Gene­ral: Heley­sund, Orm­ho­let and Straums­land Heley­sund is the nar­row strait that sepa­ra­tes the nor­t­hern tip of Barent­søya from Spits­ber­gen. The strait is dif­fi­cult to see from the distance and it was belie­ved well into the 19th cen­tu­ry that Barent­søya was part of Spits­ber­gen, alt­hough it was occa­sio­nal­ly seen and pro­ba­b­ly navi­ga­ted as ear­ly as the 17th cen­tu­ry. For more, detail­ed infor­ma­ti­on: the Gui­de­book… Con­ti­nue rea­ding →

Map of Edgeøya in sou­the­as­tern Sval­bard. For more, detail­ed infor­ma­ti­on: the Gui­de­book Spits­ber­gen-Sval­bard Gene­ral: Edgeøya (‘Edge-Island’) is the third-lar­gest island within the Sval­bard archi­pe­la­go, with 5150 km2. It is named after Tho­mas Edge, an Eng­lish wha­ler of the 17th cen­tu­ry. It is pro­tec­ted as part of of the Sou­the­ast Sval­bard Natu­re Reser­ve. Geo­lo­gy: As Barent­søya. Ra… Con­ti­nue rea­ding →

Gene­ral: Barent­søya (‘Barents-Island’). Land area appro­xi­m­ate­ly 1300 km2, 50 km long and wide. Named after Wil­lem Barents, the ‘offi­ci­al’ dis­co­ve­rer of Spits­ber­gen. Barent­søya is very simi­lar to Edgeøya; tho­se two islands are sepa­ra­ted by the scenic Free­man­sund, which is only a few kilo­me­t­res wide. Barent­søya is often sur­roun­ded by ice well into the sum­mer. Tog­e­ther with Edgeøya, it is part of the So… Con­ti­nue rea­ding →

Kross­fjord. For more, detail­ed infor­ma­ti­on: the Gui­de­book Spits­ber­gen-Sval­bard Pho­to gal­le­ries Kross­fjord Scroll down to the end of this page or use the links below to see pho­tos, sor­ted in seve­ral gal­le­ries, from five places of inte­rest in Kross­fjord: Kross­fjord pho­to gal­lery 1: Fjor­ten­de Juli­buk­ta Kross­fjord pho­to gal­lery 2: Lil­lie­höök­breen Kross­fjord pho­to gal­lery 3: Möl­lerfjord, Lloyds Hotel Kross­fjord p… Con­ti­nue rea­ding →

Plea­se click on the map for fur­ther infor­ma­ti­on. Call detail regi­ons on the map abo­ve or on the fol­lo­wing links: Augus­t­abuk­ta, Vibe­buk­ta Brås­vell­breen, Aus­t­fon­na Føynøya Hin­lo­pen Lågøya Murch­ison­fjord Rijpfjord Sjuøya­ne Storøya Wahl­enberg­fjord For more, detail­ed infor­ma­ti­on: the Gui­de­book Spits­ber­gen-Sval­bard Gene­ral: Nord­aus­t­land (‘Nor­the­ast­land’) is with 15 000 km2 the… Con­ti­nue rea­ding →

For more infor­ma­ti­on, click on are­as of the map below. Lom­fjord Sorg­fjord Alkef­jel­let Wahlenbergfjord/Palanderbukta Islands in Hin­lo­pen Augus­t­abuk­ta – Vibe­buk­ta Murch­ison­fjord For more, detail­ed infor­ma­ti­on: the Gui­de­book Spits­ber­gen-Sval­bard Gene­ral: Strait bet­ween Spits­ber­gen and Nord­aus­t­land. Scenic place with inte­res­t­ing histo­ry and rich wild­life – one of my favou­ri­te places in Sval­bar… Con­ti­nue rea­ding →

Clock­wi­se: T = Trygg­ham­na, P = Pyra­mi­den, L = Lon­gye­ar­by­en, G = Gru­mant­by­en, C = Coles­buk­ta, G = Grønfjord, B = Barents­burg. This page is just for a first over­view. The­re are more pages about various places in Isfjord which you can access by cli­cking on the map abo­ve or on the fol­lo­wing links: Advent­fjord, Lon­gye­ar­by­en Dick­son Land, Bil­lefjord Grønfjord, Coles­da­len, Gru­mant­by­en Kapp Lin­né Isfjord nor­t­hern side… Con­ti­nue rea­ding →

