Six days · Longyearbyen to Tromsø · 672 nautical miles · Glaciers, polar bears, reindeer, orcas · A first-person Arctic expedition from Hyderabad
Svalbard Expedition from India — At a Glance
| Route flown from India | Hyderabad → Doha → Oslo → Longyearbyen |
| Expedition length | 6 days on board, 5 nights |
| Ship | M/V Plancius — a Svalbard expedition ship, not a cruise liner |
| Start / finish | Embark Longyearbyen (78° north) · Disembark Tromsø, mainland Norway |
| Distance sailed | 672 nautical miles |
| Places visited | Isfjorden · Borebukta & Borebreen · Alkhornet · Hornsund · Gåshamna & Burgerbukta · Bjørnøya (Bear Island) · Norwegian Sea |
| Wildlife seen on this voyage | Polar bear · ringed seal · white-beaked dolphins · Svalbard reindeer · Arctic fox · orcas · blue whale · kittiwakes, guillemots, puffins, gannets, Arctic skua |
| Best time to go | Summer season — this expedition sailed in early September |
| Visa needed from India | Schengen visa (Svalbard is under Norwegian sovereignty; you transit mainland Norway) |
| Who this suits | Travellers who want wilderness and wildlife, not a resort holiday |
| Can IMAD Travel arrange it? | Yes — flights, Schengen visa, Oslo/Tromsø stays and the expedition itself. Take all of it or just one part — there is no obligation to book a package. |
This Wasn’t a Norway Holiday. It Was an Arctic Expedition.
There are trips you enjoy, trips you remember, and then there are journeys that quietly change the way you look at the planet. My recent Svalbard expedition from India was the third kind.
When I left Hyderabad, Svalbard still felt like a place on a map rather than somewhere I was actually going. The routing itself tells you how remote this journey is: Hyderabad to Doha, Doha to Oslo, and then north again to Longyearbyen — the main settlement of Svalbard.
By the time I reached the Arctic, I had crossed airports, time zones and thousands of kilometres. I was tired, but the moment I stepped out into that cold air, the tiredness changed into excitement.
My phone showed 3°C, with the wind making it feel like -4°C. Rain was moving through the settlement. The airport itself felt like a marker of how far from home I had travelled, and outside, the mountains, low clouds and open Arctic light made the change of world immediate.
That is the first thing I want you to understand: this was not a conventional cruise. It was a six-day Arctic expedition from India — weather-led, wildlife-led and built around the understanding that nature, not a timetable, makes the final decisions. That uncertainty turned out to be part of the magic.
Svalbard sits far beyond where most Indian travellers stop when they plan Scandinavia, and that is exactly why I wanted to see it for myself before we started arranging it for our own clients. If you are at the earlier stage of planning, our Norway tour packages page covers the mainland side of the country — the fjords, Tromsø and the northern lights belt — and this expedition begins where that map ends.
Our Svalbard Expedition Route, Day by Day
Hyderabad → Doha → Oslo → Longyearbyen → Isfjorden → Borebukta & Borebreen → Alkhornet → Hornsund → Gåshamna & Burgerbukta → Bjørnøya (Bear Island) → Norwegian Sea → Tromsø
The voyage covered 672 nautical miles from embarkation to disembarkation.
The journey had a direction and a rhythm. We did not simply “visit Svalbard”. We arrived in Longyearbyen, boarded M/V Plancius, sailed through Isfjorden, explored Borebukta and Borebreen, landed beneath Alkhornet, travelled south into Hornsund to Gåshamna and Burgerbukta, continued to remote Bjørnøya — Bear Island — and then crossed the Norwegian Sea towards Tromsø. Over six days, the landscape kept changing, and so did the story.
I remember looking at the distance sign in Longyearbyen and seeing “Nordpolen” pointing north. That small moment made me smile. The North Pole was no longer something I was reading about from Hyderabad; I was standing in a place where it appeared on a road sign.
