Our top pickRated 5.0
3h 30mSvalbard: Exploring Ice Cave Adventure by Snowmobile
★ 5.0 · 6 reviews
- Three and a half hours, through Svalbard winter wilderness
- Hidden ice cave
- Frozen waterfalls
- Free cancellation
$344
Check availability→ 
Svalbard Ice Cave Tour
Svalbard ice cave tour takes you inside a glacier by snowmobile from Longyearbyen. We compared 19 tours from $318 with free cancellation, and the top trip holds a 5 rating from 6 reviews. Inside, frozen waterfalls and glowing blue chambers wait.
Price from
Ice cave$318
Today's lowest ice cave tour across all 19 tours
Average rating
All 19 tours47
963 verified reviews across 19 tours
Your day
Shortest to longest2–9h
Shortest: Northern Lights Tour
Longest: Pyramiden & Glacier Arctic
Free cancellation 24 h
Longyearbyen departures
Mobile voucher
English-speaking guides
Ice caves and winter trips
Guided outside town
Everything you can book here
Nineteen guided trips out of Longyearbyen
Every trip on this page starts in Longyearbyen, the town on Spitsbergen that most people fly into, and every one of them runs with a guide — outside the settlement that is simply how Svalbard is travelled. What separates them is the season and what you go to see: blue ice under a glacier in winter, the lights overhead in the dark months, a coal mine that works all year round, or a boat up the fjord in summer. Prices from $129, though the cave trips start higher.
Lowest cave farePrivate
2h 30mSvalbard: Private Ice Cave Adventure by Snowmobile
★ 4.3 · 3 reviews
- Two and a half hours, across Svalbard’s winter landscape
- Frozen waterfalls
- Natural ice sculptures
- Free cancellation
$318
Check availability→ 
Full dayYou drive
7 hSvalbard: Snowmobile Adventure and Ice Cave Exploration
★ 4.7 · 4 reviews
- Seven hours, on this tour from Longyearbyen
- Arctic wilderness
- Departs from Longyearbyen
- Free cancellation
$926
Check availability→ 
New listingLunch included
5 hSvalbard: Snowmobile to Elveneset, Ice Cave and Waterfall
- Five hours, to a frozen waterfall
- Hidden ice cave
- Warm lunch on the glacier
- Free cancellation
$402
Check availability→ 
On footRated 4.8
5 hLongyearbyen: Snowshoeing Adventure to Svalbard Glacier
★ 4.8 · 13 reviews
- Five hours, to Svalbard’s glaciers
- Guided snowshoe hike
- Hot drinks and snacks
- Free cancellation
$302
Check availability→ 
Photography36 reviews
4 hSvalbard: Northern Lights Photography Tour with local expert
★ 4.6 · 36 reviews
- Four hours
- Departs from Longyearbyen
- Mobile voucher accepted
- Free cancellation
$206
Check availability→ 
Rated 5.02 hours
2 hLongyearbyen: Northern Lights Tour by Car
★ 5.0 · 13 reviews
- Two hours, under the Arctic sky
- Local guide
- Departs from Longyearbyen
- Free cancellation
$235
Check availability→ 
Most reviewedAll year
3 hLongyearbyen: Historic Coal Mine Tour at Gruve 3
★ 4.8 · 515 reviews
- Three hours
- Miner’s life
- Most booked
- Free cancellation
$158
Check availability→ 
Lowest price89 reviews
2 hSvalbard: Visit Global Seed Vault and Arctic Viewpoint by Car
★ 4.7 · 89 reviews
- Two hours, on a short Arctic sightseeing tour
- Local stories
- Cheapest here
- Free cancellation
$129
Check availability→ 
Rated 4.8Accessible
2 hLongyearbyen: Global Seed Vault Tour and iconic places
★ 4.8 · 38 reviews
- Two hours, to the Global Seed Vault
- Vault’s glowing entrance
- Guide shares stories
- Free cancellation
$190
Check availability→ 
PrivateBy car
2 hLongyearbyen: Global Seed Vault Exterior In-depth Tour
★ 4.5 · 33 reviews
- Two hours, on a guided taxi tour
- Svalbard Global Seed Vault
- Views of glaciers and fjords
- Free cancellation
$201
