Top Longyearbyen Cultural Tours: Find Your Arctic Adventure

So, you’re thinking of heading to Longyearbyen, is that right? That place up in Svalbard? It’s more than just snow and polar bears; very actually, there’s some cool history and community. To totally get the feel for Longyearbyen, you really need to do a cultural tour or two. These tours can actually give you some peeks at what it’s like to live way up north, far from pretty much everything you’re likely used to. Let’s check out what I think are the best cultural tours Longyearbyen has available. Read our full review: Longyearbyen Cultural Tours Full Review and Details

1. Longyearbyen City Sightseeing Tour

If you want to get your feet wet, this City Sightseeing Tour is pretty decent for getting you around Longyearbyen. You know, seeing all the important parts, that sort of thing. The tours are generally led by some people who actually live there, and that makes it way better. The guides know little stories and some quirky bits about the area that you definitely aren’t getting from just reading a tourist pamphlet. It gives it a certain personal angle, in a way. They usually show you cool landmarks like the Svalbard Church, which is like, the northernmost church in the world, almost. The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) is shown off too, which is kind of neat for all the research going on there. And, it wouldn’t be a Longyearbyen tour without cruising by the old mining parts, just a reminder of how things got going way up there in the first place. It could be considered something worth checking out early in your visit to give yourself some bearings. See Prices, Availability & Reserve Now (Longyearbyen City Tour)

2. Historic Mining Tour

Mining totally shaped Longyearbyen, is that right? To get what Longyearbyen really means, looking into its mining past makes sense. The Historic Mining Tour gets you into it quite a bit. So, it will generally lead you through some of the old mine sites – sometimes they let you poke around inside some, if the weather and safety allow. A decent amount of tours tell you all about the lives of the miners and their families and also the tricky stuff they dealt with way back when. In that case, the kind of conditions where you had the dark, and the cold, plus being pretty far from everywhere. Tours sometimes visit places like Mine No. 3, very apparently one of the oldest and that is pretty much preserved. All the stories and old gear can actually give you some decent insight into a pretty different chapter in Arctic life. See Prices, Availability & Reserve Now (Historic Mining Tour)

3. Svalbard Museum Visit and Cultural Walk

The Svalbard Museum might seem, well, museum-y, so too it’s almost the best place to gather some of the broad strokes when it comes to the islands’ past. Visiting that area, with a nice walk mixed in, would be worth your while. The museum dives into a lot; the history of the area, animal life around Svalbard, what the geology is, that stuff. It’s decent to walk around there and read up about early Arctic explorers, or find out why the permafrost matters. Lots of tours have museum visits linked up with walking tours out around Longyearbyen. A guide can take you to see spots that tie into what you see at the museum, to show how that stuff looks and lives out in the actual world. See Prices, Availability & Reserve Now (Svalbard Museum Visit)

4. Dog Sledding Cultural Experience

Ok, dog sledding might seem like it is just some outdoor type activity. But that is just selling it short; you know, to get a nice sense of local culture, go on a dog sled adventure, arguably, for that real kind of kick. A great deal of local tour companies is usually family-run outfits. Their care of the dogs will generally become evident. More or less, the guides usually chat about the heritage connected to sled dogs. Dog sledding up in Svalbard has been very absolutely how people got around for who knows how many years. Also, you can get this crazy feel from cutting across the crazy frozen ground as a sled dog, is that not right? This tour should feel quite linked to Svalbard itself. To basically support smaller local groups, go with smaller family businesses for your sled tour, anyway. See Prices, Availability & Reserve Now (Dog Sledding)

5. Camp Barentz Evening Experience

If you like sitting by a cozy fire while being way out somewhere remote, well Camp Barentz, it is like that type of place to get to, almost. Usually, they drive you out into the valleys near Longyearbyen; very, you get into a reproduction of an old hunting station. That place then being a sort of nod to Willem Barentsz, the explorer. So, very often the people running the camp like will actually make a pretty good meal, talk Arctic exploration stuff. Also just share cool facts, very unlike a dry historical lecture. What might you be thinking of here? Warm food and stories around a fire – that, again, feels extremely Svalbardian. Also, sometimes, you could see the Northern Lights out there if things get extremely dark, which only spices stuff up a bit. See Prices, Availability & Reserve Now (Camp Barentz Evening)

Read our full review: Longyearbyen Cultural Tours Full Review and Details