Even the practical parts of travel — checking in, waiting for baggage, carrying the suitcase from one sector to the next — became part of the story. Expedition travel begins long before the ship sails.
Day 1 — Longyearbyen to M/V Plancius: My Home Starts Moving
On 7 September 2026, we boarded M/V Plancius in Longyearbyen.
For the next five nights, this sturdy Svalbard expedition ship would be our home, classroom, dining room and viewing platform. The voyage eventually covered 672 nautical miles before we disembarked in Tromsø.
There is a small but memorable transition in expedition travel: one minute you are standing in a settlement with roads and buildings; the next, your suitcase is in a cabin, your expedition boots are waiting downstairs, and the ship is quietly carrying you out into Isfjorden. We went through the safety briefing and abandon-ship drill, collected our rubber boots and met the expedition team. Then came dinner — and the first conversations with fellow travellers.
This became one of my favourite parts of the voyage. People arrive as strangers, but after a few Zodiac rides, wildlife sightings and meals together, you begin exchanging stories as though you have known each other much longer.
Day 2 — Borebukta and Borebreen: Ice, a Polar Bear and the First Real Arctic Morning
Our first activity day began in Borebukta.
Before every landing or Zodiac cruise, the expedition team briefed us carefully. That combination of freedom and discipline matters in Svalbard, where weather can change quickly and polar bear safety is taken very seriously.
We then headed towards Borebreen. This was where the expedition changed gear. The ship was no longer the destination; it was our base camp. The first time we moved away from the ship in a Zodiac, the scale of the Arctic became real. From the deck, a glacier is beautiful. From a small inflatable boat, with cold air on your face and pieces of ice around you, it becomes something else entirely — alive, textured and enormous.
Borebreen is a tidewater glacier. During our voyage it was approximately 3.5 kilometres wide and about 20 kilometres long, and the expedition log recorded that it had advanced almost two kilometres since August 2024. It is also a “surging” glacier — one capable of periods of dramatically faster movement after quieter phases. Standing in a Zodiac, those scientific words suddenly had scale. The ice front was not a static wall; it was a moving system.
There is something reassuring about seeing your expedition ship against a wall of ice. Plancius did not feel like a floating resort pretending the wilderness was outside. The ship felt like part of the expedition itself: practical, comfortable and designed to get us close to places that are difficult to reach any other way.
Svalbard Wildlife: Nothing Feels Staged Here
We cruised through sea ice and along glacier fronts, listening to guides explain how the ice moves and changes. When a glacier calves, you do not only see it; you hear it. The sound rolls across the water, and for a moment everyone stops talking.
One of the details I loved about expedition travel was that the learning never felt like a classroom lecture imposed on a holiday. You would see something outside, then later hear a naturalist explain the geology, wildlife or history behind what you had just experienced. The place itself created the questions.
Wildlife was one of the biggest reasons I wanted to experience Svalbard, but the reality is more powerful than a checklist. A polar bear sighting is not a zoo moment, and it is never guaranteed. You scan huge stretches of ice and moraine, and then suddenly a white shape moves where your eyes had previously seen only landscape. We watched from a safe distance as the bear moved along the glacier moraine and through the water. Polar bears are the largest bear species and are closely tied to sea ice, because their most important prey are ice-associated seals — especially ringed and bearded seals.
Around Borebreen we also encountered a ringed seal (Pusa hispida). These small Arctic seals can maintain breathing holes in thick sea ice — one of the adaptations that makes them such a classic High Arctic species, and the same relationship with the ice that makes them important prey for polar bears.
Later, officers spotted white-beaked dolphins, while northern fulmars, black-legged kittiwakes and Arctic skuas gathered over feeding activity. That is what Svalbard does so well: a glacier excursion can suddenly become a wildlife lesson without warning.
In Svalbard, every polar bear encounter is controlled by the animal and by safety — not by a sightseeing schedule.
