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.

Your first adventure in Greenland is certain to be one to remember as your ship makes its way to the largest and deepest fjord system in the world for 3 days of unforgettable exploration. Scoresby Sund is wild and deserted, with high snow-capped peaks rising tall alongside icebergs immersed in clear, blue-tinged waters creating incredibly impressive scenery at every turn. During your time here you will enjoy thrilling Zodiac and hovercraft boat excursions, shore visits and nature walks designed to truly immerse you in this unique place. Whilst you’re here, a visit to Rode Fjord and its iconic iron-red cliffs are likely to be a highlight, along with possibly a visit to the Inuit community of Ittoqqortoormiit to meet the locals and learn all about life this far north.

We will now spend a day 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.

In Gael Hamke Bay, you will sail towards Dodmansbugten, or “dead man’s bay”, in the south of Clavering Island. This is where the last Inuit settlement of Northeast Greenland was discovered around 1823. Here, you can still find typical trapper cabins like those described by the Danish explorer and writer Jørn Riel in his stories of the Arctic, humoristic accounts drawn from the dozens of years he spent exploring the fascinating lands of what is now the Northeast Greenland National Park. Further west, you will be able to discover the vestiges of the former Eskimonaes radio and weather station, captured by German troops during World War II to achieve control of the meteorological intelligence for the region.

Sailing through the fascinating landscapes of the Northeast Greenland National Park, you will make your way to Danmarkshavn on the southern coast of Germania Land. Built in 1948, to this day Danmarkshavn remains a station of prime importance for determining meteorological conditions in Europe and North America. Despite the difficulty in accessing this coast often covered by ice, the spot was chosen during the wintering of the Danmark in 1906 as the base for an important scientific expedition through the region by dog sled. The north of this bay that is only free of ice for a very short time each year in August can only be reached by ships built to sail through ice.

With a craggy coastline formed by gigantic fjords, magnificent alpine mountains looming over them, the shores of north-east Greenland offer breathtaking landscapes and are home to the largest national park in the world. Covering an area of around one million square kilometres, almost half the island, the North-East Greenland National Park, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, is a particularly isolated region. Cut off for many months of the year by the ice floe, it is renowned for its pristine nature and rich wildlife.

To the south of the Northeast Greenland National Park, near the Hold with Hope Peninsula, in the King Christian X Land region, you will visit Myggbukta, a former Norwegian whaling, meteorological and radio station established in 1922 by Johan A. Olsen. It was he who gave this site its name meaning “mosquito bay” in Norwegian. This large bay situated at more than 73° latitude north is covered in superb arctic tundra extending as far as the eye can see. This rich vegetation cover allows a large population of musk oxen to thrive. If you are lucky, you may get to spot a few.

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.

Enjoy the absolutely unique experience of sailing to the heart of the ice floe, this vast expanse of virgin, immaculate ice. The landscapes are constantly changing, shifting from a smooth, flat wilderness to a chaos of ice, then to channels of open water. Your ship will sail along these naturally open channels and through the areas where the frozen layer is thinnest, offering you the chance to experience magic maritime moments in the midst of drifting sea ice. It will also often be an opportunity to see a particular kind of fauna, totally dependent on the ice floe.

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.

Today we will spend some time exploring around the Northwest Spitsbergen National Park where the Nunataks, glaciers, islands, large bays, and arctic tundra scattered with moss and lichen in shades of silver and gold provide a spectacular backdrop to Arctic adventures. Enjoying Zodiac cruises and shore visits, you will discover areas of historical importance and discover remnants of historical expeditions and trades of days gone by. We will also be on the lookout for sightings of wildlife including Arctic terns, Polar bears, walruses and seals.

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.