I wonder what it would be like to live in a town where the sun never sets in the summer and never rises in the winter? A town whose population of 2,400 residents hail from almost 53 different countries? And whose residents stay only for an average of seven years?
And how would it feel to have to carry a rifle every time you stepped beyond the town’s limits and to know how to use it against a possible polar bear attack? Signs are placed on every road out of the town, marking the limits of where it is considered to walk unprotected.
This is Longyearbyen, the only town of any size on Svalbard, where we began and ended our expedition cruise.
We spent several hours here before embarking on the Ocean Explorer, with time to look around the town centre independently. Also, we were taken on a short bus tour of some sights on the outskirts on our way to the boarding point by the former coal jetty. And on disembarking from the ship at the end of the voyage we had a few hours to kill in the town before our transfer to the airport.
A brief history
Longyearbyen is essentially a mining town, or rather was until a few weeks ago. People had been coming to Svalbard for several hundred years: trapping its wildlife for furs, killing its whales for blubber and baleen, prospecting for gold and other minerals. But there was no significant settlement, only a scattering of trappers’ and prospectors’ huts. In 1906 however, an American businessman and mining pioneer, John Munroe Longyear, established the first mine here, erected buildings and named the settlement Longyear City. A Norwegian company took over the mine in 1916 and renamed the town, Longyearbyen.
Memories of mining
At first mining was pretty much the only economic activity here. But more recently science has played a growing part in the local economy, as has tourism. Today there is a university here, with students coming from all over the world to study Arctic-related subjects. Our young tour guide was one such, from Lithuania. There are several hotels, a small shopping centre, a museum, several coffee shops, restaurants and a pub.
The last mine closed just a few weeks before our visit. We saw the piles of coal on the jetty waiting to be exported to Germany. From now on the town will rely on its scientific activities and, increasingly, on tourism. But relics of the mines remain and are protected as cultural heritage.
A walk around town
There aren’t a huge number of sights in Longyearbyen but there are a few places of interest. I’m combining our two visits into one to bring you a (belated) Monday Walk around the town. We had bright sunshine on our outward stopover, low cloud on the return; hence very different light and skies in my photos!
Homes in Longyearbyen
We’ll start by exploring some of the residential streets that lead up from the waterfront to the central shopping area and beyond. Most are lined with blocks of apartments and some student homes, but there are also some individual houses.
The colours of the Norwegian mainland predominate, ochres and browns in particular. The architectural style is fairly utilitarian but windows and even fire escapes provide some interesting details. And locals seem to favour antlers as a decorative feature.
Apartment details
Longyearbyen houses
Café Huskies
If we walk down to the water from the centre we will pass a small row of shops and offices which includes one of the favourite visitor spots, the Husky Café. Many towns and cities these days have a cat café, but in Longyearbyen they do things rather differently and you can enjoy your hot drinks in the company of these huskies. It’s a popular spot, and when we tried to visit on our first day here we couldn’t get a table, but we lucked out on our return.
Café Huskies sign and two of the dogs
Svalbard Museum
Where the main street meets the water there is a group of buildings that include the Svalbard Museum. It isn’t large but it’s very well presented and gives an excellent overview of the history of the archipelago, its wildlife and the polar environment. It also has a very good gift shop with a wide range of books. Here, and in the Husky Café, you are expected to remove your shoes according to Longyearbyen tradition; a tradition that grew up because of the coal dust that once pervaded the town. I’m not usually a fan of stuffed animals but here they did offer us a closer look at some of those we hoped to meet (and did!) on our expedition.
Stuffed animals in the museum
Svalbard Kirke
High above the town on a ridge is the small church, part of the Church of Norway. It isn’t just a place of worship but also an important centre for gatherings of all kinds. The original church, built in 1921, unfortunately was bombed and subsequently burned down during World War II. The current church was constructed and opened in 1958.
Svalbard Kirke
It is apparently open most of the time, but on our first visit there wasn’t time to go inside, while our second coincided with celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the Svalbard Treaty. There was a service taking place in the church, with the Crown Prince of Norway among the guests. We saw nothing of him nor of the celebrations, which weren’t due to start until after our departure. But we did see locals starting to gather in the town centre in national dress.
Wearing national dress
Svalbard Global Seed Vault
On the outskirts of the town is a unique sight, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. We stopped here briefly on the bus tour that took us to board the Ocean Explorer. This is, as the name suggests, an international project, jointly funded by Norway and a non-profit organisation, the Crop Trust. It provides long-term storage for duplicates of seeds from gene banks around the world. The aim is to protect food supplies against the loss of seeds in individual countries due to mismanagement, accident, equipment failures, funding cuts, war, sabotage, disease, and natural disasters. It works rather like a bank vault. Depositing countries all retain ownership of their seeds and only they can access them. We were told that Syria is the only country so far to have withdrawn some seeds as a result of the civil war there.
