Summer adventure holidays - 12 -
Treck - Around Isfjord

Itinerary (1)

Day 1 :
Fly from Paris to Longyearbyen. Stay in guesthouse near Isfjord (fjord of ice) under the midnight sun.

Days 2 to 3 :
Acclimatisation in Longyearbyen, the town of the Far North.
Distribution and meticulous preparation of equipment before leaving.

Day 4 :
We leave by boat: we visit Barentsburg (to be confirmed), a lost Russian town situated in the middle of nowhere. We cross the large fjord, arriving in the heart of a small fjord: Trygghamma.

Days 4 to 13:
9 to 10-day trek back to Longyearbyen along rugged shorelines. For the first seven days, we travel along a shoreline where seven large glaciers flow into the sea, near Svea, the gigantic glacier. We kayak among blue and transparent ice. We may be lucky and see seals amidst the rumblings of the moving glacier. We pass by the cabin of one of the last trappers, a slightly wild character who traps the Arctic fox in winter.

Isfjord is probably the most varied bay in Spitzbergen and is made of many small fjords. Stopovers are made according to the weather. Here, time stands still, so journeys can be made at night (it is never dark) as easily as in daytime. If weather conditions don’t allow us to walking along the glacier or on the immense expanses of tundra, we seize every opportunity to kayak.

There are 6 to 8 hours on average between stopovers. Depending on the weather, we could do the whole trip and go into every little fjord, but if we are slowed down by bad weather (for safety reasons) we are able to cut through adjacent fjords.

We spend the last days south of Sassenfjord: the geology of these mountains without vegetation reveals their treasures — limestone beds with thousands of fossils showing on the surface. On the way out of Sassenfjord, at Diabasodden, we stop near a colony of Brunnich’s guillemots and puffins, nesting just a few metres away. The Arctic fox generally hunts here on the cliff.

In this lively nature, we take the time to explore and to immerge ourselves in a parcel of this world of infinite horizons, made from an unpredictable diversity. And all this under the perpetual light of the Arctic summer. For the last kilometres to Longyearbyen, we follow an ochre cliff covered in places by scattered tundra, adding to the wild character of the place.

Days 14 to 15 :
We arrive at Longyearbyen and clean and put away the equipment. If we have time, we walk on the high plateaux of Longyearbyen, and have a final look round the town (souvenir shopping, sauna, Museum…and a restaurant before leaving).

Day 13 :
Fly from Longyearbyen to Paris.

(1) For atmospheric reasons, all descriptions are indicative and non-contractual.