Boat Trip to the Bird Cliffs

Your guide will pick you up at the hotel and drive you to our expedition centre. Here you will get equipped with a flotation suit, life jacket and goggles, before we set course down to the harbour. Here, a sturdy open Polarcirkel speedboat awaits.

We start the trip by heading west on Isfjorden, to Fuglefjella (the ‘Bird Mountain’). This bird cliff is situated just between Longyearbyen and Barentsburg. Above a narrow stone beach, the cliffs rise from the sea. They reach 500 metres up, and are home to thousands of migratory birds each summer. One of the most populous is the Brünnich’s Guillemot. They nest around the archipelago in several colonies of over 100 000 pairs.

Next stop is the abandoned Russian mining town Grumant. This has been abandoned since 1961. It is almost inconceivable to think that the few remaining houses on the steep mountainside, once were part of the largest settlement on Svalbard. After the break at Grumant, we continue to Hiorthhamn, situated across the fjord from Longyearbyen.

Hiorthhamn is another abandoned mining town. Once upon a time, it boasted barracks, a blacksmith, stores, kitchen, sawmill, hospital, housing, offices and a range of mining installations. If you use your fantasy a little, you can imagine the bustling settlement which once was here. Dependending on the time and weather, we may go ashore here before heading back to Longyearbyen again.