Check availability→ 
On footWarm drink
3h 30mLongyearbyen: Svalbard Global Seed Vault Guided Walk
★ 4.7 · 9 reviews
- Three and a half hours, to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault
- Warm drink in the Arctic landscape
- Departs from Longyearbyen
- Free cancellation
$185
Check availability→ 
In townRated 4.7
2h 30mLongyearbyen: Guided Walking Tour with a Local Guide
★ 4.7 · 24 reviews
- Two and a half hours, on a guided walking tour
- Town's history
- Colorful neighborhoods
- Free cancellation
$132
Check availability→ 
Short hike2.5 hours
2.5 hLongyearbyen: Iconic Hike to Platåfjellet
★ 4.6 · 9 reviews
- 2.5 hours, to the wide plateau of Platåfjellet
- Guided tour
- Tundra ecology
- Free cancellation
$143
Check availability→ 
Panoramic views3.5 hours
3.5 hLongyearbyen: Platåfjellet Guided Hike with Panoramic Views
★ 4.2 · 13 reviews
- 3.5 hours, to the summit in Longyearbyen
- Panoramic views of Adventfjorden
- Departs from Longyearbyen
- Free cancellation
$259
Check availability→ 
Arctic walk35 reviews
3.5 hLongyearbyen: Bjørndalen Arctic Walk and snack
★ 4.5 · 35 reviews
- 3.5 hours, on a guided trekking in Bjørndalen
- Arctic wilderness
- Hot drinks and snacks
- Free cancellation
$259
Check availability→ 
Wildlife5 hours
5 hLongyearbyen: Wildlife Safari & Slow Hiking Photography Tour
★ 4.5 · 55 reviews
- Five hours, in and around Longyearbyen
- Wildlife hiking and driving tour
- Local Norwegian company
- Free cancellation
$249
Check availability→ 
Summer boatMeal included
9 hLongyearbyen: Pyramiden & Glacier Arctic Boat Tour
★ 4.6 · 54 reviews
- Nine hours, to the Soviet ghost town
- Nordenskiöld Glacier
- Longest tour here
- Free cancellation
$508
Check availability→ 
Private8 hours
8 hFrom Longyearbyen: Pyramiden Private Photo Tour w/ Transfer
★ 4.3 · 14 reviews
- Eight hours, in the abandoned Soviet mining town
- Site's history
- Departs from Longyearbyen
- Free cancellation
$1,209
Check availability→ Two questions
Which trip out of Longyearbyen is yours?
Seen the nineteen above and still torn? Out here it comes down to four answers. Go into a glacier cave and be back in Longyearbyen the same afternoon. Give the whole day to the snowmobile and the distance it covers. Spend a winter night watching for the lights instead. Or pick something that runs in every month, not only the ice season. Tell us what matters and we will point at one.
See it before you pay for it
Three things this island is booked for
The caves are the reason most people land here in winter: meltwater channels that the cold turns solid, so for a few months of the year you can walk into the inside of a glacier. Getting there is half the trip — a snowmobile or a snowcat across the valley, or a walk in on foot with the operator. And when the ice is out of season there is still something underground: Gruve 3, a real coal mine on the edge of town, open the whole year and the single best-reviewed trip on this page.
Side by side
The cave, the dark months, the mine, or a summer fjord
People book these interchangeably and then find out they bought different trips. Four listings go into a cave, all of them in winter and all of them by snowmobile, from $318 for a private one to $926 for a seven-hour day that adds a long run across the valley. The other winter trips stay above ground: the northern lights by car or on foot with a photographer, snowshoes up to a glacier front. The mine, the Seed Vault viewpoints and the town walks run in any month. The fjord boats to Pyramiden are the opposite — summer only, nine hours, and the same glaciers seen from the water instead of from inside.
