Longyearbyen
Ny-Ålesund
Magdalenefjorden
Hornsund
Bellsund
Search the pack ice for polar bears
Cruise beneath a calving glacier front
Visit the abandoned Russian mining town of Pyramiden
Photograph walrus haul-outs at Poolepynten
Kayak among icebergs under the midnight sun
Longyearbyen
Pyramiden
Ny-Ålesund
Barentsburg
Bear Island (Bjørnøya)
Late May to September is the only realistic window, once the pack ice retreats enough to open the fjords to cruising and before it closes in again for the polar night. June to August combines the calmest seas with continuous daylight under the midnight sun, giving the most flexibility for wildlife-watching and glacier cruising at any hour. Outside this period, sea ice makes most of the archipelago inaccessible to a charter yacht.
Svalbard Airport (LYR) at Longyearbyen is the world’s northernmost airport with scheduled commercial flights, served daily in summer from Oslo and Tromso. It’s the standard embarkation point for any Svalbard charter, with a transfer of only a few minutes to Longyearbyen’s harbour. There is no other practical way to reach the archipelago by air, and no direct international flights, so most guests connect through mainland Norway.
Longyearbyen offers the only real infrastructure, but the fjords further north and west, Magdalenefjorden, Hornsund and Bellsund among them, provide well-sheltered, deep-water anchorages surrounded by glaciers and towering peaks. Many of these sit within protected nature reserves, so landings are limited to 43 designated sites. Conditions and ice cover vary through the season, and a permit is required to enter the national parks, so routes are planned with the Governor’s office in advance.
A week to ten days covers a solid loop around Isfjorden and the west coast, taking in glaciers, wildlife and Longyearbyen without rushing. A full circumnavigation of Spitsbergen, weather and ice permitting, is a genuine expedition and typically needs two to three weeks. Given how much of the itinerary depends on ice conditions and wildlife movements, most experienced operators build extra days into any Svalbard schedule as standard.
Anyone leaving the settlements is expected by the Governor of Svalbard to carry protection against polar bears, traditionally a rifle, though flares and other deterrent devices are increasingly used alongside or instead. On a charter yacht this is handled entirely by the professional crew and expedition guides, who are trained and licensed for it, so guests are never required to carry anything themselves. New 2025 rules also set minimum distances of 300 to 500 metres from any bear.
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