Fug­le­hu­ken is the nor­t­hern point of Prins Karls For­land, the long, nar­row island off Spitsbergen’s west coast bet­ween Isfjord and Kongsfjord. At Fug­le­hu­ken, you get kind of the who­le eco­lo­gy of Spits­ber­gen in a nuts­hell, within a few kilo­me­t­res. Gla­ciers and per­ma­frost Start with the fact that this part of the west coast is the part of the who­le archi­pe­la­go whe­re the West Spits­ber­gen cur­rent (the nor­t­hern­most bra… Con­ti­nue rea­ding →

Farm­ham­na is situa­ted on Spitsbergen’s west coast, 60 km away from Lon­gye­ar­by­en. It is about 40 km to Barents­burg and 65 km to Ny-Åle­sund. Farm­ham­na is in For­lands­und, not far north of Isfjord. The land­scape is cha­rac­te­ri­sed by a wide-open coas­tal plain with low rocky hills and tun­dra are­as, litt­le lakes and wet­lands. Farm­ham­na from a bird’s per­spec­ti­ve. This pho­to, obvious­ly taken from an aeri­al per­spec­ti­ve, giv… Con­ti­nue rea­ding →

Lief­defjord is a branch of Wood­fjord in north Spits­ber­gen. Gene­ral Lief­defjord is in nor­thwest Spits­ber­gen. It is part of the Wood­fjord area: loca­ted on the west side of Wood­fjord. This main fjord of the sys­tem is much lar­ger than Lief­defjord, with 60 km (Wood­fjord) ver­sus 30 (Lief­defjord). For the geo­gra­phy nerds: the boun­da­ry bet­ween the two is the line from Wors­leyne­set at the sou­the­ast point of Reins­dyr­flya to Roo… Con­ti­nue rea­ding →

Wood­fjord is a lar­ge fjord on the north coast of Spits­ber­gens. The­re are two bran­ches on its wes­tern side: Lief­defjord and Bock­fjord. Gene­ral Wood­fjord is a lar­ge fjord on the north coast of Spits­ber­gens. It is a actual­ly a fjord sys­tem with seve­ral bran­ches: Lief­defjord and Bock­fjord are also part of the Wood­fjord-area. The west side of Wood­fjord is part of the Nor­thwest Spits­ber­gen Natio­nal park, the island groups in t… Con­ti­nue rea­ding →

Spits­ber­gen. Final­ly we had rea­ched Spits­ber­gen, and we still had a cou­ple of days to explo­re the beau­ty of the fjords on the west coast. Some of the bays were still fro­zen solid and the land is still snow-cover­ed. Altog­e­ther, this did not actual­ly increase our free moving space, but it gave us beau­tiful impres­si­ons of the arc­tic win­ter, some­thing you may not in the first place asso­cia­te with ship-based tra­vel­ling in the A… Con­ti­nue rea­ding →

For more detail­ed infor­ma­ti­on about Svalbard’s islands and fjords, plea­se check out the gui­de­book Spits­ber­gen-Sval­bard. Gene­ral: Scenic fjord that cuts from Hin­lo­pen into nor­the­as­tern Spits­ber­gen. The fjord is main­ly visi­ted becau­se of nice hiking oppor­tu­ni­ties in the side bay Faks­evå­gen. It can also be shel­te­red in case of strong winds else­whe­re. The name is most likely deri­ved from an old, Dutch w… Con­ti­nue rea­ding →

Horn­sund. Click on the yel­low are­as to view pho­to gal­le­ries of the indi­vi­du­al are­as. I = Isbjørn­ham­na (Polish Station)/ Hans­breen, G-B = Gnå­lod­den, Bur­ger­buk­ta, T = Tres­kelen, B = Bre­pol­len, B = Bau­taen, S = Sama­rin­vå­gen, H = Horn­sund­tind, G = Gås­ham­na Pho­to Gal­le­ries: Horn­sund I = Isbjørn­ham­na (Polish rese­arch sta­ti­on), Hans­breen G-B = Gnå­lod­den, Bur­ger­buk­ta T = Tres­kelen B = Bre­pol… Con­ti­nue rea­ding →

Here, you will find some hints and ide­as regar­ding what you can do in Spits­ber­gen. Final­ly, it depends on your tas­te (and bank account…). You will also find links to tour ope­ra­tors in my link coll­ec­tion. For more, detail­ed infor­ma­ti­on: the Gui­de­book Spits­ber­gen-Sval­bard Tours to most parts of the Sval­bard archi­pe­la­go need to be regis­tered at the Sys­sel­man­nen (gou­ver­nor of Sval­bard). If you book a tour, then the tour… Con­ti­nue rea­ding →