Swipe the table sideways →
| Svalbard: Private Ice Cave Adventure by Snowmobile | TOP PICKSvalbard: Exploring Ice Cave Adventure by Snowmobile | Svalbard: Snowmobile Adventure and Ice Cave Exploration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price per person | $318 | $344 | $926 |
| What it is | A private run to a cave, as short as it gets | The shared trip we point at first | A full snowmobile day with the cave inside it |
| Time it takes | 2h 30m | 3h 30m | 7 hours |
| Who is with you | Your own party and the guide | A small group with other travellers | A group, with the day built around the ride |
| Inside the glacier | Yes — blue-tinted caverns and ice sculptures | Yes — glowing blue chambers, says the operator | Yes — the cave is the turning point of the day |
| How you get there | Snowmobile, with you riding as a passenger | Snowmobile across the winter valley | Snowmobile, and you are taught to drive it |
| Frozen waterfalls | Named in the listing | Named in the listing | The day is built around the ice and the cave |
| Guided | Yes — outside town every trip here is | Yes — outside town every trip here is | Yes — outside town every trip here is |
| When it runs | Winter, while the caves are in the ice | Winter, while the caves are in the ice | Winter, while the caves are in the ice |
| Cancellation | Free cancellation up to 24 hours | Free cancellation up to 24 hours | Free cancellation up to 24 hours |
Verdict
Take the snowmobile run that actually goes into the ice
It is the one tour here that puts the whole idea into three and a half hours: the ride out of Longyearbyen across the valley, the crawl into the chamber, the blue walls and the frozen stream overhead — rated 5 across 6 reviews, from $344. Keep the private run for a smaller party and a shorter morning, and the seven-hour day for the trip where you want the machine under your own hands.
Check dates and availability→Before you book
The ticket decides what kind of day you get
Several different things get sold under the words “Svalbard” and “Longyearbyen”, and the fare tells you which one you are buying. An ice cave run is the one most people mean: a snowmobile out of town with a guide, the ride across the valley, a low entrance you go into on hands and knees, and a chamber of blue ice with a frozen stream in the roof, back in town the same day. A winter day without a cave is a different purchase: the northern lights in the evening, snowshoes up to a glacier, the polar night itself. A tour that runs all year is a third thing again: Gruve 3 goes underground into a real coal mine, the Seed Vault is visited from the outside, and the guided walks stay within sight of the town. The summer boats along the fjord to Pyramiden sit outside all three, because they need open water rather than snow. Decide which you actually want before you compare numbers, because otherwise you are comparing tours that are not the same tour.
Two-minute check
Which Svalbard day fits your dates?
Two things decide almost everything here, and the first is the calendar. A cave is a winter object: it is made of frozen meltwater, and in summer the operators do not run into it at all. The second is how you want to cover ground — a snowmobile day covers a valley, a walk-in covers a kilometre or two, and a boat covers the fjord. Once your dates are fixed, the honest list of what is open is shorter than the full nineteen, and that is worth knowing before you pay rather than after.
How many of you are going?Most of these run as small groups; a private trip is booked for your party alone
When are you in Longyearbyen?The ice caves are a winter thing; the boats to Pyramiden are a summer one, and the coal mine runs in every month
How long do you want to be out of town?A couple of hours covers the Seed Vault and the mine; a glacier cave asks for half a day, and the snowmobile day for all of it
Answer the three questions above
You’ll get the one that fits your answers, and the thing about it that catches people out.
Six ways to see Svalbard
963 reviews across nineteen Svalbard listings
Ratings are the operators’ own numbers on GetYourGuide, shown as published. We do not write reviews and we do not average other people’s into a score of our own.
4.7
★★★★★
Based on 963
verified reviews
5 ★80%
4 ★14%
3 ★4%
2 ★1%
1 ★1%
All nineteen trips on this page, rated on GetYourGuide.
Read all 963→❄
Svalbard: Exploring Ice Cave Adventure by Snowmobile
From $344 · 6 reviews
★★★★★
Into a glacier cave and back the same afternoon
Three and a half hours that do the whole thing: the snowmobile ride out of Longyearbyen across the winter valley, then the blue chambers and frozen waterfalls inside the glacier. Rated 5 so far across 6 reviews, in a small group with transport inside the price, and it is the shortest way from town into the ice.
🌌
Svalbard: Snowmobile Adventure and Ice Cave Exploration
From $926 · 4 reviews
★★★★★
A whole day on the snowmobile, with the cave inside it
Seven hours out of Longyearbyen: you are taught to operate the snowmobile yourself, you cross a good deal more of the Arctic wilderness than the short trips do, and the ice cave is the turning point rather than the whole outing. Rated 4.7 across 4 reviews so far.
