Spectacular Svalbard & Greenland by Seabourn

Join Seabourn's ultra-luxury purpose-built Seabourn Venture on on an 15-day expedition to the explore Svalbard and Greenland. From Oslo, fly to Longyearbyen and visit the realm of the polar bear, before sailing south to explore Greenland.

Cruise the Greenland Sea to Jan Mayen Island and sail the east coast of Greenland before visiting Iceland and disembarking in Reykjavik.

Highlights

• Visit the land of the polar bear

• Enjoy Zodiac landings, giving opportunities for many wilderness hikes

• Explore the picturesque scenery of Svalbard and Greenland

• Cruise on a brand-new expedition vessel

Quick Itinerary

Day 1: Longyearbyen
Days 2 - 6: The Svalbard experience
Days 7 & 8: Greenland Sea
Day 9: Jan Mayen Island
Day 10: Denmark Strait
Day 11: Hekla Havn & Rode Island
Day 12: Bear Islands & Sydkap
Day 13: Ittoqqortoormiit
Day 14: Vigur
Day 15: Reykjavik

Departures and Prices

Day 1: Longyearbyen

From Oslo, board your included flight to Longyearbyen, located on a small tributary of the large Isfjorden on the Island of Spitsbergen. The town's extreme isolation and proximity to wildlife require unique laws. Embark Seabourn Venture to begin your Arctic expedition.

Days 2 - 6: The Svalbard experience

The islands of Svalbard are visually stunning. With no forest cover, their geological bones loom bare under the sky. Snow-dusted peaks resembling layered stone wedding cakes soar above deeply carved fjords and sparkling bays. In summer, tundra vegetation thrives under the Midnight Sun. Migratory birds in their millions crowd the skies, to nest, breed and nurture their young on steep, striated cliffs, shingle beaches and tundra meadows. Elaborately antlered reindeer graze the slopes. Arctic foxes and predatory gulls haunt the nursery edges. Seals and walruses haul out to join the breeding season, and polar bears patrol the rocky shorelines and floating ice, while whales roll, breach and feed off shore.

Testaments to past human endeavours include whalebones and weather trypots from medieval whaling stations; the wind-sanded timbers of an expedition's landing site; a hut where someone whiled away a long-ago dark winter. Riding in Zodiacs and paddling kayals, observing from the decks and trekking on the islands themselves, you will experience and explore this isolated, unspoiled and breathtakingly beautiful place, as it revels in the endless days of its short, exuberant summer. The precise daily itinerary will be planned by your Expedition Leader and Captain based on sea and ice conditions and willdife concentrations.

Days 7 & 8: Greenland Sea

After your days of energetic exploration, luxuriate in the many pleasures of Seabourn Venture during leisurely cruising of the Greenland Sea. Your Expedition Team members answer questions, recount tales and point out highlights on deck and in lounges, and also share fascinating presentations in the Discovery Centre, in anticipation of your further adventures in Greenland.

Day 9: Jan Mayen Island

Isolated in the Arctic Ocean, seldom-visited Jan Mayen island is volcanic in origin, consisting of two peaks. Its large end, Beerenberg peak, is covered with an ice cap and multiple glaciers. Landing is by Zodiacs only and requires permission. There is a small scientific and military presence, but the island is and important Bird Area Reserve with huge breeding populations of northern fulmars, little auks, and both thick-bellied and black guillemots.

Day 10: Denmark Strait

Cruise the Denmark Strait, marking the geographic divide between the Greenland Sea and the North Atlantic. It forms a shallow barrier known as a 'sill', impeding water movement and separating the two seas. At the south end of the strait, sea depths plummet to 11,500 feet, creating the Denmark Strait Cataract, where water descends 7,500 feet to form the highest undersea waterfall in existence.

Day 11: Hekla Havn & Rode Island

Stone cairns from an 1891 expedition mark Hekla Havn in East Greenland's Scoresby Sound. Remnants of its buildings are also left. Tall, stratified ridges encircle the fjord and striking patterns in the rocks enchant photographers, as do Inuit tent circles and standing stones. The Rodefjord is a wonderland of geological colour, with cliffs of 300 million-year-old red sandstone standing against the blue Greenlandic sky. The fjord is filled with shining white icebergs, many of which are stranded. On Rode Island is a small sea cave navigable by Zodiacs and a picturesque columnar basalt formation called 'the pile of firewood'. Conditions permitting, you may land on the island or explore the shores in kayaks.

Day 12: Bear Islands & Sydkap

Waterways surrounding the low, glaciated Bear Islands are dotted with icebergs and ringed by distant snowcapped ranges. Warm currents attract walruses, seals, and beluga and bowhead whales. Glaciers planed the slopes to reveal twisted and rippled layers of differently coloured rocks. Against Sydkap's breathtaking backdrop of the Stauning Alps, colossal tabular icebergs parade across the fjord. On slopes carpeted in red and yellow autumn tundra, huge solitary boulders known as erratics balance precariosuly, deposited by melting glaciers.

 Day 13: Ittoqqortoormiit

Small, isolated Ittoqqortoormiit is a cluster of buildings painted in bright colours, amid an impsing landscape at the entry to vast Scoresby Sound. True to traditional Greenlandic culture, skins of seals, muskoxen and polar bears hang on racks outside homes. Sled dogs idle in the yards, their wooden sledges propped up against the house. Buy Greenlandic stamps in the post office to send postcards from an unexpected postmark. Or visit the quaint church, its gabled interior painted in white and sky-blue.

Day 14: Vigur

Iceland's remote Westfjords peninsula is a wild land of tall, steep mountains cut by fjords and carpeted in summer with wildflowers. Vigur Island's cliffs filled with netsting birds make it one of Iceland's most renowned areas for birding. The people long ago built special stone walls that attract nesting. After the birds depart, people collect the precious down lining the nests to sell. Busy Arctic foxes patrol the edges of the colonies in hope of a meal.

Day 15: Reykjavik

Established by Viking's around 870 AD, Reykjavik was the first permanent settlement in Iceland. In 1703 it consisted of a farm and a church and had 69 residents. Today the world's northernmost national capital has evolved into a sophisticated city that is also one of the cleanest, greenest and safest on earth. Here you will disembark Seabourn Venture after your unforgettable Arctic expedition.

Secure your space today by calling one of our Travel Specialists on 0203 196 1000