Lodge & Hotel Accommodation
Camp or Lodge in Comfort
There’s a choice of accommodation in Spitsbergen for dog sledging, cross-country skiing, snow mobile, hiking and kayaking adventures. Once you’ve come as far as Longyearbyen, you’ll want to go still further.
NORTH POLE CAMP, SPITSBERGEN
- Mobile tented camp which changes location throughout the season and every year, reached in winter by dogsled or snowmobile
- Modern camping in the Arctic wilderness with heated tents, field beds and warm sleeping bags. The entrance to your tent has an area for hanging your snowmobile suit and for your boots
- After a day’s polar exploration out in the cold enjoy a few drinks and a hearty dinner around the big table in the dining tent and hear inspiring stories of polar endeavour.
BASECAMP SPITSBERGEN HOTEL
Stay in the heart of Longyearbyen, the northernmost town in the world. Walls covered with driftwood, sealskins, maps, pictures, and objects that illustrate past and present in the Arctic are the hallmark of the Basecamp Spitsbergen Hotel, decorated in authentic trapper’s style down to the very last detail.
Relax in the glass-roofed lounge looking up at a sky filled with the Northern Lights to prepare your mind and body for the wilderness and lose yourself in stories of the great Arctic explorers. Wander around the town then dine next door at one of its best restaurants. The hotel has 16 individually-decorated rooms with comfortable beds, private bathrooms with showers and stunning views over the town towards the mountains.
ISFJORD RADIO
After a satisfying day gliding over glaciers, mountains, and frozen fjords by dogsled or snowmobile, or by open boat safari across the Arctic Ocean, come ‘home’ to this outpost of solitude built in 1933 for the local radio operators. Located 90 km from Longyearbyen, Isfjord Radio doesn’t look much from the outside but inside it’s a different world.
Like this outpost’s original residents decades ago, you’ll gather round the table for dinner and lively conversation. You’ll take a journey of Arctic tastes, featuring smoked seal, halibut with roe butter and reindeer sausage. Most of the meat here is hunted by one of the three trappers left in Spitsbergen and prepared in Isfjord Radio’s modern kitchen by top chefs to a standard that would please even the toughest food critic. There is no road connection from Longyearbyen, access requires snowmobile by winter and boat transfers during summer.
NORDENSKIOLD LODGE
Hidden on the moraine shore of the icy Nordenskiöld Fjord, at the edge of the blue glacier, is Nordenskiöld Lodge. Its location takes isolation to another level and is the place to stay if you want to reach the truest north. It’s the farthest you can go in Spitsbergen by motorised vehicle (from here on it’s either skis or dog sled) and it’s the base for expeditions to the Nordenskiöld Glacier.
You’ll spend days climbing on the glacier and skiing around the fjord and snowy valleys, followed by a warm up in the sauna. As the Arctic night surrounds the pine cabin, lay your head on the soft pillow, wrap yourself in the warm blankets and bask in the Arctic silence.
Nordenskiöld Lodge is situated on one of the side fjords of Isfjorden, in Billefjorden, close to the shoreline of Adolfbukta, an inner bay of Billefjorden. It is right alongside the mighty blue Nordenskiöld Glacier, part of the larger glacier system which stretches all the way to the north coast of Spitsbergen – from here you can access the northern parts of the High Arctic archipelago. With no running water or electricity, Nordenskiöld is a true expedition lodge – the cabin is heated with wood and drinking water is collected from the melting glacier. There are five bedrooms with fantastic Arctic views, 10 comfortable beds, an indoor toilet and a traditional wood sauna.
In good summer weather you can get to it on a two hour boat crossing from Longyearbyen. During winter the lodge is accessed by dog sled or snowmobile.
No matter which season you choose, you are certainly in for an adventurous trip into the true High Arctic!
Trip Reports for Arctic Norway
Map
Travel Tips
Comments
Fiona’s travel tips
TOP TIP: We provide superbly warm sledging suits and thick felt-lined boots so you will never be cold.
WHAT TO EXPECT: Stunning displays of the aurora borealis in the night-time sky in the depths of winter (if you’re lucky)!
