Spitsbergen Circumnavigation: Self-Launched Arctic Expedition

Fly independently into Helsinki Airport (HEL). The Exodus tour includes a hotel night here before the charter flight north — you can replicate this easily and cheaply. Book a budget hotel or hostel near the city centre or airport. If you arrive with time to spare, explore Helsinki's compact highlights: the Senate Square and Helsinki Cathedral, the Ateneum art museum, the quirky Temppeliaukio Rock Church, or the lively Market Square on the harbourfront. In the evening, treat yourself to a traditional Finnish sauna — many hostels and budget hotels offer them, or try the public Kotiharju Sauna (Harjutorinkatu 1) for around £10. Grab dinner at a local restaurant in the Kallio neighbourhood for budget-friendly Finnish and Nordic food.

🚌Fly to Helsinki independently. From Helsinki Airport, take the I or P train to the city centre (~£4, 30 mins). Alternatively, bus 615 runs to the city (~£3).

🛏Hostel or budget hotel in Helsinki city centre — e.g. Generator Helsinki or Hostel Suomenlinna (~£30-45/night)

• →Visit Helsinki Cathedral and Senate Square (free)
• →Explore the Market Square and harbourfront (free)
• →Traditional Finnish sauna at Kotiharju Sauna (~£10)
• →Wander the Design District and Kamppi neighbourhood (free)
• →Dinner in Kallio neighbourhood (~£15-20)

Book your own return flights from Helsinki (HEL) to Longyearbyen (LYR) independently — Norwegian Air and SAS operate direct seasonal routes, typically 3 hours. Return flights can be found for approximately £300-500 if booked well in advance (Exodus's mandatory transfer package covering these flights is built into their tour price). On arrival in Longyearbyen, the world's northernmost settlement, drop your bag and explore the small but fascinating town: visit the Svalbard Museum (£12), browse the colourful wooden buildings, and spot reindeer wandering the streets. In the afternoon or evening, board your independently booked expedition ship. Several operators run Spitsbergen circumnavigation voyages with similar itineraries: Hurtigruten Expeditions (HX), Quark Expeditions, Oceanwide Expeditions, and Poseidon Expeditions all offer direct-book options. Look for 'Explorer' or 'triple-share' cabin categories for the best rates.

🚌Norwegian Air or SAS direct flight Helsinki (HEL) to Longyearbyen (LYR), ~3 hours. Book well in advance for best prices (~£300-500 return per person). Short taxi or walk from Longyearbyen airport to town and port (~5 mins, £5-10).

🛏Expedition ship cabin — book directly with operators such as Hurtigruten Expeditions (HX), Quark Expeditions, Oceanwide Expeditions, or Poseidon Expeditions. Look for triple-share or 'main deck' cabins for best rates.

• →Fly Helsinki to Longyearbyen (book independently with Norwegian or SAS, ~£300-500 return)
• →Visit the Svalbard Museum (~£12)
• →Explore Longyearbyen town and spot Svalbard reindeer (free)
• →Board your expedition ship and attend the mandatory safety briefing
• →Welcome dinner on board (included with ship)

The ship heads north from Longyearbyen into the open waters of Spitsbergen. Your expedition team — naturalists, ornithologists, and polar guides — will give daily briefings on wildlife, geology, and Arctic history. Morning and afternoon Zodiac cruises bring you close to towering sea cliffs and early wildlife sightings. Look out for Arctic terns dive-bombing, common eiders bobbing in the swell, and your first glimpses of the tundra shoreline. All Zodiac excursions, boots, and life jackets are included with your expedition cruise booking. The ship's naturalist team will keep watch for polar bears from the bridge at all hours — 24-hour daylight means wildlife viewing never stops.

🚌On board ship (all included with cruise)

🛏Expedition ship

• →Morning and afternoon Zodiac excursions along Spitsbergen coastline (included with cruise)
• →Naturalist lecture on Arctic ecosystems (included with cruise)
• →Wildlife spotting: Arctic terns, common eiders, glaucous gulls
• →On-deck polar bear watch with expedition team (included)
• →Three meals on board (included with cruise)

One of Spitsbergen's most iconic sites, the 14th of July Glacier (Fjortende Julibreen) calves icebergs directly into Krossfjorden. Zodiac cruises bring you face-to-face with the glacier's blue ice face, where you'll hear the extraordinary groans and cracks of a living glacier. The surrounding cliffs and moraines are alive with birdlife: Atlantic puffins, purple sandpipers, barnacle geese, and Arctic terns nest here in large numbers. Your expedition team will brief you on glaciology and the measurable retreat of this glacier — one of many in Svalbard showing the visible effects of climate change. Afternoon may bring a tundra hike with armed guides (required in polar bear territory), scanning the horizon for the iconic white shape of a polar bear.