Entrance to the Seed Vault
While at the Seed Vault we were excited to see our very first (living) examples of Svalbard wildlife, with several reindeer grazing on the hillside. And plant life too, as cotton grass was dancing in the wind nearby.
Reindeer and cotton grass
From here our bus took us down to the coal jetty and to the start of our adventures exploring much more remote regions of Svalbard. But Longyearbyen had proved a good introduction to this very different part of the world.
I visited Longyearbyen in August 2025
55 Comments
ThingsHelenLoves
This has been a dream destination of mine for years. I follow a You Tube channel by a woman who lives on Svalbard – possibly the same one your nephew sent you? I don’t think there are many full time Svalbard content creators!- and I find the whole place and the history endlessly fascinating. And honestly, I’d make the journey just for that Husky cafe. Really enjoyed seeing Longyearbyen through your eyes.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Helen, I’m very glad you enjoyed this post 😊 Yes, that must be the same woman – as you say, there can’t be many here! I hope you get to visit one day.
wetanddustyroads
What an interesting town – one I would love to visit, but I don’t think I would “survive” a winter here 🥶. I really like the idea of the Husky Café and also the Seed Vault. It’s definitely one of the most unique places I’ve ever read about.
Sarah Wilkie
While I could probably survive a winter here, with good indoor heating and very thick clothing, I don’t want to have to test that! The Husky Café and Seed Vault were among the highlights of our visit, as well as the museum which gave us a good introduction to some of the sights we would see on the cruise.
Amy
I enjoyed strolling this unique town through your beautiful photos. I, too, think 7 years is pretty long living there. I can’t imagine winter is like there…
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Amy, I’m glad you enjoyed the stroll 🙂 It is hard to imagine living through one winter here, let alone seven!
Tanja
Read an article in women’s magazine the other day about this place, maybe that Croatian woman was with you on this expedition, she was there this summer too. Looks fascinating!I’d love husky cafe
Sarah Wilkie
That’s an interesting coincidence Tanja, but no, there was no one from Croatia on our trip (they shared a slide listing all the nationalities on board at the final evening presentation). The husky cafe was fun!
Jim Earlam
I remember seeing the seed vault on one of Brian Cox’s science programmes a few years back. I can imagine now there is no mining the air is very fresh and clean up there
Sarah Wilkie
The air did feel quite fresh yes, but the mining had only just stopped so maybe it wasn’t as clean as it could be. Elsewhere in Svalbard though it was fantastically clear and fresh!
Anabel @ The Glasgow Gallivanter
Very disappointed no armoured bears 😉.
Sarah Wilkie
Fair point Anabel 😆 I did look out for one!
Yvonne Dumsday
As this is a town I am most unlikely ever to visit – thankyou for inviting me to enjoy your tour with words and photographs.
Sarah Wilkie
Glad you enjoyed it Yvonne 🙂 Yes, unless you’re a scientist or similar, the only reason to visit would probably be to join an Arctic expedition cruise.
Anonymous
Fine post; thanks for sharing!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you
Sue
A most unique place, but not one that I would want to live in! Seed bank sounds a very good idea
Sarah Wilkie
Very unique but I’m with you on not living there! Thanks Sue 🙂
Sue
😀
Leanne Cole
I follow a woman on YouTube who lives there and it seems like a barren place to live, but she shows a different side to it. It is quite fascinating.
Sarah Wilkie
Ah yes, my nephew follows her and sent me a link so I watched a couple of her videos. She clearly loves it!
Easymalc
I found this post really interesting Sarah. Thanks for satisfying my curiosity about Longyearbyen, but why did the Germans feel it was necessary to bomb the church?
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Malcolm. They didn’t specifically bomb the church but rather the whole town. This was an important source of coal for the Allies and they would have wanted to disrupt the supply chain. The town had already been evacuated but the bombs caused fires that destroyed all but four of the town’s buildings.
Easymalc
That explains it then Sarah. Thanks.
Teresa
So cool and what an interesting place to visit.
Sarah Wilkie
It was fascinating, thanks Teresa 🙂
Anonymous
We got into town shortly after you left. We were able to catch a bit of the singing in the town square. Wished we had a little more time to explore the town before we boarded the ship.
Cheers,
Robert Rolley
Sarah Wilkie
Good to hear from you Robert 🙂 I guess you had less time than we did, but to be honest we found ourselves hanging around killing time a bit so you maybe didn’t miss much, apart from the museum which was a great into to the region.
