The nearest town to Isfjord Radio Outpost is Longyearbyen – a 90-kilometre journey through Norway’s spectacular Svalbard that can be made only by snowmobile in winter or boat safari in the summer. This is the true Arctic wilderness: guides accompany guests with rifles in case of wandering polar bears; the ocean stretches as far as the eye can see in one direction, and majestic mountains in the other. Reindeer and foxes offer curious company.
The hotel was in fact built in 1933 as a radio station outpost for the government, but now houses 22 cosy rooms and a restaurant where guests gather for traditional yet sophisticated dinners of smoked seal, whale, halibut or reindeer sausage – most caught by one of the three trappers that remain in the Svalbard archipelago. An isolated oasis for explorers that presents a truly otherworldly experience.
