How to get there

Scandinavian Airlines has flights to Longyearbyen from Oslo and Tromso several days a week. Flights can be booked at www.sas.no or www.braathens.no, with possible connections from other European cities. There is also a boat departing Tromsø once a week in summer, with a journey time of two or three days.

Where to stay

Basecamp Spitsbergen – Luxury hotel that simulates a trapper’s lodge with seal skins and bare timber.

Radisson SAS Polar Hotel Spitsbergen – Luxury hotel with restaurant, pub, sauna, and free internet access. Email: sales.longyearbyen@radissonsas.com

Mary-Ann’s Polarrigg - Former mining barracks and now a cosy guesthouse. Email: riggen@longyearbyen.net

Where to eat

Kroa at Basecamp Spitsbergen – Sit amid the furs and browse the menu, which includes Arctic specialties, as well as pizzas and burgers.

Huset, Nybyen – Fine dining with an Arctic theme- serves reindeer and even the occasional polar bear steak on special occasions. Huge wine cellar with over 20,000 bottles of wine (at cheaper prices than the Norwegian mainland, thanks to Svalbard’s tax-free status).

Restaurant Nansen, Radisson SAS – Arctic ingredients, prepared for an international clientele.

What to do

From Longyearbyen, the activities include dog sledding, horse riding, tours of disused coal mines, glacier walking, fossil hunting, kayaking and cross-country skiing in winter. Book through Svalbard Wildlife Service or other travel agents.

To see more of Spitsbergen and the entire Svalbard archipelago, and to maximise your chances of seeing polar bears, join a boat trip ranging in length from one day to two weeks. I travelled with Aurora Expeditions and booked through the World Expeditions UK office.

What to know

The Svalbard archipelago is between 74N10E and 81N35E latitudes, just 1000km from the north pole. Spitsbergen is the largest island and the main settlement is Longyearbyen. Formerly a ‘no man’s land’, the Svalbard Treaty gave sovereignty to Norway in 1924 with the requirement that the islands remain demilitarised and all signatories retain equal rights to the natural resources, particularly coal. About two-thirds of the land is covered in glaciers and the native fauna includes arctic fox, seals, beluga, minke whale, polar bears, walrus, reindeer and a huge variety of birds.

Updated September 2006.