Sailing Svalbard

Svalbard has almost no roads because settlement is confined to a handful of valleys: around 40 kilometres of road in total, nearly all of it inside Longyearbyen. Everything beyond the valley is reached by boat, snowmobile or ski. In summer, that means a vessel.

The archipelago is cut by long fjords — Isfjorden, Kongsfjorden, Liefdefjorden, Hornsund — that run deep into the interior and end at glacier fronts. A yacht can enter them, anchor, and stay. The coastline it opens up is measured in hundreds of kilometres and holds fewer than 3,000 people in total.

A small sailing yacht carries a small group, draws little water and makes little noise, so it can hold position at a safe distance from a glacier front, work into shallow bays that expedition ships cannot enter, and change plan the same morning if the ice or the wildlife suggests it.

That flexibility is the whole point of sailing here. Wildlife in Svalbard is not scheduled. A walrus haul-out, a bear on a beach, a beluga pod in a fjord mouth — none of it appears on an itinerary. A small boat can respond to it within the rules; a fixed schedule cannot.

It also means the number of people ashore at any site stays low, which is what the AECO guidelines are designed to achieve.

Sea ice decides the route in Svalbard: it governs how far north and east a voyage can go, and it varies year to year. Early season voyages often stay in the west and south of Spitsbergen; by August the north coast is usually open, and circumnavigation is sometimes possible in late summer.

We publish a route intention, not a promise. The skipper decides each day based on ice charts, weather and wildlife. Guests who need a fixed itinerary will find Svalbard frustrating; guests who want the real thing usually find this is the best part of it.

The sun returns in March and daylight grows quickly. The land is still snow-covered and the fjords may hold fast ice.

This is the Ski & Sail Svalbard window: skiing from the boat onto snow that reaches the shoreline, in temperatures that regularly sit between −10 and −20°C.

The midnight sun runs from around 20 April to 22 August, so there is no darkness at all in this period.

Snow still lies low on the mountains, the light is hard and clear, and there are few other vessels. Ice can restrict the north and east.

Seabird colonies fill up. Little auks, kittiwakes and guillemots arrive in enormous numbers.

The most open water of the year, and the widest choice of route. Temperatures in the fjords sit around 3 to 8°C.

Best chance of reaching the north coast and the pack ice edge. Walrus haul-outs are active, and glacier fronts calve steadily in the warmth.

Darkness returns from late August, and with it the first chance of northern lights over the fjords.

Autumn colour appears on the tundra, wildlife is active before winter, and there are very few boats left. Weather is less settled and the season closes as the ice re-forms.