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Seed Vault · Coal Mine · Ice Caves · Wildlife · Northern Lights
Longyearbyen Trips: Things to Do in Longyearbyen
Arctic Footsteps' 2-hour Seed Vault tour by car: pickup in Longyearbyen, the town and the old mining areas, Adventdalen and the entrance of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, with photo stops and a warm drink. The vault itself is closed to everyone but its staff. Below it, the coal mine, ice caves, wildlife and the northern lights.
- 4.7 / 5 103+ Reviews
- 5 km By road from the Svalbard Museum in central Longyearbyen to the Seed Vault entrance; Gruve 3 is 1.7 km further on
- 27 Oct - 15 Feb No sunrise over Longyearbyen in 2026-27, by our computation; Visit Svalbard gives the dark season as 26 October to 16 February
- Free Cancellation
The Experience
What the Seed Vault Tour Includes
Transport by car, a local guide, a warm drink and photo stops, with 2 hours from pickup to drop-off. You stand at the vault's entrance; nobody but its staff goes inside.
Arctic Footsteps's own highlights, inclusions and notes, as listed on GetYourGuide in November 2026.
Highlights
- Discover the story of Longyearbyen on a guided car tour through town
- Learn about Longyearbyen’s history, geology, and Arctic life from your guide
- Enjoy photo stops and storytelling throughout the tour at a relaxed pace
- Visit Adventdalen, historic mining areas, and the Seed Vault area
What's Included
- Transport by car
- Professional local guide
- Warm drink
- Photo stops along the route
- Stand at the entrance of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Adventdalen
Good to know: The tour is conducted at a relaxed pace · Photo stops are included throughout the tour · Not suitable for: Wheelchair users
The Seed Vault Tour, Step by Step
From pickup in Longyearbyen to the drop-off 2 hours later. Start times show when you pick a date.
Pickup in Longyearbyen
Pickup in Longyearbyen is included; choose your pickup point when you book. Start times show when you pick a date: 10:00 AM, 2:00 PM, 5:00 PM and 6:00 PM on 26 November 2026, 20 January and 24 March 2027.
Through Town and the Mining Past
The car takes you past the town's landmarks and the old mining areas while the guide tells how the coal years shaped Longyearbyen. Guides speak English, Italian or Spanish.
Adventdalen and the Seed Vault
Out into the open valley of Adventdalen, with photo stops, and up to the entrance of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. You stand outside; the vault is closed to everyone but its staff. A warm drink is included.
Back in Town, 2 Hours Later
The tour ends back in Longyearbyen about 2 hours after it began. If you have no camera, the guide takes a picture and you can buy the digital file from the guide at the end. Bring warm, weather-appropriate clothing.
Photo Gallery
Longyearbyen, Adventdalen and the Seed Vault
The town under its mountains, the open valley of Adventdalen, the old mining areas and the vault's entrance in the hillside.
Book Your Experience
Check Availability & Prices
Pick a date to see the start times and the live price. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
Plan the Trip
Longyearbyen Trips, One Question per Page
Visiting the Seed Vault, the coal mine, polar bears and the rules, the dark season, what trips cost, and when to come.
Prices are each page's featured tour: GetYourGuide checked November 2026. Every price here is per person, in US dollars.
Four Trips from Longyearbyen, Side by Side
The Seed Vault by car, the Gruve 3 coal mine, an ice cave hike and the northern lights by car: time out, what is included, what you need to know, and the winter dates each one had starts. Prices with the month they were checked.
| Feature | THIS PAGE Seed Vault by car | Most reviewed of these Gruve 3 coal mine | Ice cave hike | Northern lights by car |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What You Pay | From US$121 per person (checked November 2026) | From US$157 per person (checked November 2026) | From US$283 per person (checked November 2026) | From US$184 per person (checked November 2026) |
| Operator | Arctic Footsteps | Store Norske Gruve 3 AS | Backyard Svalbard AS | Arctic Footsteps |
| Time Out | 2 hours | 3 hours, 2.5 of them in the mine | 6 hours | 3 hours, in the evening |
| What Is Included | Pickup, transport by car, a local guide, a warm drink, photo stops | Hotel pickup and drop-off, the guided mine tour, helmet and headlamp | Hotel pickup, snowshoes or spikes, headlamp, helmet, poles, field lunch, hot drinks and snacks | Hotel pickup and drop-off, car or minivan, warm drinks and cookies |
| Know Before You Book | You stand at the vault's entrance; nobody but staff goes inside. Not suitable for wheelchair users | A crawl through a low tunnel: not for claustrophobia or limited mobility. You must understand English | Needs 2 guests to run; up to 6. Not for claustrophobia; the glacier depends on the conditions | The lights cannot be guaranteed. Not for children under 6 |
| Winter Dates with Starts | 26 Nov, 20 Jan, 24 Mar | 26 Nov, 20 Jan, 24 Mar: 9:00 AM and 1:00 PM | 26 Nov, 20 Jan, 24 Mar | 26 Nov, 20 Jan, 17 Feb: 3:30, 7:00 and 8:30 PM |
| See dates | See the mine tour | See the ice cave hike | See the evening tour |
More Trips from Longyearbyen
Three More Ways to See Longyearbyen
The 1-hour Seed Vault trip, the wildlife van and a photo walk in town. One card per trip, prices per person.