BEST MEMORY: Sledging through spindrift across a frozen river.
BEST TIME TO GO: January to early April has the best snow conditions for sledging. July and August for walking and camping.
Receive our E-News
Fill in your details to subscribe to our regular Dispatches E-newsletter
SIGN UP FOR E-NEWS
Our Brochure
View a PDF or order a copy of our Brochure
VIEW OR ORDER BROCHURE HERE
Far Frontiers Travel
Our sister company, Far Frontiers Travel, specialises in tailor-making bespoke travel to Central Asia, China and Mongolia, the Far East, Indian Subcontinent and the Himalayas, Indochina, Myanmar, Middle East, North Africa and Europe, Russia and South America.
VISIT SITE
Clients’ comments
“The three days/two nights I spent at Isfjord Radio were wonderfully relaxing – easy hiking by my standards, the open boat trip to Alkhornet and the glacier-face (picnic on the beach) was bracing, the food was exceptional – fine dining really.”
Anne Robinson, Walking in Nordenskiöld
“It was an epic holiday, very well organised.”
David and Elizabeth Manning, Spitsbergen land based winter adventure
“Still very stroppy about being home! Really mad keen to go again, would like to see Northern lights but go back to Longyearbyen, dog sled to Pyramiden again, stay in cabin then maybe head off with dogs somewhere else if the ship is not going back into the ice next year. Everything was fantastically organised – so easy and great service”.
The Curl Family, Dog sledging in Spitsbergen
“I loved the holiday and all your arrangements were spot on! The dog-sledging on my first day was such fun and a great introduction to the whole experience. At the dog-pound there was a fine example of a trapper’s hut and also bear and fox-traps – all of which my Dad often made mention of in his journals – so that set the scene.”
Elspeth Hamilton, Around Spitsbergen and Basecamp Isfjord Radio
“Overall, I explored some stunning parts of Svalbard (Isfjorden glaciers, Pyramiden and Kappe Linne) that I’d not visited before. Hosts, guides and co-travellers were all extremely hospitable. Given that I’m normally an active person (a hill walker and cyclist) it was a little too sedentary for me. But having said that, the lazy side of me wasn’t disappointed and given the recent bear incident, I’m glad the accommodation was based indoors.”
Alan Haselden, Spitsbergen bespoke
“Back home from a wonderful holiday which certainly lived up to my expectations! The jewel in the crown was of course Isfjord Radio Station…. Unbelievable experience. The change of schedule was perfect. The dog sledding was the best hands-on experience I’ve ever had….guide knowledgeable and very friendly, the dogs an unutterable delight. The treks and boat safari were wonderful and again the guide knowledgeable and likeable….the fact there were only three of us on this tour was also a bonus….more individual attention. The food there was off-the-planet good. I hope they keep the chef!! The scenery utterly, stunningly beautiful. Saw most of the whale population on the planet on board ship and on the way to and from Isfjord in the rib. A pod of beluga circled the rib on the way back to Longyearbyen, then sped off down the fjord…a walrus popped up beside the boat!! Magical moments. Your organisation of it all was top class. Listening to some of the tales of other tour operators confirmed this. A world class trip that is tucked away like a little lodestone in my heart, to be taken out and looked at with fondness and awe. I’d do it all again in a blink!! I will certainly recommend Arcturus as an excellent tour operator.”
Maureen Kerr, Isfjord Radio, Spitsbergen
“A good, challenging camp/hike tour in extreme polar outback. I particularly enjoyed hiking in the hills with the team. They were spread across different hotels at the start and the other travellers had not been pre-informed as well as me. Thank you for your help and for all the arrangements.”
Alan Haselden, Hiking across Nordenskiold
“ Norway’s spectacular fjords, soaring mountains, innumerable torrential waterfalls and astonishing roads surpassed our expectations. Driving was a great way to immerse ourselves in the countryside, the mountain passes were thrilling and the ferries a highlight, time to admire the fjords from sea level. Overall a super trip, full of great memories.”
Professor Marion McMurdo and Dr Grant Hutchison, Norway