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Longyearbyen is located at latitude 78˚ North – just 1,316 km from the North Pole. Longyearbyen is a three-hour flight from Oslo or a 90-minute flight from Tromsø. Longyearbyen is situated on the island of Spitsbergen, the largest island in the Svalbard archipelago.
- Video Tour
- Where Is Longyearbyen?
- Why Is There A Town Here?
- Who Lives in Longyearbyen?
- The Town Centre
- The Local Newspaper
- Svalbard Church
- Nybyen
- An Urban Arctic Farm
- The University Centre
Come with me as I take you on a tour of Longyearbyen and meet some of the people that make this place tick. You can watch the video I've made below, or read on for more insight and a ton of photographs. Or do both! What you'll see in the video and in the pictures on this page is what the town looks like in early March. I visited during the week tha...
Although the town is administered by Norway, you have to look a long way farther north on a map than the mainland! All the way up to 78 degrees north. For comparison, the North Cape (Nordkapp) is only at 71 degrees north, as is Barrow/Utqiaġvik in Alaska. Getting here involves a three-hour flight from Oslo with either SAS or Norwegian. Sometimes th...
Great question! If you arrive in the winter, it's probably the first thing you'll wonder. The town was founded in 1906 by the American John Munro Longyear. Ten years later he sold the settlement to a Norwegian coal company, who named their new home Longyearbyen. The name simply means Longyear Townin Norwegian. For decades, Longyearbyen was a compan...
Aside from the employees and families of the remaining coal miners, Longyearbyen is home to an incredibly diverse community. Because of the unique immigration rules defined by the Svalbard Treaty, more than 50 nationalities are represented here. That's quite something for a population of just 2,300 permanent residents. That said, approximately 66% ...
In many ways, Longyearbyen town centre looks like any other small Norwegian town. There is a hospital, post office, bank, library, hotels, church, petrol station, restaurants, shops and bars. The shopping centre provides welcome respite from the cold at this time of year! Fruene, the cafe inside the shopping centre, seemed to be the beating heart o...
The town centre is also home to many businesses including the offices of the local newspaper. Svalbardpostenis the world's northernmost newspaper, with a weekly magazine-like format. A couple of journalists sit here in the town and finalise the pages by 4pm on Tuesday. The very next morning, the magazines are on their way up on the flight from Trom...
Longyearbyen's church is located slightly higher up the hillside overlooking the town centre. The foundations for the current Svalbard Churchwere laid in 1956, and it was consecrated two years later. The wooden, rectangular church can hold around 140 people. It is the only church on the archipelago, aside from the Russian Orthodox chapel in Barents...
About two kilometres south of the town centre is Nybyen. Although translated into English as ‘The New Town', Nybyen is anything but! It was the new town when it was originally built to provide accommodation for coal miners. Today the buildings are home to the hotel and restaurant known as the ‘Coal Miners' Cabins, a popular place to stay and eat. I...
Also calling Nybyen its home is Polar Permaculture. Started by chef and food enthusiast Ben Vidmar, the company aims to develop sustainable farming solutions for the town. Although fresh food is available from the local supermarket, all of it must be flown or shipped in from the mainland. Read more: Growing food on Svalbard I interviewed Ben for a ...
Down by the waterfront is the modern building housing UNIS, the University Centre of Svalbard. Unsurprisingly, this educational centre is the world’s northernmost higher education institution. It specialises in Arctic biology, geology, geophysics and technology at undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate level. Just across the road is the North Pol...
Mar 4, 2024 · Things to Do in Longyearbyen, Norway: See Tripadvisor's 17,503 traveler reviews and photos of Longyearbyen tourist attractions. Find what to do today, this weekend, or in April. We have reviews of the best places to see in Longyearbyen. Visit top-rated & must-see attractions.
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- Svalbard Museum. This small museum teaches you about the history, geology, and wildlife of Svalbard. Learn about climate change, the animals that call Svalbard home, and the local history of Longyearbyen and nearby settlements.
- North Pole Expedition Museum. Learn about the expeditions to the North Pole that have departed from Svalbard. Told through a large collection of newspaper clippings and posters, there is a lot of information here.
- The Global Seed Vault. Housing 2.5 billion seeds, this vault is the world’s safety net in case of global disaster. Almost 1 million different types of seeds are safely stored beneath the permafrost of Svalbard.
- See How Many Polar Bears You Can Find. It’s rare to see a polar bear in Longyearbyen, although it does occasionally happen. However, there are still a few places where you can spot a polar bear, whether it’s graffiti, on signs, or as a work of art.
Feb 18, 2020 · During the snow-melt period in early summer, the brown, muddy water of the river Longyearelva can rise to impressive levels, and large stones move audibly along on the river bed. Excavators have to be put into use on a regular basis to keep the river in the channel that has been allocated to it according to the land use planning.
Longyearbyen. Longyearbyen is located in a valley south of Adventfjorden, at 78° 10' N. The valley’s coalfields were occupied in the summer of 1900 by entrepreneurs from Trondheim, who established Kulkompagniet Trondhjem-Spitsbergen. Soon after, they began looking for foreign buyers, and in 1905 they made an agreement with the American ...
Oct 12, 2022 · Longyearbyen: the essentials. What: A DIY walking tour of Longyearbyen in Svalbard, the world’s northernmost town. Where: We visited Longyearbyen during our 8-day expedition to Svalbard, the last stop before the North Pole with Albatros Expeditions. We stayed in a Panorama Window Suite on the Ocean Atlantic.