Alkhornet — Where the Svalbard Tundra Suddenly Became Alive
After lunch, we anchored near Alkhornet, the distinctive mountain at the northern entrance to Isfjorden. After hours of grey-blue ice and water, walking onto greener tundra felt like entering another Arctic world.
This is where we saw Svalbard reindeer. The Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus) is an endemic subspecies — found only in this archipelago. It is shorter-legged and more compact than many mainland reindeer, an Arctic build that helps conserve heat. The males we saw carried developed antlers, while other animals grazed quietly across the tundra.
We also saw Arctic foxes. The Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) has a short muzzle, rounded ears and an extraordinarily insulating coat. In Svalbard it lives without the red-fox competition found in some mainland areas, feeding opportunistically on seabirds, eggs, carrion and remains left by polar bears. Seeing one moving through the tundra makes you realise how much wildlife can be present in a landscape that initially looks empty.
Day 3 — Hornsund: Gåshamna, Russian Science and Whaling History
By the next day, we had moved south into Hornsund, one of southern Spitsbergen’s great fjord systems. This was the day the expedition became about more than wildlife and glaciers.
At Gåshamna, history was lying in the landscape — not behind museum glass. Gåshamna means “Goose Bay”. Its sheltered position made it useful to people long before modern expedition ships arrived. The shoreline contains traces of seventeenth-century whaling, later Russian/Pomor and Norwegian trapping activity, and one of the most fascinating scientific chapters in Svalbard: the Swedish-Russian Arc of Meridian Expedition.
In 1899–1900, the Russian party built a substantial research station here as part of an international attempt to measure a meridian arc and refine knowledge of the Earth’s shape — specifically, the degree to which our planet is flattened at the poles. The station included living quarters, laboratory and observatory facilities. After the expedition the complex deteriorated; materials were reused, and a later trapping station known as Konstantinovka occupied part of the site.
What moved me here was the contrast. Today we arrive with insulated clothing, radios, satellite navigation and a ship waiting offshore. More than a century ago, scientists and trappers overwintered in this environment with equipment that now looks astonishingly simple. The objects and buildings are not decoration — they are evidence of how much effort people invested in understanding and surviving the Arctic.
Gåshamna also carries an older, darker story. Whalers worked these waters from the early seventeenth century, and whale bones and remains of blubber-processing sites survive around the bay. They are protected cultural remains. Walking here, you are not just crossing tundra; you are moving through layers of exploitation, science and survival.
Burgerbukta — Blue Ice, Arctic Silence and a Polar Plunge
From Gåshamna, we continued deeper into Hornsund towards Burgerbukta. The mood changed again. Steep mountains closed around the bay and glacier ice filled the water. From the Zodiac, the colours moved from slate grey to turquoise and deep glacial blue.
At one point, we simply stopped. No conversation. No need to fill the space. For five minutes, we experienced what I can only call Arctic silence. At first, you wait for a sound. Then you begin to notice the tiny ones: water against ice, a distant bird, perhaps the wind. The silence is not empty; it makes you aware of how noisy normal life is. In the Arctic, five minutes can feel surprisingly long.
It was one of the moments that reminded me why people travel so far for places like Svalbard: not only to see more, but sometimes to hear less.
And then, because expedition travel has a sense of humour, came the Polar Plunge.
Yes, I did the Polar Plunge. There is no elegant way to describe the first contact with Arctic water — and somehow, you do it anyway. Your body understands the temperature before your brain has finished processing the decision. It was cold, it was fast, and it was absolutely worth doing once. What I remember almost as strongly was the contrast afterwards: warm clothes, hot food and the feeling that we had shared something slightly ridiculous and completely unforgettable.
Day 4 — Bjørnøya (Bear Island): The Remote Island That Connected Everything
We sailed south overnight and woke near Bjørnøya — Bear Island, the southernmost island of the Svalbard archipelago. Geographically, it sits between Spitsbergen and mainland northern Norway, close to the meeting zone of the Norwegian and Barents seas. For me, it also felt like the bridge between the Svalbard part of the expedition and our onward journey to Tromsø.