SEED VAULT IN 1 HOURLongyearbyen: Global Seed Vault, Polar Bear Sign & Viewpoint
Frostbite Expeditions AS's 1-hour trip with pickup in Longyearbyen: 15 minutes at the Seed Vault entrance, a photo stop at the polar bear warning sign and a viewpoint over town, with snacks and hot drinks. Up to 8 guests.
REINDEER AND ARCTIC FOXESLongyearbyen: Arctic Wildlife Scouting by Van
Frostbite Expeditions AS's 3-hour wildlife scouting trip by van with hotel pickup, into the valleys and coastal plains to look for Svalbard reindeer, Arctic foxes and ptarmigans, with a guide carrying safety equipment. Sightings are not guaranteed.
TOWN WALK WITH A PHOTOGRAPHERExplore the Legendary Town of Longyearbyen
Better Moments Photo Exploring's 3-hour guided walk in Longyearbyen with a local photographer, a private tour on its Viator listing. Lunch is not included and you bring your own camera.
Trips from Longyearbyen
What to Do in Longyearbyen, and Which Trip Does It
The Seed Vault, the coal mine, ice caves, wildlife, the northern lights and the summer boats: what each trip does, what it costs and when it runs.
Longyearbyen is small, and most of what visitors book here leaves town by car, by van or on foot with a guide: to the Global Seed Vault’s entrance, into the Gruve 3 coal mine, onto a glacier and into an ice cave, out to look for reindeer and Arctic foxes, and, from late September to mid-March, out after the northern lights. This page leads with Arctic Footsteps’ Svalbard: Visit the Global Seed Vault and Arctic Viewpoint by Car, 2 hours through town and Adventdalen to the vault’s entrance with photo stops and a warm drink: from US$121 on promotion, usually US$142 a person (checked November 2026). Nobody but the vault’s staff goes inside, and no tour claims otherwise.
The short answer
Pick by what you want to see. For the Seed Vault, any of the car tours: 2 hours with the valley and the mining areas, or 1 hour for the entrance, the polar bear warning sign and a view over town. For something you can only do here, the Gruve 3 coal mine, worked from 1971 to 1996 and open to visitors with Store Norske Gruve 3 AS, 2.5 hours underground. For ice, a 6-hour hike to a glacier cave. For wildlife, a scouting trip for reindeer, Arctic foxes and birds; no day trip promises a polar bear. In the dark season, the northern lights by car.
The Seed Vault trip by car had starts on 26 November 2026, 20 January and 24 March 2027, and it has 103 reviews (checked November 2026). Its price depends on the date: US$120.73 for one adult on 26 November, a 15% reduction, and US$141.98 on 20 January and 24 March 2027.
Check dates for the Seed Vault tour
One trip for each thing to do
Svalbard: Visit the Global Seed Vault and Arctic Viewpoint by Car
Arctic Footsteps: 2 hours by car through town, Adventdalen and the old mining areas to the vault's entrance, with photo stops and a warm drink. Guides in English, Italian and Spanish.
Check dates →Longyearbyen: Historic Coal Mine Tour at Gruve 3
Store Norske Gruve 3 AS: 3 hours with pickup, 2.5 inside Mine 3, a crawl through an old production tunnel and almost 800 m on foot. Helmet and headlamp included; not for claustrophobia.
See the mine tour →Longyearbyen: Ice cave hike to a Svalbard Glacier
Backyard Svalbard AS: 6 hours with hotel pickup, a snowshoe hike to an ice cave explored by headlamp, a field lunch and hot drinks, up to 6 guests. Needs 2 guests to run.
See the ice cave hike →Longyearbyen: wildlife sighting, panoramic viewpoint
Arctic Footsteps: 3.5 hours with transport and an easy walk to look for reindeer, foxes and birds, a viewpoint, hot drinks and an optional polar plunge. Sightings cannot be guaranteed.
See the wildlife tour →Longyearbyen: Northern Lights Adventure by Car
Arctic Footsteps: 3 hours in the evening by car or minivan into Adventdalen, with warm drinks and cookies. The lights cannot be guaranteed; not for children under 6.
See the evening tour →Longyearbyen: Sightseeing in English | Small Group
Svalbard Photography AS: 3 hours, up to 8 guests, Adventdalen, the Seed Vault area, the church, the university and the old mining areas, guided in English and German. Needs two guests to book.
See the sightseeing tour →Prices, ratings and review counts from the listings (GetYourGuide, checked November 2026). Operators price by date and season, so treat the figures as the shape of the market, not a quote.
The sightseeing tour showed no price for one adult; two adults paid US$279.12 together on 26 November (US$139.56 each) and US$290.28 on 17 February and 24 March (US$145.14 each). The ice cave hike was US$283.00 on 26 November and US$314.45 on 20 January and 24 March.
Where everything is
Close together. The Seed Vault entrance is 5 km by road from the Svalbard Museum in the centre of town, Gruve 3 is 1.7 km beyond it on the same road, and the airport is 6 km from the museum. Every trip on this page includes pickup in town, so you need no car. What you cannot do is walk out there alone without thinking about polar bears: according to Visit Svalbard’s FAQ, you may walk on your own inside the town limits, marked by the polar bear warning signs on the roads out, and the Governor of Svalbard requires anyone outside the settlements to carry a means of scaring off polar bears. Polar bears in Longyearbyen has the rules with their dates.
The Seed Vault: what you see
The entrance. NordGen says only its own and other technical staff may enter the vault, and that visitors are welcome to see the exterior; it publishes a free virtual tour of the inside. The car tours stop at the entrance in Adventdalen and explain why the vault is here. Norway owns it, and it is managed by the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food, NordGen and the Crop Trust, which counts more than 1.4 million seed samples inside. Can you visit the Seed Vault? sets the five vault tours side by side, from 1 hour to 3.5.
The coal mine
Gruve 3 was worked from 1971 to 1996, according to Visit Svalbard. The tour starts with maps and a model of the mine, goes through the workshops and the machines left when it shut, has you crawl into an old production tunnel in a miner’s overall, and ends with a walk of almost 800 m underground. It ran at 9:00 AM and 1:00 PM at from US$157 a person on 26 November, 20 January and 24 March. The Gruve 3 coal mine tour has it step by step, with the low reviews worth reading.
Winter: the dark season
The Sun does not rise over Longyearbyen between 27 October 2026 and 15 February 2027, by our computation for the town’s position; Visit Svalbard’s FAQ gives the dark season as 26 October to 16 February, and Yr the polar night until 16 February. From mid-November to the end of January there is no twilight even at noon. The trips that were on sale for November and January dates were the ones that work in the dark: the mine, the Seed Vault tours, the ice cave hike, the sightseeing tour and the northern lights by car. The wildlife van, the snowmobile ice cave and the boats had no start then. Longyearbyen in winter has the dates by source and every tour checked.
Summer: the boats
From about 20 April to 23 August the Sun does not set. The boats belong to that half of the year: Backyard Svalbard AS’s 2.5-hour trip on Isfjorden is a May to October trip, and Trust Arcticugol’s 9-hour boat to Pyramiden, the Soviet ghost town, had its first start we found on 14 July 2027, at from US$578 a person. When to visit Longyearbyen goes month by month.
What it costs
From about US$90 for the 1-hour Seed Vault trip to over US$900 for a 7-hour snowmobile day to an ice cave; most guided trips of two to four hours cost between about US$120 and US$260 a person. Reviewers call Longyearbyen expensive, and some add that everything on Svalbard is. Longyearbyen trip prices puts twenty trips on one ladder with the dates each price was checked.
Book the Seed Vault Tour by Car
Arctic Footsteps' 2-hour tour starts in Longyearbyen and stops at the Seed Vault's entrance in Adventdalen, with photo stops and a warm drink. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before. Starting from US$121 per person on promotion, usually US$142, checked November 2026.
See datesMore from Longyearbyen
Longyearbyen Trips with Open Dates
Trips from Longyearbyen with live availability. Start times, what is included and cancellation terms are on each listing.
Longyearbyen Trips: Questions
What to do, visiting the Seed Vault, the coal mine, polar bears, the dark season, walking on your own, and what the trips cost.
Most of them leave town with a guide: the Global Seed Vault's entrance, the Gruve 3 coal mine, ice caves in the glaciers, wildlife trips for reindeer and Arctic foxes, and the northern lights in the dark season. In summer, boats run on Isfjorden and to the old Soviet town of Pyramiden. In town itself you may walk on your own inside the limits marked by the polar bear warning signs. See Longyearbyen in winter and when to visit for what runs when.
Only from outside: NordGen says only its own and other technical staff may enter, and visitors are welcome to see the exterior. Tours from Longyearbyen drive you to the entrance in Adventdalen; Arctic Footsteps' 2-hour tour by car costs from US$121 a person on GetYourGuide (checked November 2026). NordGen also publishes a free virtual tour of the inside. See can you visit the Seed Vault.
In Adventdalen, 5 km by road from the Svalbard Museum in the centre of Longyearbyen, about 7 minutes by car. The Gruve 3 coal mine is 1.7 km further along the same road, and Svalbard Airport is 6 km by road from the museum. The tours include pickup in town.
A polar bear can turn up anywhere in Svalbard at any time of year, according to Visit Svalbard, which is why warning signs stand on the roads out of town; no day trip from Longyearbyen promises you will see one. The Governor of Svalbard requires everyone to keep at least 300 m from a polar bear, 500 m from 1 March to 30 June, and to retreat from a bear at close range. Anyone travelling outside the settlements must carry a means of scaring off polar bears. See polar bears in Longyearbyen.
Inside the town limits, yes: according to Visit Svalbard's FAQ, you may walk on your own as long as you do not pass the polar bear warning signs on the roads leading out of Longyearbyen. Beyond them, go with a guide who carries polar bear protection equipment. Every trip on this site includes pickup in town.
The trips that work in the dark: the Gruve 3 coal mine, the Seed Vault tours, ice cave hikes and the northern lights by car all had starts on dates in November and January. The coal mine tour ran at 9:00 AM and 1:00 PM on 26 November, 20 January and 24 March, from US$157 a person (checked November 2026). The wildlife van, the snowmobile ice cave and the boats had no winter starts. See Longyearbyen in winter.
By our computation for the town's position, the Sun does not rise from 27 October 2026 to 15 February 2027; Visit Svalbard's FAQ gives the dark season as 26 October to 16 February, and Yr the polar night until 16 February. The darkest part, with no twilight at noon, runs from about 14 November to 29 January, Visit Svalbard's article on the polar night says; we compute 13 November to 29 January. By Visit Svalbard's count, the dark season lasts 113 days in Longyearbyen.
It depends on what you want: the dark season from late October to mid-February for the polar night and the northern lights, February and March for the returning light, and late May to August for the midnight sun and the boats. The Seed Vault and coal mine tours had starts on 26 November, 20 January and 24 March. See when to visit Longyearbyen.
For trips, yes: day trips cost from about US$90 to over US$900 a person, and most guided trips of two to four hours cost between about US$120 and US$260. Reviewers say so too, and some add that everything on Svalbard is expensive. The cheapest trip is the 1-hour Seed Vault trip, from US$89 a person (checked November 2026). See Longyearbyen trip prices.
From US$121 a person on GetYourGuide, checked November 2026, for Arctic Footsteps' 2-hour tour by car. For one adult it was US$120.73 on 26 November 2026, a 15% reduction, and US$141.98 on 20 January and 24 March 2027. Pickup, transport, a local guide, a warm drink and photo stops are included. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
From US$157 a person on GetYourGuide, checked November 2026, the same on 26 November, 20 January and 24 March. Store Norske Gruve 3 AS's tour takes 3 hours with hotel pickup, 2.5 of them inside Mine 3, with a helmet and headlamp. It is not suitable for people with claustrophobia or limited mobility. See the Gruve 3 coal mine tour.
Not for the trips: every trip on this site includes pickup in town. The Seed Vault is 5 km by road from the Svalbard Museum in the centre, Gruve 3 6.5 km and the airport 6 km.
Still have questions? Email us at info@longyearbyentrips.com