🚌On board ship (all included with cruise)

🛏Expedition ship

• →Zodiac cruise to the 14th of July Glacier calving face (included with cruise)
• →Guided tundra hike with armed polar guide (included with cruise)
• →Birdwatching: puffins, barnacle geese, purple sandpipers, Arctic terns
• →Glaciology lecture from expedition naturalist (included)
• →Photography session at glacier ice face

Smeerenburg ('Blubber Town') was once a bustling Dutch whaling station in the 17th century, and the visible remains — brick foundations, whale bone, and iron try-pots — make for an atmospheric landing. Your expedition historian will bring the story of Arctic whaling to life. This area is also superb for walrus: large groups haul out on beaches nearby, and Zodiac cruises allow close, non-disturbing approaches to photograph these charismatic giants. Keep a constant eye out for polar bears in this northern region — the expedition team will be scanning from the bridge and the ship may divert for any sightings.

🚌On board ship and Zodiac tenders (included with cruise)

🛏Expedition ship

• →Landing at Smeerenburg whaling station ruins (included with cruise)
• →Guided historical walk with expedition historian (included)
• →Zodiac cruise to walrus haul-out site (included)
• →Polar bear watch from ship's bridge (ongoing, included)
• →Photography of walrus colony

Ny-Ålesund is the world's northernmost permanent civilian settlement and a major international Arctic research hub — a fascinating place to walk around and understand the science being conducted in Svalbard. From here, the ship pushes further north toward Phippsøya, one of the Seven Islands chain at the very top of the archipelago and one of the best places on Earth to spot polar bears hunting on sea ice. The expedition team will spend hours scanning ice floes and coastal margins. If a bear is spotted, Zodiac excursions may be launched for closer (but always respectful) observation. Sea ice conditions will determine exactly how far north the ship can safely reach.

🚌On board ship (all included with cruise)

🛏Expedition ship

• →Visit to Ny-Ålesund research station (guided walk included with cruise)
• →Northern transit toward Phippsøya polar bear hunting grounds
• →Intensive polar bear watch from bridge and deck (included)
• →Zodiac wildlife cruise if bears are sighted (included)
• →Naturalist lecture on polar bear ecology (included)

Alkefjellet — 'Bird Mountain' — is arguably the most dramatic wildlife spectacle in the entire Arctic. A towering basalt cliff face stretching for kilometres, it is home to an estimated 60,000+ pairs of Brünnich's guillemots (thick-billed murres), along with black-legged kittiwakes, glaucous gulls, and little auks. The noise and smell are extraordinary; the sight of tens of thousands of seabirds packed onto every ledge, with the constant aerial traffic above the ship, is utterly overwhelming. Zodiac cruises run along the base of the cliff for extended photography and observation. This is a highlight of any Svalbard circumnavigation and one of the great wildlife experiences on the planet.

🚌On board ship and Zodiac tenders (included with cruise)

🛏Expedition ship

• →Zodiac cruise along the Alkefjellet bird cliff face (included with cruise)
• →Extended birdwatching: Brünnich's guillemots, kittiwakes, little auks, glaucous gulls
• →Photography session at the cliff base
• →Naturalist briefing on seabird ecology (included)
• →Possible transit of Hinlopenstretet (polar bear and walrus habitat)

Kvitøya ('White Island') is one of the most remote and seldom-visited parts of the entire Svalbard archipelago — almost entirely covered by a permanent ice cap, it is reached only in favourable ice conditions. This is where the tragic 1897 Andrée Arctic balloon expedition met its end, and the remains of their camp were not discovered until 1930. Landing here, if ice permits, is a genuinely rare privilege. The island is also home to large numbers of walrus hauled out on its beaches, and polar bears are frequently sighted. Your expedition team will make every effort to reach Kvitøya, but ice and weather will have the final say — this is the true spirit of Arctic exploration.

🚌On board ship and Zodiac tenders (included with cruise)

🛏Expedition ship

• →Attempted landing on Kvitøya (ice and weather permitting, included with cruise)
• →Visit to Andrée expedition memorial site (if accessible)
• →Walrus colony observation by Zodiac (included)
• →Polar bear scanning in pack ice (ongoing, included)
• →Lecture on the Andrée Arctic balloon expedition from expedition historian

The eastern islands of Svalbard — Edgeøya and Barentsøya — are among the least visited parts of the archipelago and offer some of the most pristine Arctic wilderness imaginable. Large walrus populations haul out on the beaches here, and the tundra is richly carpeted with Arctic flowers in summer. Svalbard reindeer, a smaller subspecies unique to the archipelago, graze across the open hillsides. The expedition team will guide shore excursions (all armed with rifles as required by Norwegian law in polar bear territory) across flower-rich meadows and along boulder beaches. The sense of utter isolation and wilderness here is profound.

🚌On board ship and Zodiac tenders (included with cruise)

🛏Expedition ship

• →Zodiac landing on Edgeøya or Barentsøya tundra (included with cruise)
• →Guided tundra hike with armed polar guide (included)
• →Walrus haul-out observation (included)
• →Svalbard reindeer spotting on open tundra
• →Arctic wildflower identification walk with naturalist (included)

Hornsund is the longest and wildest fjord in southern Spitsbergen, flanked by jagged peaks and fed by numerous large tidewater glaciers. The combination of dramatic mountain scenery and accessible wildlife makes this one of the most photogenic areas of the entire voyage. Bearded seals haul out on ice floes throughout the fjord — Zodiac excursions allow quiet, close approaches without disturbing the animals. The Polish Polar Station at Hornsund, one of the oldest continuously operating research stations in Svalbard, may be visited. Glaciers calve directly into the fjord, and drifting among the icebergs and brash ice by Zodiac is a truly otherworldly experience.