Bjørnøya was recorded by Willem Barentsz and Jacob van Heemskerck in 1596 and named after a polar bear encountered near the island. Our landing was at the northern weather station, Radio Bjørnøya. The station is still an active outpost, but around it are reminders of earlier attempts at coal mining, fishing and whaling — ventures that struggled against the island’s isolation and conditions. The small museum and historic equipment gave context to the island’s role as a remote observation and communications point.
But outside, Bjørnøya’s greatest spectacle was natural: its cliffs. Some of Bear Island’s bird cliffs rise more than 400 metres, and they support huge seasonal colonies. Black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) nest on narrow cliff ledges and are named for their characteristic “kitti-wake” call. Brünnich’s guillemots, or thick-billed murres (Uria lomvia), pack tightly onto rock shelves, while common guillemots (Uria aalge) are also especially important on Bjørnøya. Puffins and northern gannets occur here too.
The cliff cruise was pure expedition: drizzle, swell, wind, caves, arches and tunnels cut into the coastline. Our guides assessed each section before taking the Zodiacs through. One tunnel was reported in the expedition log as being more than a hundred metres long. It is difficult to explain how adventurous that feels until you are sitting low in a rubber boat, entering a dark opening in an Arctic cliff while seabirds circle outside.
We also saw the wreck of a ship that stranded on Bjørnøya in 2009. It was another reminder that even with modern navigation, this coast deserves respect.
The Arctic Birds I Kept Photographing
Away from the great colonies, individual birds kept catching my attention. One of the most distinctive was the Arctic skua, also called the parasitic jaeger (Stercorarius parasiticus). It has a predatory, streamlined shape and is famous for kleptoparasitism — chasing other seabirds until they drop or regurgitate food.
I also photographed a mottled young gull. Its pale brown-grey plumage is consistent with a juvenile glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus), one of the High Arctic’s largest gulls — although I prefer to keep the identification qualified from a photograph alone. Juvenile glaucous gulls are mottled grey and buff and gradually acquire the very pale adult plumage over several years.
Day 5 — South Towards Tromsø: The Orcas We Could Not Stop Watching
By 11 September, we were at sea heading south towards Tromsø. It could easily have become a quiet transit day: breakfast, returning expedition boots, lectures, packing and that slightly sad feeling that the voyage was nearly over.
Instead, the Arctic gave us one of the strongest endings imaginable. From the bridge came the call: orcas.
Soon, we were looking at not one animal but large groups moving through the water. The expedition log recorded two groups of at least ten orcas, and a blue whale was also sighted among the activity. Orcas (Orcinus orca) are the largest members of the dolphin family. Their black-and-white pattern looks unmistakable in photographs, but what stays with you is the movement — dorsal fins rising, disappearing and appearing somewhere else.
At times, they were roughly a kilometre away. On paper, one kilometre sounds distant. Out there, surrounded by open water, it did not feel distant at all. Every time someone pointed, everyone searched the surface. A photograph can show you an orca. It cannot give you the cold air on your face, the pause between sightings or the sudden rush when another dorsal fin breaks the water.
The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) sighting made the moment even more extraordinary. The blue whale is the largest animal known to have lived on Earth. We did not need it to come close for the scale of that fact to land. Sometimes distance is part of the experience — wildlife remains wild, and you remain a visitor.
What Life Aboard a Svalbard Expedition Ship Actually Adds
It would be easy to write only about the animals and glaciers, but that would leave out half the expedition. Plancius was where the days connected.
The hotel team aboard looked after us extremely well. Meals were something to look forward to, especially after hours outside. But what I valued just as much were the conversations. Expedition travel attracts curious people. By the end of a few days, you have shared cold Zodiac rides, wildlife sightings, meals, lectures and a lot of laughter with people who were strangers when you boarded.
