March Tours in Svalbard

The first tour of the year, and full of atmospheric opportunities for photographing wildlife and majestic landscapes. This is my favourite week of the season for photography. If you have not experienced the light at this time before in Svalbard, prepare to be blown away. The softest pastel blues and pinks you can imagine, combined with stunning Arctic wildlife combine for an unforgettable photographic experience.

We have numerous options for where to put our focus, this can also depend on the conditions of the year. In terms of landscapes, there are usually fjord-terminating glaciers we can reach, glacial icebergs frozen into the sea ice, grand scenics of mountains and valleys, numerous ground ice formations, and this early in the season we can also try for northern lights. In terms of wildlife we will be looking for great locations and light in which to photograph the arctic fox, the Svalbard reindeer, and the Svalbard rock ptarmigan. We may also be lucky to find seals and walruses, we use our local connections here to stay informed. Polar bears are very difficult to photograph now due to the 2025 regulations. We need to maintain 500 m distance from bears which makes good photography very very difficult. We may be able to get distance shots of bears walking across fjords but the days of close up bear photos are gone. 

Sunrise is around 5 am and sunset around 7 pm during the tour. This gives us a good amount of daylight and changing light conditions and potential opportunities to stay out after sunset for northern lights. The moon will be above the horizon for the tour duration. We usually plan around guest preferences, light and weather conditions to make the most of the time available. Please note: we are at the mercy of the arctic weather conditions. In the event of winter storms we may be forced to stay very local to Longyearbyen or not be able to go out at all. We always do our best to go out but safety has to come first. We can be out for a maximum of 12 hours per day.

You need a class B driving license to be able to drive a snowmobile (regular car driving license). You do not need to have driven a snowmobile before. The machines we use are very balanced and easy to drive. It is also possible to join as a passenger on a snowmobile if you do not have a driving license or dont want to drive. Please enquire about this as we need to have enough free seats available on the tour to be able to return to town safely in the event of a snowmobile breakdown. Included in the tour price we provide warm windproof insulated snowmobile suits, snowmobile boots, thick mittens for driving, face mask and helmet.

You will be in safe hands. Stuart teaches classes in snowmobile driving, natural hazard awareness and arctic safety at the university and has many years experience leading snowmobile expeditions in the field.

Our tours offer the smallest group sizes on the market. Our prices are lower than almost all other professional photographers operating here. This is solely because these professionals need to hire an additional guide with the expertise to lead their expeditions. With Stuart you get the photographer in the guide in one. Stuart also lives on the island and has huge knowledge of operating here which sets him apart from many other pro photographers working here. 

Information

• Max 4 guests
• Local expert guide and professional photographer
• From $3900