Svalbard (Spitsbergen)

? Cecilie Blomdahl's memoir Life on Svalbard was a 2024 New York Times bestseller ? 2026 sees the 100th anniversary of explorer Roald Amundsen's airship flight from Svalbard to the North Pole. ? Perfect destination for increasingly popular extreme sports, nature tourism and off-the-beaten-track travel ? The British are the second-most frequent visitors to Svalbard About Bradt Travel Guides ? Founded in 1974, Bradt is now the largest independent guidebook publisher in the UK with over 200 titles in print ? Authentic guides, written by expert authors who really know their destinations. ? Comprehensive, practical information with a particular focus on wildlife, culture and sustainability ? For more information, follow us on X, Instagram and Facebook, or visit bradtguides.com

Svalbard travel guidebook. Holiday advice and expert tips on Spitsbergen, Franz Josef Land and Jan Mayen, from Longyearbyen hotels, activities, expeditions and cruises, to wildlife and island flora. Includes suggested itineraries, Arctic exploration, Barentsburg, Pyramiden, treks, kayaking, whale watching, polar bears, skidooing and dog-sledding.The updated Bradt Svalbard guidebook, now in its seventh edition, remains the only detailed, standalone guidebook from a major publisher to this evocative high Arctic archipelago. Spitsbergen, Franz Josef Land and Jan Mayen collectively constitute Europe's wildest frontier. In this remote destination, perfect for ecotourism and adventure sports, the Global Seed Vault safeguards plants in case of environmental disaster, there are 4,000 snow scooters for a population of just 2,500 and reindeer graze beside icy roads, keeping a wary eye open for polar bears. More than 50 nationalities live together in the tiny capital city of Longyearbyen, where no-one can easily be born in hospital (due to limited medical facilities) nor buried (due to the permafrost). Once populated by trappers, miners and whalers, the Norwegian city is now home to climate scientists. Moreover - as the updated Bradt Svalbard guidebook makes clear - it provides the hub for a thriving tourist destination, where you can: . take expedition cruises in summer (June-August) to explore coastal areas, looking for thrilling wildlife including polar bears, walruses, beluga whales and Arctic foxes; . during the so-called 'light winter' months (March-May), Svalbard's glorious mountains, majestic fjords and sprawling valleys provide spectacular settings for husky-sledding, skidooing, cross-country skiing, hiking, kayaking, ice climbing and fossil-hunting, for exploring the mining ghost towns of Barentsburg or Pyramiden, or even notching up geographic superlatives (such as the world's most northerly kebab, most northerly souvenir shop); and . during winter (November/December-March), when the sun disappears for four months, enjoy polar 'noctourism', admiring ink-black skies filled with stars and the dance of the aurora borealis (northern lights). Interest in the region has never been higher, partly thanks to travel vlogger Cecilie Blomdahl's New York Times bestseller, Life on Svalbard. The updated Bradt Svalbard guidebook provides all of the practical and background information you'll need to explore this wild place, turning the hostile into the hospitable. Freshly researched and amended, this seventh edition reflects important recent changes in the archipelago, from climate-responsible travel innovations to eco-minded tours, plus a slew of new hotels and restaurants, making it the indispensable guide to this once-in-a-lifetime destination.