A little more
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands.
A lot less roaming.

Travelling to Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands: what to know before you go

Svalbard is a high Arctic archipelago under Norwegian sovereignty, halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, with glaciers, mountains, polar bears and months of midnight sun or polar night. Visitors base themselves in the small town of Longyearbyen and go out on guided trips. Jan Mayen, grouped with it in country listings, is a separate, uninhabited volcanic island far to the south-west with only a weather and military station.

Where to go

• Longyearbyen. Svalbard's main settlement and the base for nearly every visit, with colourful wooden houses, the Svalbard Museum on Arctic history and wildlife, old coal-mining cableways on the hillsides and a university centre for Arctic research.
• Svalbard Global Seed Vault. A seed bank tunnelled into a mountainside near the airport, storing duplicate crop seeds from around the world.
• Glacier and fjord boat trips. In summer, boats from Longyearbyen cross Isfjorden to calving glacier fronts such as Nordenskiöldbreen, often with sightings of seals, walrus, seabirds and occasionally whales.
• Pyramiden. A Soviet coal-mining town abandoned in 1998 and preserved by the cold, with a bust of Lenin, a culture house and a hotel.

Best time to visit

Svalbard has two main seasons. From roughly March to May, daylight returns, snow is still deep and the weather is often clear, which makes it the best time for dog-sledding, snowmobiling and skiing.

Staying online in Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands

Longyearbyen has good 4G coverage, and the town is connected to the mainland by undersea fibre cable, so internet in hotels and cafés is fast. Barentsburg and parts of Isfjorden have some coverage. Beyond that, coverage across the archipelago is minimal or non-existent: on boat trips, snowmobile tours and expedition cruises you should expect to be offline, with guides relying on satellite phones. Jan Mayen has no public mobile network. Svalbard is outside the EEA agreement, so check whether your home plan covers it. Install an eSIM before you fly and switch it on when you land in Longyearbyen.