Cruise around Svalbard on the new luxury ship SH Vega

Day 1 Arrival in Longyearbyen

You will be met at Longyearbyen Airport and transferred to the hotel where you will spend the night before the cruise.

The northernmost town in the world, Longyearbyen, is located on Spitsbergen, the Svalbard's largest island. The town's North Pole Expeditions Museum tells the story of the first attempts to reach the pole by air. Nearby is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, where duplicate seeds from gene banks around the world are stored. The surrounding Arctic waters are inhabited by whales, including bowhead whales and narwhals, and walrus haulouts can be seen on the shores.

Day 2 Boarding the ship

After breakfast, you will be transferred to the port and board the ship. You will meet the ship's crew and expedition's members during a welcome cocktail.

Days 3-8 Around Svalbard

On the first day, you will reach Bellsund Bay and see a panorama of mountains with snow-capped peaks, glaciers, and flowering tundra. On expedition zodiac boats, you will approach the coastal cliffs occupied by bird flocks. Urias, kittiwakes, little auks, and northern fulmars are nesting here. You will have a chance to see reindeer during the walk along the tundra. Usually, peacefully grazing reindeer lets people get very close to them. In the bay, you can see ringed seals and polar bears hunting them.

The expedition ship will enter Liefdefjorden, framed by the sparkling 5-km Monacobreen Glacier. The boats will take you right up to the edge of the glacier. Sometimes, the absolute silence of this place is broken by the rumbling sound of breaking off icebergs. You will land on the glacier and take a walk. Walruses and polar bears may be seen here.

Nordaustlandet is one of the 3 largest islands in the Svalbard archipelago. You can stroll through the polar desert and walk on a soft carpet of mosses and lichens. Watch walruses and bears on the edge of the ice field, meet reindeer, and get as close as possible to bird colonies on the coastal cliffs.

The 100-km-long Wijdefjord, the longest fjord in Svalbard, is part of the Indre Wijdefjorden National Park. It was created to protect the rich Arctic steppe flora unique to Europe. You will walk among Arctic grasses, willow shrubs, and wildflowers such as Saxifraga cespitosa and Silene latifolia. The area is home to reindeer and Arctic foxes.

Ny-Ålesund is the northernmost settlement in the world. It is located on the shores of a closed fjord at 79 degrees north latitude, and scientific stations from more than 100 countries are located here. The famous expedition on the Norway Airship was started here in 1926. Its members, Roald Amundsen, Lincoln Ellsworth, and Umberto Nobile, were the first people to visit the North Pole and were able to document it. You will learn the details of this event from the history expert.

On Svalbard's east coast, you will sail on expedition boats to the picturesque Alkefjellet cliffs to admire huge bird colonies. You will also visit Barents and Edge Islands, where you can enter abandoned hunting cabins.

Day 9 Return to Longyearbyen

In the morning, the ship will call at the port of Longyearbyen. After breakfast and disembarking, a transfer to the airport will be organized for you.

If you are leaving Longyearbyen the next day, you can spend the night in a hotel (1 night accommodation and breakfast included).