Sylvia
What a fascinating account of Lonyearbyen and your time there. I know I would never be able to live there, but to visit as you did would be so interesting. I’m curious what materials they use for building there considering what I think would be extreme temperatures. Also the Seed Vault was interesting as I believe I heard years ago that there was one near Lillehammer, Norway.
Great photos!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Sylvia 🙂 Yes, our visit was very interesting but I wouldn’t want to live there either! I’m not aware of a seed vault in Lillehammer, but maybe there used to be one there? The smaller houses are mainly wooden while the apartments appeared to be clad in some sort of metal.
I. J. Khanewala
Fascinating
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you, glad you found it so 🙂
Diana
Oh, I’ve heard of this place (because of the seed vault). How cool to see it in person!
Sarah Wilkie
It was cool, yes! I’d heard of it too but it was so interesting to actually be there for a few hours 🙂 However, a few hours was enough!
the eternal traveller
What a great way to start your adventure and give you a taste of what was to come. You had a beautiful day for it. I know what you mean about the stuffed animals. I always feel uncomfortable when seeing them, although at one place we went to in the Canadian Rockies they told us that these days animals are only stuffed if they’re found dead. That made me feel better about it.
Sarah Wilkie
Yes, the museum signs made it clear these animals weren’t killed for the purpose of stuffing. I think the polar bear had ventured too close to an area with people in it and not heeded warnings to back off, unfortunately. Thank you for visiting and commenting, as always 🙂
EgÃdio
This is so fascinating. Most of us take things for granted about locations such as this. I can’t help but wonder what their daily life is like. Thanks for this very informative post.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Egidio 🙂 I guess much of their daily life is quite ordinary – work, maybe shopping, maybe meet friends for a drink etc. But in very different conditions in the winter at least. Everyone seems to have a snowmobile to get around at that time of year – we saw them all parked up behind the apartment blocks.
Anne Sandler
What a quaint and unique small town. It’s amazing that people live there year round. Thanks for the tour.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks Anne, glad you enjoyed the tour 🙂 Yes, I find it hard to imagine living here through the winter but apparently those that do find plenty to love about that time of year, not least the Northern Lights.
Graham Stephen
aha, cool to see the seed vault (kinda almost) IRL—seem to remember seeing that featured as a location in Netflix’s “Into the Night”
⬻𓂀✧ ‌🔺 ✬ღ☆ ‌🔺 ‌∞ ♡ ∞ ‌🔺 ‌☆ღ✬ ‌🔺 ‌✧𓂀⤖
grandmisadventures
What an interesting place to.explore with you. I especially loved the seed place. My aunt was a big seed saver and she was connected to groups and people all over the world sharing and saving heirloom seeds
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Meg and Graham 🙂 I love the idea of the seed vault both for itself and for the fact that it’s such a great (and sadly too rare) example of global cooperation.
Marie
I’m glad you’d a bit of time to look around. I bet you’re surprised at how much you’d gathered together when you were assembling the post.
I don’t think I could handle 7 years…. although with tourism on the up- sure there’ll be an Irish pub there before long!
Sarah Wilkie
Haha maybe 😆 The pub did look rather cosy but not a sign of Irishness in sight – yet!
Monkey's Tale
I didn’t expect such an organized town given its remote location. I’m not sure I could last 7 years there though. Love the reindeer, which we call caribou. Maggie
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Maggie 🙂 So do you sing ‘Rudolph the red-nosed caribou’ at Christmas?!
Monkey's Tale
Haha, nope 😊
restlessjo
I think 7 years would feel like a long time here, Sarah, but on a sunny day it has its merits. The Seed Bank is a brilliant idea. Did the coal seam run out or did they close the mine for other reasons? Thanks for taking me somewhere I would never have ventured xx
Sarah Wilkie
There are a couple of reasons behind the closure of the mine. I gather the best coal has all been extracted from that mine and while they could perhaps have opened another one in the area, with Longyearbyen in particular switching to greener energy, and a general trend in that direction elsewhere, I guess they felt it wouldn’t be profitable to do so in the longer term. I agree about the seed bank, excellent example of global collaboration 🙂
margaret21
Well, an interesting visit to be sure. But I think I’d have been hard to persuade to put Longyearbyen on my UCAS application!
Sarah Wilkie
I’m with you on the UCAS thing! It might be interesting to spend a short time here as it’s such a unique community but certainly not a winter as far as I’m concerned 😀
margaret21
Definitely not!
Anonymous
It’s interesting to see the town through your eyes.
Grete x
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Grete 🙂