Norway & Svalbard Svalbard
Norway’s high-Arctic archipelago, halfway between the mainland and the North Pole: glaciers, polar bears, walrus and the world’s northernmost town.
Arctic Ocean destinations
Twelve hubs, grouped by region. Each one is a mini-guide with its own tours, sights, transport, travel advice and seasons.
The Arctic Ocean has no resorts and very few towns. What it has are gateways — places with an airport, beds and boats, from which the sea, the ice and the wildlife can be reached. We have chosen twelve. Five are in Norway, including Svalbard, because that is where access is easiest and most tours are sold; three are in Iceland and Greenland; two cover the immense, thinly populated coasts of Canada and Alaska; and two — the North Pole and the Russian Arctic — are included so that the picture is complete, with a clear account of how difficult, expensive or inadvisable they currently are.
They are not equal, and we do not pretend they are. In Tromsø you can compare hundreds of day tours with thousands of reviews. In Ilulissat almost everything is sold locally. In Nunavut, on the North Slope and in East Greenland there are no day tours online at all, only outfitters and expedition ships. Each guide says plainly which kind of place it is.
Norway & Svalbard
Norway & Svalbard 
Norway & Svalbard Tromsø
The lively capital of Arctic Norway: northern lights and whales in winter, midnight sun and fjords in summer, and flights onward to Svalbard.
Norway & Svalbard North Cape
A 307-metre cliff at 71° north where Europe’s road network ends and the Barents Sea begins — reached from the fishing port of Honningsvåg.
Norway & Svalbard Alta & Hammerfest
Finnmark’s two western towns: Alta for stable aurora weather, rock art and an ice hotel; Hammerfest for a harbour on the edge of the Barents Sea.
Norway & Svalbard Kirkenes
The end of the Norwegian coastal route, a few kilometres from Russia and Finland: king crab, a year-round snow hotel, border history and the bird cliffs of Varanger.
Iceland & Greenland
Iceland & Greenland North Iceland
Iceland’s Arctic coast: whale watching from Húsavík and Akureyri, Lake Mývatn’s volcanic landscapes, Dettifoss, and Grímsey, the island the Arctic Circle runs through.
Iceland & Greenland West Greenland
Ilulissat and Disko Bay: a fjord choked with icebergs the size of city blocks, whales among the ice, sled dogs and the midnight sun — with Nuuk as the gateway.
Iceland & Greenland East Greenland
The empty side of Greenland: Scoresby Sund, the largest fjord system on Earth, and the mountain-ringed settlements of Tasiilaq and Kulusuk — expedition country.
Arctic North America
Arctic North America Arctic Canada
Nunavut, the Northwest Passage and the road to Tuktoyaktuk on the Beaufort Sea: Inuit homelands, narwhals and polar bears across a third of the Arctic coastline.
Arctic North America Arctic Alaska
America’s Arctic shore: Utqiaġvik, the northernmost town in the United States, and the long gravel Dalton Highway over the Brooks Range to Prudhoe Bay.
The Pole & Russia
The Pole & Russia North Pole
90° north: a point on drifting sea ice above four kilometres of ocean, reached only by icebreaker or by ski-plane and helicopter — the most exclusive journey in the Arctic.
The Pole & Russia Russian Arctic
Half of the Arctic Ocean’s coastline, from Murmansk to Wrangel Island — described here for understanding, not as a recommendation: most Western governments currently advise against travel to Russia.
Further afield
Three more ways into Arctic waters that do not fit a single hub.
The pack-ice edge
North of Svalbard and in the Greenland Sea, the open ocean gives way to drifting floes at around 80–82° north. Expedition cruises spend days here looking for polar bears, walrus and seals on the ice. It is the most accessible stretch of true Arctic Ocean pack.
Hudson Bay and Churchill
A vast inland sea that freezes every winter and is linked to the Arctic Ocean through Foxe Basin. Churchill, on its west shore, is the world’s most reliable place to see polar bears on land in autumn and beluga whales in summer; we cover it within Arctic Canada.
The Norwegian coastal voyage
The daily ships between Bergen and Kirkenes call at Tromsø, Hammerfest, Honningsvåg and Vardø, crossing the Arctic Circle on the fourth day. Travelling port to port is a comfortable way to link four of our Norwegian hubs in any season.
Plan your trip
Ice, whales, midnight sun and aurora — book the limited-seat days first
Boats, sleds and small-group minibuses in the Arctic carry few people, and the best weeks are short. Compare the best tours from Tromsø, Svalbard, North Cape, Iceland and beyond, and reserve in a couple of taps.