From Greenland to Svalbard in Luxury

Your thrilling Arctic trip begins in Reykjavik, the vibrant Icelandic capital, where after arriving independently you will make your way to the port to board your luxury expedition vessel. After settling into your supremely comfortable cabin and familiarising yourself with the fantastic facilities on board, you might wish to make your way to the deck to watch as we leave Iceland behind and set sail into the Denmark Strait towards Greenland.

We recommend arriving in Reykjavik a few days ahead of departure to allow you time to soak up the sights of this very special city and its beautiful surroundings. Please let us know if you would like any advice on places to visit and stay.

Today will be spent at sea sailing towards Greenland. This will be the perfect time to relax and enjoy the luxurious facilities on board including the spa, wellness centre, fitness centre, swimming pool and panoramic lounge. You might also choose to spend some time on deck looking for seabirds and whales following the ship and soaking up the beautiful surroundings.

Aboard your ship, follow in the footsteps of Jules Poret de Blosseville, a French explorer and sailor. In 1833, aboard La Lilloise, he set off to discover this isolated and unexplored part of eastern Greenland and gave French names to various sites on the coast. The adventure probably had an unfortunate outcome, since the crew was never found. This uninhabited territory, which now bears his name, lies to the south of Scoresby Sund. Surrounded by ice, icebergs and pieces of pack ice, Blosseville Coast is one of these wild and hard-to-reach places that very few people are lucky enough to explore.

On the East coast of Greenland, in the Ittoqqortoormiit region, you will have the rare opportunity of immersing yourself in the heart of isolated scenery and exploring the beauty of its landscapes. The high alpine mountains stand out in the sky, revealing dark rock edges. The region is home to the longest fjord system in the world, Scoresby Sound. On the edge of the fjord, the eponymous village is considered one of the most remote inhabited places in the world. The colourful houses, so typical of Greenland, dot the landscape with small red, yellow and blue patches that stand out against the surrounding arid landscape. Immersing yourself in this region will allow you to discover the ancestral way of life of the last hunters of the polar region. This will be a veritable deep-dive into the lives of the Arctic’s inhabitants.

We will now spend the next few days exploring along the jagged coastlines, gigantic fjords and breathtaking shores of Northeast Greenland National Park. Surrounded by magnificent alpine mountains, this is the largest National Park in the world and is a designated UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. As we explore by land and sea we will get up close to the area’s renowned nature and wildlife, hoping for sightings of the Polar bears and musk oxen that are often spotted in this wild and isolated area.

Spend exceptional moments sailing aboard Le Commandant Charcot, the world’s first luxury polar exploration vessel and the first PC2-class polar cruise ship capable of sailing into the very heart of the ice, on seas and oceans which the frozen conditions render inaccessible to ordinary ships. Le Commandant Charcot is fitted with oceanographic and scientific equipment selected by a committee of experts. Take advantage of the on-board lectures and opportunities for discussion with these specialists to learn more about the poles. Participate in furthering scientific research with PONANT and let us discover together what these fascinating destinations have yet to reveal to us.

The Nordaust-Svalbard Nature Reserve has been protecting the northernmost and coldest part of the archipelago, Nordaustlandet (North East Land), since 1973. This vast polar desert covered by two ice caps is the second largest island in the Svalbard archipelago. Protected by the Gulf Stream, the fjords and cliffs in the west and north are home to large colonies of birds and walruses. The landscapes in the colder east and south are dominated by imposing glaciers that calve majestic icebergs in the vast Hinlopen Strait. Large colonies of thick-billed murres have taken up residence on the sheer cliffs. You may even get the chance to see a bear or an Arctic fox roaming in the vicinity.

Sailing in the Hinlopen Strait, in the heart of the Arctic Ocean, between the Norwegian islands of Spitsbergen and Nordaustlandet promises an unforgettable experience. This territory of the Nordaust-Svalbard Nature Reserve offers breathtaking panoramas, with magnificent basalt formations and the ice cap stretching as far as the eye can see, diving into the sea. The shore line cut by the fjords moving inland composes a magical landscape in which icebergs float here and there, the result of the calving of the surrounding glaciers. This place, today a popular spot to observe the seabirds nesting in the enormous cliffs, polar bears and walruses, was once intrinsically linked to the history of the whalers who frequented the region from the 17th century. Indeed, it was one of them, Thijmen Jacobsz Hinlopen, then director of a Dutch whaling company, who gave the strait its name. Later on, Russian trappers, European explorers, scientists and even mountaineers roamed this region, as hostile as it is sublime.

The Søraust-Svalbard (Southeast Svalbard) Nature Reserve is the second largest protected area in Norway. Established in 1973, this nature conservation area stretching over more than 21,000 km2 will offer you stunning panoramas including coastal landscapes, rocky islets, mountain plateaux, vast tundra plains, and ice floes. With a little luck, you will be able to observe a wide variety of seabirds, given the site is listed as an Important Bird Area, as well as cetaceans, Svalbard reindeer, or even Arctic foxes. Among other things, Edgeoya Island is renowned for providing shelter to a number of polar bears during the breeding season.

Your final day in Svalbard will see you discover more of this fascinating archipelago and, more particularly, the Hornsund fjord. Considered to be Svalbard’s southernmost fjord, it is especially reputed to be its most stunning: at the end of its vast bay, 8 great glaciers slowly make their way down to the sea before giving way to the many icebergs elegantly drifting along its cold and mysterious waters.

As you arrive into beautiful Longyearbyen, the administrative capital of Svalbard, after breakfast it will be time to disembark and join your included flight to Paris where your itinerary sadly comes to an end. Numerous further Arctic adventures are available in Longyearbyen so please enquire should you wish to extend your experience and spend a few more days in this unique Arctic town.