Longyearbyen
The main settlement, born of the coal mine opened in 1906 by the American John Munro Longyear. Direct flights from Oslo and Tromsø. Midnight sun from April to August, polar night from late October to mid-February.
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Svalbard: what to see, where to go
The Arctic archipelago under Norwegian sovereignty, outside the county system: Longyearbyen, glaciers and polar bears.
Information checked on 10 October 2026.
Worth seeing
Global Seed Vault
Dug into the mountain near the airport and opened in 2008, it can store 4.5 million seed samples from around the world against disaster. It cannot be visited: you can see the entrance.
Polar bears: the rule
Outside Longyearbyen, never go out without a means of scaring off a bear, and the Governor (Sysselmesteren) recommends a firearm. Since 2025 you must stay at least 300 m from a bear (500 m from March to June) and never disturb it. For a first trip, go with a guide.
Pyramiden and Barentsburg
Two Soviet mining towns: Pyramiden, abandoned in 1998 with the world's northernmost bust of Lenin, and Barentsburg, still home to Russian and Ukrainian miners. Reached by boat from Longyearbyen on an organised trip.
Photos
- Longyearbyen — Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped)
- Global Seed Vault — Michael Major for Crop Trust, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Polar bears: the rule — AWeith, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped)
- Pyramiden and Barentsburg — Dmitrii Rusanov, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons