Exploring Longyearbyen, Longyearbyen, Norway

My time in Svalbard has been packed with activities and I actually only had one free day. For this day, I decided to explore the town that I’m staying in – Longyearbyen.

Longyearbyen, which was founded by John Munroe Longyear, is the biggest town on Svalbard with about 2000 inhabitants and is also the administrative center of the archipelago. It’s also the worlds northernmost settlement with permanent residents.

The town is beautifully situated between mountains, valleys, glaciers and Isfjorden, so there is definitely enough to do and explore here!

I decided to spend the day checking out some of the cultural things that Longyearbyen has to offer. My first stop was Svalbard Museum, which cost me just 75 NOK. A local girl had recommended this museum – and since I love museums, I definitely wanted to see it. And it didn’t disappoint me either!

The museum has an exhibition that presents the history of Svalbard from the discovery 400 years ago to today.

One of my favourite sections was a display of five people, who either have lived or still live on Svalbard, which gives an interesting view on how life on Svalbard is today. Also, the stories about the discovery, the early exhibitions to find new land and the coal mining history were all things that had my attention for quite some time. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).