Access Svalbard by flying into Longyearbyen Airport, the northernmost airport in the world, where you will board your icebreaker yacht from Longyearbyen.
There are no roads beyond Longyearbyen and so the best way to travel is via snowmobile. Experience the buzz of crossing vast open expanses and join internationally recognised experts to traverse the ice in search of arctic wildlife including polar bears, while taking part in the Norwegian Polar Institute’s project to register animals in the Arctic. Your resident expert will instruct you on how to identify and appreciate the various species you will encounter. If you identify a new animal, you will have the pleasure of naming it for future scientists and travellers.
Head ashore at Pyramiden to discover an abandoned Russian mining town, one of the finest of its kind, preserved in an eerily perfect state as some 3000 miners were told to move out overnight. With the exception of Chernobyl, there are few better examples of deserted towns anywhere in the world. In the afternoon, traverse the landscape by dog sled to reach the Research Station where you will explore the facility and meet the team of scientists investigating everything from the biodiversity of the local area to the world climate and pollution levels.