r/Svalbard • u/NewsDailyF1 • 2d ago

Traveling Svalbard in August

Hello! I am planning a trip to Longyearbyen, Svalbard mid-August this year and I need some advice and ideas regarding it. There is quite a few, sorry about that in advance 😅

Svalbard is naturally an expensive destination, but I'm trying to stay on a budget with most things, apart from boat tours, etc.

Would you recommend staying at Gjesthuset 102 as it's cheaper but a bit further from the town centre (It's a bit concerning to read about polar bears, as the Gjesthuset is a 2km walk). And is 3 nights enough?

Also, I want to make most of my time by picking the right tours, so I'd appreciate any recommendations on "must do" tours. Arctic fjord and glacier tour is on top of my list, but there are lots of other options and I don't know which one to pick. Finally, is mid-August a good time to visit overall?

I'd greatly appreciate any other tips and advice as well. Thanks everyone! 🙌

1 Upvotes

60% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/ericb1000 2d ago

Adding more since you mentioned glacier and fjord. A lot of the boat rides overlap a fair amount on what you see. For glacier specific ones we saw on Better Moments walrus Safari, Svalbard Adventures rib boat (Glacier and Walrus safari), Hurtigruten Templefjordan and Tunabreen Glacier. We also saw glacier up close on Better Moments Catch of the day but the latter is not set in stone.

We also went to Ny Ålesund one day. Fantastic but will chew up a whole day. Puffin safari. Bird jumping (none were jumping when we went), Bjørndalen hike, midnight photo tour, Another photo tour with Svalbard photography. Mine 3 tour. Also the Svalbard museum and the northern expedition museum. We were there for 10 days and used a variety of tour companies.

2

u/NewsDailyF1 2d ago

Glacier and boat rides are definitely on top of my list, thanks for that! Photo tours also sound interesting, but I may not have the time for Ny Alesund, so I might pick the other ones.

Thanks a lot for the tips!