🚌On board ship and Zodiac tenders (included with cruise)

🛏Expedition ship

• →Zodiac cruise among icebergs and brash ice in Hornsund (included with cruise)
• →Bearded seal observation from Zodiac (included)
• →Visit to Polish Polar Research Station Hornsund (if permitted, included)
• →Glacier ice face approach by Zodiac (included)
• →Photography in dramatic mountain and glacier scenery

Isbukta ('Ice Bay') and the southern cape of Spitsbergen are prime polar bear habitat — the bears hunt ringed and bearded seals along the ice edge that forms reliably in this area. This is one of the locations specifically highlighted by Exodus as a top polar bear viewing site, and your expedition team will spend significant time here scanning floe edges and coastlines. If a bear is actively hunting, the Zodiac fleet may be deployed for an exceptional close encounter. Even without bears, the dramatic landscape of the southern cape — sea stacks, skerry islands, massive bird colonies — is rewarding. The ship rounds the southern tip of Spitsbergen and begins heading north up the west coast.

🚌On board ship and Zodiac tenders (included with cruise)

🛏Expedition ship

• →Intensive polar bear watch at Isbukta ice edge (included with cruise)
• →Zodiac excursion to polar bear sighting area (if sighted, included)
• →Wildlife spotting: ringed seals, Arctic foxes, seabirds
• →Rounding of Sørkapp (South Cape) — a significant navigation milestone
• →Photography in dramatic sea stack and skerry scenery

Van Keulenfjorden on the west coast of Spitsbergen is a beautiful, glacier-fed fjord and a known summering area for beluga whales — one of the Arctic's most charismatic cetaceans. The ship will cruise slowly through the fjord, with lookouts posted on the bridge for the flash of white in the water that signals a beluga pod. Shore excursions on the tundra here may reveal Arctic fox dens, and Svalbard reindeer are commonly seen grazing on the coastal flats. The expedition team will also identify any remaining evidence of the intensive trapping and hunting that took place across Svalbard in the 18th and 19th centuries — abandoned trapper's huts and fox trap lines are still visible.

🚌On board ship and Zodiac tenders (included with cruise)

🛏Expedition ship

• →Beluga whale watch from ship and Zodiac (included with cruise)
• →Guided tundra walk with armed polar guide (included)
• →Arctic fox spotting near denning sites
• →Visit to historic trapper's hut (if accessible, included)
• →Cetacean ecology lecture from expedition naturalist (included)

The final full day at sea brings the ship back into Isfjorden, the great fjord system on which Longyearbyen sits. There may be time for a final shore excursion or Zodiac cruise in the fjord system — Barentsburg, the Russian mining settlement, is sometimes visited and makes for a fascinating cultural contrast to Longyearbyen. The expedition team will host a recap presentation, sharing the wildlife data and sightings log from the voyage — a wonderful way to relive the highlights. The ship's bar will be busy with celebratory drinks as fellow passengers swap stories and share photographs from an extraordinary journey. Pack your bags and prepare for disembarkation tomorrow.

🚌On board ship and Zodiac tenders (included with cruise)

🛏Expedition ship

• →Possible final Zodiac excursion or shore landing in Isfjorden (included with cruise)
• →Optional visit to Barentsburg Russian settlement (if scheduled, included)
• →Expedition recap presentation and sightings summary (included)
• →Optional add-on: sea kayaking excursion (~£80-120 extra if pre-booked with operator)
• →Farewell dinner and celebration on board (included with cruise)

After a final breakfast on board, disembark in Longyearbyen. Your return flight to Helsinki (pre-booked independently with Norwegian or SAS) departs from Longyearbyen Airport (LYR) — a short taxi ride from the port. If your flight allows, spend a final hour or two in Longyearbyen: the Global Seed Vault is nearby (exterior viewing only, free), and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault Visitor Centre tells the fascinating story of this underground doomsday archive. Pick up any last souvenirs from the small shops in town. The flight to Helsinki takes approximately 3 hours, with onward connections to your home country from Helsinki Airport (HEL). Your Arctic circumnavigation is complete.

🚌Taxi from port to Longyearbyen Airport (~£5-10). Return flight Longyearbyen to Helsinki included in the return fare booked on Day 2.

🛏N/A (travel day)

• →Final breakfast on board (included with cruise)
• →Disembark and short taxi to Longyearbyen Airport (~£5-10)
• →Optional: exterior visit to Global Seed Vault (free)
• →Fly Longyearbyen (LYR) to Helsinki (HEL) — Norwegian or SAS (~3 hours, included in pre-booked return fare)
• →Onward connections from Helsinki Airport