains 60 kilometres away in the Russian settlement of Barentsburg. Today, the mine operates solely to power the town’s local grid. Its days of exporting coal to Europe are over. Like Longyearbyen, Barentsburg has transformed its identity, reinventing itself as a prominent high-Arctic scientific research community and a pocket of living history for tourism.
Know Before You Go – Visiting Longyearbyen
Is it worth visiting Longyearbyen, Svalbard in summer?
Yes, visiting Longyearbyen, Svalbard in summer is highly recommended for its unique daylight experiences and accessibility. The midnight sun offers endless opportunities for activities like wildlife watching, hiking, and boat trips through stunning fjords and past glaciers. It’s the prime season for exploring the archipelago’s breathtaking Arctic wilderness.
What is the best month to go to Longyearbyen, Svalbard?
The best months to visit Longyearbyen, Svalbard are June, July, and August. During this period, the archipelago experiences 24 hours of daylight, milder temperatures, and maximum ice melt, allowing for greater accessibility to fjords and excellent opportunities for wildlife viewing, including migratory birds and marine mammals.
How many days in Longyearbyen?
The right number of days depends entirely on how you arrive.
Standard Cruise Passengers: Expect just one day in port. This is enough time for either a half-day excursion plus a town walk, or a single full-day boat trip into the fjords.
Turnaround Cruises & Fly-ins: If your cruise begins/ends here, or you fly in, plan for two to three full days. This gives you the breathing room to do a multi-day excursion combo, tour the local museums, hike out to the Polar Bear Warning Sign, and enjoy dinner at a local restaurant.
How should I dress for Svalbard in summer?
Dress in multiple layers for Svalbard in summer, even though temperatures are milder. Start with a moisture-wicking base layer, add insulating mid-layers like fleece or wool, and finish with a windproof and waterproof outer shell. Warm hats, gloves, and waterproof footwear are also essential due to the unpredictable Arctic weather.
Do they speak English in Longyearbyen?
Yes, English is widely spoken and understood in Longyearbyen. Due to the international nature of tourism and research, visitors will find that hotel staff, tour guides, and most residents involved in the service industry communicate effectively in English.
Are there grocery stores, restaurants, and nightlife in Longyearbyen?
Yes, Longyearbyen, despite its remote location, offers all these amenities. There is a well-stocked grocery store, a variety of restaurants serving diverse cuisine, and several bars and pubs providing nightlife options for both residents and visitors.
Why is Longyearbyen so expensive?
Longyearbyen is expensive due to its remote Arctic location, requiring specialized logistics for importing goods and services. The limited infrastructure, high operational costs for tourism, and the necessity for highly trained guides and specialized equipment for safety in the wilderness also contribute to the higher prices.
Does Longyearbyen get dark in summer?
No, Longyearbyen does not get dark in summer. From approximately mid-April to mid-August, Longyearbyen experiences the phenomenon of the midnight sun, meaning the sun remains above the horizon 24 hours a day. This provides continuous daylight throughout the main summer months.
How do I get from the cruise port and airport to my hotel?
The main cruise pier, Bykaia, sits roughly 1.5 to 2 kilometres (15-minute walk) from the town centre, and most cruise lines run shuttle buses into the core area. We took a taxi.
From the airport, shuttles are available to the major hotels.
How likely is it to see a polar bear in Svalbard?
A polar bear sighting is actually highly unlikely if you are staying in Longyearbyen and doing day excursions, due to their wild nature and vast territory.
Is it safe to walk around Longyearbyen on your own?
Within the town itself it is safe to walk alone, with the boundary of the safe zone marked by the polar bear warning signs at the edges of the settlement. Walking beyond the Longyearbyen town limits is generally not safe due to the risk of polar bear encounters. You are legally required to carry a firearm and flares for protection, or more commonly, to be accompanied by an armed guide when leaving designated safe zones.
Explore All of our Norway Travel Guides
Discover our complete series of detailed Norway guides to help you plan your perfect adventure from Oslo to the Arctic.
Main Article: Norway 14-Day Road Trip
Part 1: Oslo – Capital city, harbourfront museums, and Viking history
Part 2: Bergen – Bryggen wharf, fish market, and fjord gateway
Part 3: Longyearbyen – Svalbard’s capital with tours, museums and midnight sun (You’re reading this guide now!)
Part 4: Ny-Alesund – Northernmost civilian settlement and Arctic research base
Part 5: Honningsvag – North Cape gateway and northernmost edge of mainland Europe
Part 6: Norway Cruise Ports – Norway’s most popular cruise stops
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