My last but not least entry about the Arctic trip I made in August this year will be about a very special, and the most Northernmost inhabited town in the world: Longyearbyen. Getting this crazily far North is currently easier than expected, with regular flight connections to Oslo, so it took me about 6 hours to travel there from Berlin. To compare: I would need to spend similar amount of time to get to Warsaw…

Longyearbyen, contrary to other settlements on Svalbard, such as Pyramiden, is pretty ‘busy’ or ‘crowded’ as for the Arctic standards. Apart from the travellers, Longyearbyen is a very multicultural town where over 40 nationalities work in the research centres, at the University and in tourism. It is fairly easy to meet ‘locals’ and listen to their interesting and odd-ball life stories, as one thing is for sure: Longyearbyen attracts strong personalities.

There is one more very special person living in Longyearbyen: Santa Claus! Forget Finland, the real, hardcore Santa lives far more North than Rovaniemi, and according to the locals, has chosen an abandoned mine as his directory. As the photos above are taken during Arctic summer (when sun never sets), it is hard to imagine the Mine 2b (official name) to be Santa Claus’ house. In the wintertime, however, it is decorated with colourful lightbulbs by local enthusiasts. I have to say, Santa needs to be really hardcore, as the mountain ranges on Svalbard are very steep! And slippery, as you can see below, on the Lars’ Glacier, surrounding town.

Lazy people built a facility though which enables reaching Santa Claus’ order list with no necessity to climb over 600 mts in the wintertime. Locals are not too happy about it though, thinking the huge red postbox is a bit of an overkill. Why not reaching Santa the same old way in the lovely and romantic Mine 2b?

So not only Longyearbyen is a city of Santa, but also of science and art. And it is the only place where you can walk safely without a riffle. Polar bears don’t like this town and are only an inspiration for the artists. It is very likely that e.g. the bear above, or some stuffed ones in the shopping centre or in church (!) will be the only ones one will meet.

Don’t worry about leaving the safe zone without noticing. The governor of Svalbard took care of making people aware where the necessary protection should be considered. Also, finding remnants of other animals, like reindeers might be a good sign of the polar bear’s presence.

Other practical information for those planning the trip: although Longyearbyen was one of the first spots on Earth with the best bandwidth Internet connection, very few places offer free WiFi where you can send an e-mail to your dearest concerned about if you are still alive, or already being digested by a polar bear. As this is an impression you can get before travelling to Svalbard, in reality: being precautious is a good thing, but let’s not forget that polar bears are still quite an endangered species!. So the places which offer 24/7 free WiFi and cosy shelter are e.g. the local church and pub Karlsberger, listed as the 6th best pub in the world. Up to you where it feels better (make sure though to try at least once the very local brewed beer of Svalbard!). Alcohol is much cheaper than in mainland Norway, given the duty free zone of Svalbard, but tourists have consumption limits for beer, vodka and liquors. Wine and champagne may be consumed with no limits though (?!).

Last but not least: Longyearbyen is home for many bird species. As mid-August is already late for them, I was not lucky to spot all sorts of geese or elder ducks whose presence and nesting ground is also clearly marked, but it is good to know that they still like it there. To put my almost week-long experience on Svalbard, I was so enchanted, that re-visiting this part of the world is a question of time. As the local newspaper is issued once in two years, the goal is to get there before the next one will be out.