The bridge was also accessible at appropriate times, which gave us a fascinating view of navigation and ship operations. Lectures on wildlife, geology and Arctic history added context to what we were seeing outside. It never felt like information for information’s sake; it made the landscape richer.
The expedition team helped us understand not simply “there is a bird” or “there is a glacier”, but why that species is here, how the ice behaves and what human history lies beneath a seemingly empty shore.
And then there were the people. Expedition travel creates camaraderie quickly because everyone is sharing the same uncertainty. You cannot order a polar bear sighting or schedule an orca. So when something happens, everybody experiences the same burst of excitement together.
If you have sailed with us before on a warm-water itinerary, this is a different animal entirely — you can see how it compares on our cruise packages page, where the ships are larger, the seas warmer and the schedule fixed. Both are worth doing. They are not the same holiday.
Day 6 — Tromsø: The Strange Feeling of Returning to Roads
On 12 September, Plancius sailed into Tromsø.
After five nights aboard and 672 nautical miles, stepping back onto a normal dock felt surprisingly strange. We had started in Longyearbyen at 78° north and finished on mainland Norway after crossing south from Bear Island.
The expedition was short in calendar days but enormous in variety: a polar bear at Borebreen, a ringed seal, white-beaked dolphins, reindeer and Arctic foxes at Alkhornet, the Russian scientific history of Gåshamna, glacier-filled Burgerbukta, a Polar Plunge, Bear Island’s bird cliffs, orcas and a blue whale on the journey south.
That is the connectivity I remember now. Each day did not feel like a separate attraction. One place explained the next. The glaciers explained the wildlife. The wildlife explained the need for protected landscapes. The abandoned stations explained the human desire to understand the Arctic. The ship connected those worlds. And the long route from Hyderabad made arriving there feel even more significant.
How to Plan a Svalbard Expedition from India
Do not plan this like an ordinary Norway holiday. The expedition itself may be six days, but the journey begins well before Longyearbyen. Here is what I would tell anyone travelling from India after doing it myself.
How do you get to Svalbard from India?
There is no direct route. You fly from your home city to a hub — in my case Hyderabad to Doha — then on to Oslo, and finally north to Longyearbyen. Build sensible connection time at every change. The Arctic sector is the one you cannot afford to miss, because the next departure is not in two hours.
What visa do Indians need for a Svalbard expedition?
Svalbard itself has an unusual status, but the practical answer for an Indian passport holder is straightforward: you transit mainland Norway, so you need a Schengen visa. Apply well ahead of an Arctic departure — this is not a trip you want resting on a last-minute appointment.
When is the best time for a Svalbard expedition?
We sailed in early September, at the later end of the summer expedition season. Earlier summer brings more ice and longer light; September brings dramatic skies and the first hints of the season turning. Neither is “better” — they are different expeditions.
What should you pack for the Arctic?
Proper cold-weather layers, not one heavy coat. Waterproof outer shell, warm mid-layers, gloves you can still work a camera in, and a hat that stays on in wind. Rubber expedition boots were provided on board. Bring more memory cards than you think you need.
Are wildlife sightings guaranteed on a Svalbard expedition?
No — and that is the point. Travel with the expectation that nature decides the highlights. The daily expedition plan can and does change. The reason this journey felt so powerful was not because every sighting was guaranteed. It was because none of them were.
I returned with photographs of polar bears, orcas, reindeer, glaciers, seabirds and historic Arctic stations. But the things I remember most clearly are harder to photograph: five minutes of Arctic silence, the cold after the Polar Plunge, strangers becoming friends over dinner, and the feeling of standing on a remote shore knowing how far I had travelled to get there.
Can IMAD Travel Arrange a Svalbard Expedition for You?
Yes — and I say that having now done the journey myself rather than read about it.
We can put together the whole thing: the flights from your city, the Schengen visa, the Oslo and Tromsø nights on either side, and the Arctic expedition in the middle. We can also build a longer Norway itinerary around it, or extend into the rest of Europe while you are already there.
