Ice caves near Longyearbyen

6 min read Updated October 2026 Compare all tours

More than half of Svalbard lies under glaciers. For cave visits from Longyearbyen, Visit Svalbard names Larsbreen, which you can reach on foot, and Scott Turnerbreen, reached through Bolterdalen. In winter guides take small groups inside the ice. The organisation describes cave visits both in the polar night and under the bright late-winter sun, so this is one of the few activities that works in the darkest weeks.

The caves lie outside the settlement. Anyone who leaves town must carry means of scaring off polar bears, and Visit Svalbard advises visitors not to walk beyond the town limits without a guide. Every tour here comes with one, and most collect you from your accommodation.

Walking up from Nybyen

Nybyen is the upper part of Longyearbyen, about two kilometres south of the centre, with rows of miners' barracks built after the war. The six-hour ice cave hike starts there and climbs toward the glacier. Helmets, head torches, walking poles and microspikes are provided, and afterwards there is a warm expedition lunch. You bring your own clothing. The tour is not suitable for people with heart or breathing problems, claustrophobia or limited mobility.

A snowshoe tour of five hours takes a similar line to the glaciers just outside town. Its description does not mention a cave, but several reviews from January and March describe one at the end of the walk, and one reviewer calls the climb up to it a bit of a hike. Treat the cave as likely rather than certain, and read our page on hiking and snowshoeing for the other walking tours.

By snowmobile to the glacier

If you would rather ride than climb, two tours use a snowmobile for the approach. The shorter one takes about four hours, though the operator says it can be closer to 2.5 or 3 hours with a small group. Groups are kept to four guests per guide, and a reviewer notes that the cave was empty at eight in the morning. You need your own winter clothing, and the driver needs a licence under the Geneva convention or an international driving permit. When two people book together, one drives and the other sits behind.

The seven-hour version adds more time on the snowmobile and lends a thermal suit, boots, gloves, helmet and balaclava. It runs with at least two guests and excludes children under 12, people with claustrophobia and guests over 75. One reviewer writes that it ended two hours earlier than stated. Both tours belong to the winter and spring snowmobile season; our page on snowmobile tours explains the licence rules in more detail.

A night inside the glacier

The overnight trip lasts 18 hours. After a pick-up at your hotel and a gear check, you hike to the glacier, set up camp inside the cave and hang hammocks between the ice walls. Sleeping bag, air mattress, hammock, headlamp, poles and microspikes are included, along with hot expedition meals. It is the only overnight cave tour we found near Longyearbyen and it has no reviews yet. Visit Svalbard rates overnight cave tours grade 4 on its five-step scale, one step above the grade 3 of many day tours. People with claustrophobia or low fitness should not book it.

Ice climbing in summer

Once the snow is gone, the glacier tours change character. The seven-hour ice climbing trip begins with a walk of about 1.5 hours to the glacier, then a safety briefing. With harness, crampons and two ice axes you are lowered into a moulin, a shaft in the glacier ice, and climb back out. The operator designs it for beginners, but the list of exclusions is long: no one under 18, over 70 or over 130 kilograms, and no one with vertigo, claustrophobia or low fitness. The reviews are from August and September.

Which cave tour suits whom

The walking tours are the better fit if you have no driving licence or would rather not sit on a snowmobile for hours. Visit Svalbard describes grade 3 as average fitness on uneven and partly steep ground, and many cave tours carry that grade. The snowmobile tours shorten the approach but add their own demands: a valid licence for the driver and an age limit of 12 on the longer tour. For the night in the glacier, plan a free morning afterwards.

Languages differ. The hike from Nybyen and the overnight trip are offered in English, Czech, Norwegian and Polish, the short snowmobile tour in English and Italian, the others in English only. The Nybyen hike, the overnight trip and the ice climbing list liability and search and rescue insurance among the inclusions. That matters, because Visit Svalbard points out that ordinary travel insurance usually does not cover rescue costs, and mobile coverage outside town is almost non-existent. All the tours here can be cancelled free of charge up to 24 hours before the start.

A cave tour in the morning combines well with a northern lights tour in the evening during the dark season, since both collect you in town.

Light, cold and what to wear

From 13 November 2026 to 29 January 2027 there is no daylight at all in Longyearbyen, not even twilight at noon. A cave tour then happens entirely by head torch, so you see little of the valley on the way. By 1 March the sun is up from 08:29 to 15:53, and the walk becomes part of the view.

The approach to the glacier is cold and open to the wind. At Svalbard Airport February averages −11.6 °C and March −12.0 °C. Visit Svalbard recommends a windproof outer layer with several layers of wool or fleece underneath; on most cave tours that clothing is yours to bring. Our page on what to wear in Longyearbyen lists the rest.