Svalbard Summer Wildlife Expedition

Arrive in Helsinki and make your way to the group hotel at the airport – included in your Charter Flight & Hotel Package. The rest of the day is yours: you can explore museums, galleries and restaurants, unwind in a Finnish sauna, or wander the vibrant Design District. If you plan to visit the city centre, take the convenient rail service from the airport – around 40–minutes each way.

After breakfast, we transfer to Helsinki Airport and board our private charter flight to Longyearbyen – part of the Charter Flight & Hotel Package. As we fly north, coastal and birch forests give way to taiga and tundra, with the mountains of Norway and northern Sweden below and the Norwegian and Barents seas in view. Approaching Svalbard, we may glimpse snow capped ridges, glaciers and distant sea ice. On arrival in Longyearbyen, we transfer to the harbour and embark our ship.

Svalbard is a true Arctic realm where many iconic species live year round with the rhythms of winter and spring sea ice. With the brief arrival of summer, the archipelago bursts into life under endless daylight as countless migratory birds and marine visitors arrive. Chief among them are seabirds and waterfowl, with baleen whales – sometimes even blue whales – occasionally foraging in rich Arctic waters. Plant life also flourishes, from hardy grasses to colourful wildflowers, with hundreds of species of plants, lichens and mosses brightening pockets of green beneath snow capped peaks. Through summer the sea ice fractures and drifts, sending ice dependent wildlife north and east where ice lingers, while open water grants wider access to the archipelago. If we encounter ice, we pause to explore it. Wildlife is often seen in the water, along shorelines and on sheer bird cliffs. Little auks, guillemots and puffins nest in rocky crevices, flying tirelessly to feed themselves and their chicks before first flights and plunges. We may explore beneath these cliffs by Zodiac and, where conditions allow, on foot. Look too for Arctic terns, common eiders and the occasional king eider. The soundscape is astonishing – the Arctic silence alive with calls – and standing below towering colonies can leave us speechless. Summer lets us step ashore to walk on bare ground, though snow patches can linger. We may hike across foothills, valleys and Arctic beaches that are shared with polar bears. Sightings are more likely farther inland, yet paw prints pressed into sand or mud reveal their passage. Driftwood carried by currents from Siberia often comes to rest here. Reindeer forage busily on the summer growth, and on warm days it feels surreal to bask in the sun less than 700 nautical miles from the North Pole. As temperatures rise and sea ice retreats, glaciers quicken – meltwater scours valleys and tidewater fronts calve with thunderous reports. From a Zodiac among icebergs and brash ice, we listen for the crackle of melting ice, the lap of water and terns calling overhead. If conditions align, we may also visit trappers or researchers at remote cabins, hearing stories of resourcefulness, grit and a life bound to nature. With seven full expedition days in Svalbard, we aim to explore a wide range of locations, with our route shaped daily by sea ice. Potential destinations include the dramatic fjord systems of Hornsund, Bellsund, Isfjorden, Krossfjorden, Smeerenburgfjorden, Raudfjorden, Woodfjorden, Sorgfjorden and others, where mountains rise straight from the sea and glaciers spill to the water, often calving as we watch. Seabird colonies and other wildlife are found throughout the archipelago.

Our Arctic adventure concludes in Longyearbyen. We transfer to the airport for the charter flight to Helsinki, followed by a group hotel night – both included in the Charter Flight & Hotel Package.

After breakfast at your included hotel, you make your way independently to Helsinki Airport for your onward flight home, or spend more time exploring the Finnish capital if arranged in advance.