Arctic Island Odyssey – Iceland, Greenland, Svalbard (Northbound)

Explore the world’s northernmost capital

Your adventure begins in Reykjavík. A laid-back city of art, culture, and history, delightful Reykjavík is well worth spending some time getting to know.

Take a stroll along Laugavegur with its boutiques and outdoor shops, gaze in awe at the striking Hallgrímskirkja Church, and drop in on the fascinating Reykjavík Art Museum before boarding MS Fram.

Sprawling Reykjavík, the nation's nerve center and government seat, is home to half the island's population. On a bay overlooked by proud Mt. Esja (pronounced eh-shyuh), with its ever-changing hues, Reykjavík presents a colorful sight, its concrete houses painted in light colors and topped by vibrant red, blue, and green roofs. In contrast to the almost treeless countryside, Reykjavík has many tall, native birches, rowans, and willows, as well as imported aspen, pines, and spruces.Reykjavík's name comes from the Icelandic words for smoke, reykur, and bay, vík. In AD 874, Norseman Ingólfur Arnarson saw Iceland rising out of the misty sea and came ashore at a bay eerily shrouded with plumes of steam from nearby hot springs. Today most of the houses in Reykjavík are heated by near-boiling water from the hot springs. Natural heating avoids air pollution; there's no smoke around. You may notice, however, that the hot water brings a slight sulfur smell to the bathroom.Prices are easily on a par with other major European cities. A practical option is to purchase a Reykjavík City Card at the Tourist Information Center or at the Reykjavík Youth Hostel. This card permits unlimited bus usage and admission to any of the city's seven pools, the Family Park and Zoo, and city museums. The cards are valid for one (ISK 3,300), two (ISK 4,400), or three days (ISK 4,900), and they pay for themselves after three or four uses a day. Even lacking the City Card, paying admission (ISK 500, or ISK 250 for seniors and people with disabilities) to one of the city art museums (Hafnarhús, Kjarvalsstaðir, or Ásmundarsafn) gets you free same-day admission to the other two.

Heading to Greenland

As we sail towards Greenland on our way to the world’s largest island, it’s time to relax, find your sea legs, and get acquainted with the onboard facilities.

The Expedition Team will give talks about your upcoming adventure and will explain the protocols of respectfully visiting wildlife habitats and indigenous Arctic communities. In the lecture hall, you’ll find out what to expect in the epic landscapes of East Greenland National Park and the stunning fjords of Scoresby Sund.

If you’re feeling active, head to the gym and do a workout with a view. On the other hand, you could sample the sauna, laze in a hot tub, indulge yourself at the onboard eateries or just find a quiet corner to read a book with a hot drink. Love science? Then why not join one of our onboard Citizen Science projects, a fun and engaging way to contribute to global research.

Explore the wild east

We’ll spend the next eight days exploring Greenland’s remote and pristine east coast. Extending for over 1,740 miles from north to south, this long stretch of coast is cold, isolated, and remote even by Greenlandic standards. The south-flowing East Greenland Current brings lots of sea ice directly from the Arctic Ocean, challenging human settlement but creating a heaven for ice-dependant wildlife.

Local weather and ice conditions will dictate our exact route, but our plan is to sail first to Scoresby Sund, the world’s largest fjord system. You’ll feel a deep sense of serenity in this wild and rugged region, with white and blue icebergs floating in mirror-like waters surrounded by looming mountains. If conditions permit, we’ll visit Ittoqqortoormiit, one of the most remote inhabited communities in the Western Hemisphere.

Should the sea ice be favourable, we’ll continue our journey north to the beautiful Northeast Greenland National Park – the world’s largest national park. Visiting this fragile Arctic wilderness is a rare privilege as only a few visitors are permitted here each year.

Apart from old trapper huts, some science research stations, and a military outpost, there are very few traces of human life in this 375,000 square mile park. Be assured that this is one of the quietest places on Earth, and you’ll enjoy a feeling of great peace as we explore this beautiful wilderness.

As this is an expedition cruise, the Captain and Expedition Team will guide us to the most favourable spots on a daily basis. Our goal will be to pack in as many shore landings, Zodiac, nature walks, kayaking adventures, and wildlife sightings as possible.

Heading to Svalbard

After exploring the remote beauty of Greenland, we set our course back for Svalbard. Spend the days at sea recapping your experiences with new friends, studying nature in the Science Center, listening to a lecture or two, or just relaxing on deck. Look out for the seabirds that follow our ship and keep an eye out for whales.

As you reflect on your cruise, from witnessing the delicate ecology of the fjord systems to the ethereal elegance of the floating ice, east Greenland’s beauty is sure to have left its mark on you.

A Land of Spectacular Beauty

Spitsbergen, Svalbard’s largest island, offers Arctic wilderness at its most striking – sharp-edged mountains, calving glaciers, and remote, rugged shores shaped by ice and wind. Over the next two days, we’ll navigate some of the world’s most dramatic fjords, where the stillness is broken only by the thunderous crack of icebergs breaking free.

We may chart a course into Northwest Spitsbergen National Park, cruising beneath towering glaciers that stretch into cobalt waters. Or, visit Ny-Ålesund – once the launch point for explorer Roald Amundsen’s daring airship expeditions, now a centre for cutting-edge climate research.

We’ll make the most of every opportunity to step ashore, using our small expedition boats to reach landings few others can. If conditions allow, there may even be a chance to kayak through the waters in near-perfect silence.

With the Midnight Sun overhead, daylight lingers – giving us time to explore deeper into this extraordinary landscape.

A last day at the top of the world

Your Arctic adventure ends in Longyearbyen, where you’ll catch your flight back to Oslo. You'll return home knowing more about Arctic animals, history, polar ice, and climate change than you arrived with, and memories of an incredible experience.

Longyearbyen is the biggest settlement in Svalbard. Seat of the Norwegian administration, it also has the best services and infrastructure in the archipelago. Located deep in the Adventfjord, a sidearm of the Isfjorden (Icefjord), Longyearbyen’s airport can be used all-year round, but its harbor is blocked by ice in winter. Most shops, hotels, restaurants and a hospital are within easy walking distance of the port. One of the most prominent buildings in town is the UNIS center, where several Norwegian universities have joined forces to operate and offer the northernmost higher education to both Norwegian and international students. Adjacent to UNIS, and well worth a visit, is the Svalbard Museum, covering the natural history and exploitation of Svalbard. Remnants of the former mining activity can be seen all around Longyearbyen and even in town.