But here is the part I want to say plainly, because I know it is what stops people from picking up the phone: you do not have to buy all of it from us.
If you only want help with the Schengen visa, we will do the visa. If you only want the flights, we will do the flights. If you have already booked your expedition and just want someone to handle the Europe side, that is a perfectly normal enquiry and we will not push a package at you. There is no obligation to book anything more than the one thing you actually came for. That has always been how we work at IMAD Travel, and it matters even more on a trip like this, where people have usually done a lot of their own research and know exactly what they want.
Arctic expeditions run on a short seasonal calendar and cabins are held far in advance, so if a Svalbard expedition is somewhere on your list for a future season, it is worth starting the conversation early — even just to understand what the timeline looks like.
Tell me when IMAD Travel runs its next Arctic departure
If you would like us to let you know when we have an Arctic expedition departure open, send us a WhatsApp message saying “Arctic alert” with your name. We will add you to the list and message you when something is confirmed. No obligation to book, and we will not put you on a general mailing list.
I am already looking forward to my next expedition. When are you planning yours with IMAD Travel?
Svalbard Expedition from India — Frequently Asked Questions
Can I travel to Svalbard from India?
Yes. There are no direct flights, but the route is well established: your home city to a hub such as Doha, on to Oslo, and then north to Longyearbyen, the main settlement of Svalbard. Our founder flew Hyderabad–Doha–Oslo–Longyearbyen for this expedition.
Do Indians need a visa for a Svalbard expedition?
You will need a Schengen visa, because you travel through mainland Norway to reach Svalbard and again on the way home. IMAD Travel can handle the Schengen visa on its own, without you having to book anything else through us.
How long is a Svalbard expedition cruise?
This one was six days on board with five nights, sailing 672 nautical miles from Longyearbyen to Tromsø. Add flights and connections on either side and you should plan for roughly nine to ten days away from India.
Will I definitely see polar bears in Svalbard?
No expedition can guarantee it. We saw a polar bear on the glacier moraine at Borebreen, at a safe distance. Sightings depend on ice, weather and the animal itself — never on a schedule.
What wildlife can you see on a Svalbard expedition?
On this voyage we saw a polar bear, a ringed seal, white-beaked dolphins, Svalbard reindeer, Arctic foxes, orcas and a blue whale, plus kittiwakes, Brünnich’s and common guillemots, puffins, northern gannets, northern fulmars and Arctic skuas.
Is a Svalbard expedition the same as a normal cruise?
No. An expedition ship is smaller, the itinerary is weather-led rather than fixed, and you go ashore by Zodiac rather than docking at ports. There are no shows or shopping decks. What you get instead is access to places a large ship cannot reach.
What is the best time of year for a Svalbard expedition?
The expedition season runs through the Arctic summer. We sailed in early September, at the later end of it. Earlier in the season means more ice and near-constant daylight; September brings dramatic light and the season beginning to turn.
How cold is Svalbard during the expedition season?
On our arrival day in Longyearbyen the temperature was 3°C, with wind making it feel closer to -4°C, and rain moving through. Layers matter far more than a single thick coat.
Can IMAD Travel book just the flights or just the Schengen visa for a Svalbard expedition?
Yes. You are welcome to book a single service with us and arrange the rest yourself. There is no obligation to take a package, and we will not push one.
Is a Svalbard expedition suitable for families or older travellers?
It suits anyone comfortable with Zodiac boarding, changeable weather and time outdoors in the cold. It is not a resort holiday and it is not built around children’s facilities. Tell us who is travelling and we will be honest with you about whether it fits.
About the author — Hamed Ali is Founder & Director of IMAD Travel, an IATA-certified travel agency based in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, established in 2011. He travelled to Svalbard in September 2026 and wrote this account from his own notes and photographs taken on the expedition.
Last verified: 21 September 2026
Distances, glacier measurements and wildlife group counts in this account are as recorded in the expedition log during the voyage.
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