Fjords and Glaciers of Spitsbergen

Seven nights is the right length for a first Svalbard voyage, and this is the route we send most guests on. Le Lyrial leaves Longyearbyen in the evening and turns south first, into Hornsund, where Burgerbukta and the glacier fronts of the south-west sit under the sharpest peaks on the island. Two days there, then a day of open water north to the edge of the pack ice, where the expedition team scans the floes for bears and the ship noses into the ice as far as the captain is happy to go. The return runs down the north-west coast: Texas Bar and the Monacobreen glacier in Liefdefjorden, Hamiltonbukta in Raudfjorden with its bird cliffs and walrus haul-out, and the research settlement of Ny-Ålesund at 79° North, the most northerly community in the world. Zodiac outings and landings most days, kayaking on selected outings, and the sun above the horizon the entire week.

We have sailed this coast and we know which fortnight gives the best balance of ice and open fjords. Tell us when you can travel and who with, and we tell you which of the ten departures we would choose, which deck and which stateroom, then build the rest: flights from Australia to Paris, the nights in Paris either side of Ponant’s charter, and the offers we hold for Arctic Cruise guests. One Australian specialist, from the first conversation until you are home.