Spectacular Svalbard

Welcome to Oslo. You'll be met at the Oslo Gardermoen Airport and escorted on foot to the hotel. We're flying to Svalbard early tomorrow so our hotel is right by the airport. The evening is at leisure.

Oslo - Longyearbyen. After breakfast and hotel check out, transfer to the airport for your included flight to Longyearbyen, capital of the Svalbard archipelago. You'll be transferred to the hotel to freshen up before we embark on a 2-hour tour of the town with a local guide. Learn about the history of the town, see landmarks such as Mine 7 and the Adventalen Valley and keep an eye out for bears - they do occasionally wander into town! Dinner is included back at the hotel this evening.

Load up at breakfast before we embark on a 5-hour snowmobile safari to Elveneset, in the heart of the untouched wilderness of Svalbard. Discover snowy landscapes and wildlife including the Svalbard reindeer, Arctic foxes, and maybe a polar bear. A light snack will be served during the excursion, and there is free time for lunch when we get back to the hotel.

In the evening, we travel back into the wilderness to Camp Barentz, at the foot of Breinosa Mountain. Gather round the campfire, try the local delicacy of reindeer stew and learn more about Svalbard, its history and its wildlife before returning to the hotel in Longyearbyen.

This morning, you'll climb aboard a snowcat (a fully tracked vehicle, designed to travel over snow - think lorry cab meets armoured tank!) for a journey to the Longyear Glacier, located just outside the town. Here you'll descend into an ice cave, equipped with a powerful headlamp to help you see in the frozen dark.

The ice cave is home to 1000-year-old frozen plants, huge caverns, narrow passageways and glacial formations - it's like stepping into a different world.

Back at the hotel, the rest of the day is at leisure, or you can join an optional dog sledding experience at Bolterdalen. You will be picked up and taken to the dog park outside of town, where you can put on a thermal suit, boots and mittens to keep warm. The hardy dogs need no such equipment as they charge into the wintery landscape, pulling the sleigh along behind them. You can sit back and enjoy the surrounding scenery. After the sleigh ride, you'll head back to the hotel in Longyearbyen.

Longyearbyen - Oslo. After breakfast, you can enjoy a relaxing morning in Longyearbyen or join an optional excursion to the nearby Mine 3, a disused coal mine that was operational from 1971 - 1996. Perfectly preserved as it was the day it closed, the mine offers an interesting insight to the tough life of the miners in this inhospitable location. Put on a miner's suit, helmet and headlamp and discover the mine on a 3-hour tour.

This afternoon, you'll be transferred to the airport for the 3-hour flight back to Oslo, and the evening is at leisure. Our hotel is once again located by the airport, for your convenience.

A representative will assist you in making your way to the Oslo Gardermoen Airport for your onward flight. (Please note assistance is only provided for departure flights between the hours of 8am - 9pm today. Outside of this no assistance is provided.)