Disembark in Longyearbyen

The biggest settlement in Svalbard

Information about Longyearbyen

Longyearbyen is the biggest settlement in Svalbard. Seat of the Norwegian administration, it also has the best services and infrastructure in the archipelago. Located deep in the Adventfjord, a sidearm of the Isfjorden (Icefjord), Longyearbyen’s airport can be used all-year round, but its harbor is blocked by ice in winter.

Most shops, hotels, restaurants and a hospital are within easy walking distance of the port. One of the most prominent buildings in town is the UNIS center, where several Norwegian universities have joined forces to operate and offer the northernmost higher education to both Norwegian and international students. Adjacent to UNIS, and well worth a visit, is the Svalbard Museum, covering the natural history and exploitation of Svalbard. Remnants of the former mining activity can be seen all around Longyearbyen and even in town.

A range of wildlife can be seen around the town and the mudflats on the road to the dog kennels. There is an Eider colony here and Ivory Gulls can sometimes be seen. If you can dodge the diving Arctic terns, the mudflats attract birds like Barnacle Geese, and a range of waterbirds and shorebirds that are scarce in other parts of Svalbard.

Interesting facts about Longyearbyen

If you have the chance to stay on for a few days there is the chance to explore Longyearbyen, do some local walks and tours (e.g. dog sledging) and also do some boat tours with Isfjorden, including locations that the majority of cruise ships do not visit, This includes the active Russian mining town of Barentsburg and the truly bizarre and eerie Pyramiden, deep in the fjord, that is an abandoned disused Russian mining town. It used to be the largest settlement town in the whole of Svalbard that looks like it belongs in Siberia.

It has the most northerly swimming pool in the World (now empty), a statue of Lenin, and fading grand Soviet era buildings and artwork. Many parts are falling apart in the industrial landscape around the centre, and it looks like something out of a disaster movie, and you still go the the bar for a drink of Vodka in the hotel that is still open!

Where is Longyearbyen

Highlights Close to Longyearbyen

Barentsburg

An active Russian mining town on the hillside of Grønfjorden, that has fallen on hard times, and it can look bleak and stark.

But it is a great place to walk around with the Soviet architecture. There is a hotel, a souvenir shop, a museum, and recently, with more investment, a brewery. Most of the cruises do not visit, but it is easy to see on a clear day sailing in or out of Isfjorden. It is a popular day trip from Longyearbyen, and you could even stay overnight.

Brucebyen

Across the bay from Pyramiden, surrounded by some impressive mountains and geology, with a small group of houses and remains of a railway.

These were constructed in 1919 by William Spiers Bruce, the Scottish oceanographer and polar scientist, with the Scottish Spitsbergen Syndicate Ltd. It is a great example of attempts to mine at the start of the 20th century.

Cruising Isfjorden

The outer bay can be a very good area for whale watching and an area where Blue Whale can be seen for cruise ships departing or arriving at the mouth of the fjord.

Isfjorden is the largest fjord system in Svalbard with spectacular geology, such as the Devonian sediments along Dicksonfjord and Ekmanfjordat. Most cruise ships sail out the first evening, a chance to enjoy the scenery, to explore the rest of Svalbard, before coming back to consider landings and explore parts of Isfjorden on the last full day.

Festningen and Russekeila

There is some great tundra to explore along the flat coast on the SW side of Isfjorden, to the east of Kapp Linne.

Festningen, quite close to Barentsburg, is well known for the fossils, including the footprint of a dinosaur in sediments that have been forced by the Earth’s forces into a vertical position. Russekeila is a cultural site from the time the Russian Pomors carried out trapping in this area.

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Nordfjorden

There are several deep fjords along the north coast of Isfjorden with glaciers coming down to the bay. These can be popular for Zodiac cruises along the glacial fronts, discover wildlife, and in some places, even to get ashore to walk on a glacier.

Poolepynten

This location is outside Isfjorden on the long island of Prins Karls Foreland, but is within the reach of day trips from Longyearbyen, on a long boat ride.

It is known for the Walrus haul out, one of the few relatively close to Longyearbyen, and is popular as a landing for cruise ships. It is a great location to experience a haul out, and they are so used to people, individuals swimming along the shore sometimes come for a closer look! The beaches are covered in logs that have drifted all the way across the Arctic Ocean from Siberia, just watch out for Arctic Terns. The lagoon to the rear can be great for Purple Sandpipers, Red Phalaropes, and Red Throated Loons.

Pyramiden

This Russian mining town that used to be the largest settlement in Svalbard. Abandoned in 1998, it must have been impressive in the 1970s and 1980s, with wide avenues and lawns, Soviet architecture, and lots of families.

Today it is a very eerie and atmospheric, with the mining facilities falling apart over quite a large area, on the flats and the hills above the town. There are the various Soviet era structures and artwork, including the school playground, the cultural center, the food hall, and the most northerly swimming pool in the World (dry now) and bust of Lenin.

There is a hotel, still open, with a bar that you can visit. But you need to go with someone with a rifle, since bears do roam through town! It is also a good place to see Arctic Fox, and one of the most reliable places to see the Ptarmigan, the ‘Arctic’ grouse. The name comes from the shape of the mountain behind the town, which adds to the character of the place.

Skansbukta

Remains of a gypsum mine below spectacular and beautiful cliffs. In addition to the cultural remains, including parts of a railway and a barge, it has an interesting flora due to the ‘mild’ location, deep inside Isfjorden.

Nearby cliffs, which go right down to the sea, are eroded into impressive shapes, and can be a great place to explore offshore in a Zodiac, the chance to see various seabirds that breed on the cliffs, with kittiwakes and four auk species including Puffins. It is a popular site for a combined landing and Zodiac cruise, and a ‘sail’ past on boats out from Longyearbyen that are visiting Pyramiden.