Best of Svalbard: Spitsbergen Expedition Cruise

This morning you enjoy a guided tour of Longyearbyen and time to explore before, in the afternoon, you embark your small expedition ship and cast off into the ice. As the town slips astern, you begin cruising the vast Isfjorden, the great fjord system that cuts deep into Spitsbergen, and meet your expedition team of guides, naturalists and lecturers over a welcome briefing and dinner. Already the wilderness surrounds you, glaciers gleaming at the fjord heads, seabirds streaming past, and perhaps the first seals on the floes. As the ship noses north under the endless golden light of the midnight sun, the guides brief you on Zodiac procedures, polar-bear safety and the days ahead. Settle into your cabin as the Arctic works its magic. Rest well, for tomorrow the expedition truly begins amid the glaciers of the northwest coast.

Today you cruise into beautiful Kongsfjorden, one of the most spectacular fjords in Svalbard, ringed by pointed peaks and hung with great glaciers whose fronts calve into the sea. You go ashore at Ny-Alesund, the world's most northerly settlement, once a coal-mining outpost and now an international research station, to walk among its colourful wooden buildings, visit the little museum and northernmost post office, and stand beneath the airship mast of the pioneering polar flights. Arctic terns wheel overhead and reindeer graze the tundra. Back aboard, or by Zodiac, you cruise toward the great Kongsbreen and Kongsvegen glaciers, dwarfed by their towering blue ice. Wildlife is everywhere, from nesting kittiwakes to seals on the floes. As the day ends, the ship sails on beneath the midnight sun. Rest well amid the beauty of Kongsfjorden.

Today you explore the dramatic northwest corner of Spitsbergen, a region of soaring peaks, glaciers and rich history. You cruise into stunning Magdalenefjorden, perhaps the most beautiful fjord in all Svalbard, its narrow blue waters enclosed by sharp mountains and glacier fronts, and land near Gravneset, where the graves of 17th-century whalers lie amid the tundra, a poignant reminder of the brutal early history of these waters. You cruise by Zodiac beneath the glaciers and along the shore, watching for seals, seabirds and, on the higher slopes, the possibility of Arctic fox. Vast cliffs nearby shelter huge colonies of little auks and kittiwakes. As the ship continues north toward the pack ice, guides scan the coast for polar bears. As the day ends, savour the drama and beauty. Rest well amid the wild northwest of Spitsbergen.

Today the ship reaches the great objective of the voyage, the edge of the drifting polar pack ice north of Spitsbergen, the realm of the polar bear. Under the endless light, the ship noses carefully along the ragged white margin of the sea ice, and everyone gathers on deck and the bridge, binoculars raised, scanning the floes. This is the best place in the world to see wild polar bears, and the excitement builds with every mile. You may spot bears hunting seals across the ice, walrus on the floes, and ringed and bearded seals hauled out to rest, while ivory gulls and fulmars wheel overhead. The scale, silence and beauty of the frozen sea are overwhelming. The guides interpret every sighting and the natural history of the ice. Rest well amid the magic of the polar pack ice.

Today you cruise into the wildlife-rich Hinlopen Strait, the wild channel separating Spitsbergen from Nordaustlandet, one of the great wildlife theatres of Svalbard. You cruise by Zodiac beneath the towering cliffs of Alkefjellet, a spectacular dolerite rampart where tens of thousands of Brunnich's guillemots nest in a deafening, wheeling, unforgettable colony, while Arctic fox patrol the scree below for fallen eggs and chicks. In the surrounding waters you keep watch for beluga whales, walrus and the possibility of polar bears on the ice, and land where conditions allow to walk the tundra with your armed guides. The abundance of life in this remote channel is astonishing. As the ship sails on beneath the midnight sun, the guides lecture on the ecology of the High Arctic. As the day ends, savour the day's encounters. Rest well amid the wildlife of Hinlopen.

Today, ice permitting, you reach remote Nordaustlandet, the second-largest island in Svalbard, a stark and magnificent realm of tundra and ice. Here you cruise beneath Austfonna, one of the largest ice caps in the world, whose immense front stretches for many miles in a sheer wall of ice, often laced with cascading meltwater waterfalls plunging into the sea, a truly awesome sight. You cruise slowly by ship and Zodiac along the ice cliff, dwarfed by its scale, watching for seals, seabirds and polar bears on the floes. On the tundra of nearby islands you may find walrus hauled out and nesting birds. This is among the most remote and pristine wilderness on Earth, rarely visited and utterly unspoiled. As the ship turns southward, savour the immensity of the ice. Rest well amid the frozen grandeur of Nordaustlandet.

On your final full day at sea the ship cruises back southward, exploring more of Spitsbergen's spectacular coast and making the most of every last opportunity for wildlife and landings. You may cruise into a beautiful fjord such as Isfjorden or a glacier bay near town, land for a final tundra walk amid reindeer and Arctic flowers, and cruise by Zodiac beneath a last towering glacier front. The guides help you reflect on the voyage over a recap and celebratory dinner, sharing photographs and the tally of bears, walrus, whales and birds encountered along the way. As the ship sails back into Isfjorden toward Longyearbyen under the endless light, the wild beauty of Svalbard lingers all around. As the day ends, savour a final evening among the ice with the friends you have made. Rest well aboard, ready to disembark tomorrow.

This morning your expedition ship returns to Longyearbyen, and after breakfast and fond farewells to the expedition team and fellow travellers, you disembark and are transferred to the airport for your flight south to Oslo or Tromso and your onward journey. You leave having experienced the raw beauty and abundant wildlife of the High Arctic, the polar bears on the pack ice, the towering glaciers and calving ice fronts, the teeming bird cliffs, the walrus and whales, historic Ny-Alesund and the endless golden midnight sun. The images stay vivid long after you land, a great white bear against the ice, the blue wall of a glacier, the deafening bird colonies, and the shimmering Arctic light. Svalbard offers wild beauty, extraordinary wildlife and genuine adventure in abundance, and you depart already dreaming of a return to the top of the world.