⛏
Longyearbyen: Historic Coal Mine Tour at Gruve 3
From $158 · 515 reviews
★★★★★
The one that runs in every month of the year
Three hours underground in a working-era coal mine at Gruve 3, with what a miner’s day in the northernmost town in the world was actually like. It carries 515 reviews at 4.8 — more than every other listing on this page put together — and unlike the caves it does not wait for winter.
🌱
Svalbard: Visit Global Seed Vault and Arctic Viewpoint by Car
From $129 · 89 reviews
★★★★★
Two hours by car, and the lowest fare here
A short drive through Adventdalen with the old mining areas, an Arctic viewpoint and the Global Seed Vault, which is shown from outside — the doors stay shut to visitors and the listing says so. Rated 4.7 across 89 reviews, and the lowest priced ticket on this page.
📷
Svalbard: Northern Lights Photography Tour with local expert
From $206 · 36 reviews
★★★★★
A winter night spent watching the sky instead
Four hours after dark with a guide who knows which valleys stay clear, and a tour built around photographing the northern lights rather than only standing under them. Small group, pickup available, rated 4.6 across 36 reviews.
🧊
Svalbard: Private Ice Cave Adventure by Snowmobile
From $318 · 3 reviews
★★★★★
The cave, privately, and the lowest cave fare
Two and a half hours with the guide to your own party: you ride as a passenger on the snowmobile, so nobody has to drive, and the listing names frozen waterfalls, ice sculptures and blue-tinted caverns inside the glacier. Rated 4.3 across 3 reviews, and the lowest fare of the four ice cave trips.
What it really costs
What a day out of Longyearbyen costs, line by line
Prices are per person and cover the guide, the transport named in the listing and the gear the operator supplies. The cheapest listing on the page is $129, but that is a two-hour run out to the Global Seed Vault and the viewpoint above town, a different product entirely. The caves begin at $318, and what moves that number is how long the machine is running, whether the group is yours alone, and whether a frozen waterfall or a second valley is written into the route.
Swipe sideways →
| What you do | Price | What that buys | Cancellation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Global Seed Vault and the Arctic viewpoint | $129 | 2 hours, the vault seen from the outside — visitors are not taken in — plus the viewpoint over town, rated 4.7 | Free cancellation |
| Gruve 3 historic coal mine | $158 | 3 hours, underground in a real coal mine, runs all year, rated 4.8 across 515 reviews | Free cancellation |
| Northern lights photography with a local expert | $206 | 4 hours in the dark months, camera settings taught on the spot, rated 4.6 | Free cancellation |
| Private ice cave adventure by snowmobile | $318 | 2h 30m, the least expensive way into a cave, your party only | Free cancellation |
| Exploring ice cave adventure by snowmobile | $344 | 3h 30m, the pick of the cave listings, rated 5.0 by the six people who have reviewed it | Free cancellation |
| Snowmobile day with a long cave exploration | $926 | 7 hours, the full valley run and the longest time underground of the four | Free cancellation |
Costs the listing doesn't show you
- The clock starts in town, not at the glacier. Two and a half to seven hours are counted from the meeting point in Longyearbyen, and a good part of that is the ride out across the valley and the ride back in.
- Base layers are yours to bring. The suit, the boots and the mittens are lent to you on the snowmobile runs, but what goes underneath is your own, and wool socks are the item people wish they had packed two of.
- A room in Longyearbyen is a separate booking. Everything here is a day tour that starts and finishes in town, so the nights, the meals off the ice and the flight in are all outside these fares.
- Private means the guide and the machine are yours. On the private cave run and the private Pyramiden photo tour the fare covers your party rather than a seat, so read them against how many of you there are.
- The season, not the calendar, sets the route. A cave listing is a winter booking and a Pyramiden boat is a summer one, and where the day goes inside those months is decided by the guide on the morning rather than printed in the listing.
What is genuinely included
- A guide from the meeting point in Longyearbyen and back to it — every tour on this page is led
- The snowmobile or snowcat on the listings that name one, and the fuel and the machine itself
- The outer suit, boots, mittens, balaclava and helmet the snowmobile operators hand out before you set off
- The headtorch and the light the guide carries inside the ice chamber
- Hot drinks or a meal out on the ice where the listing states them — the five and seven-hour days both name food
- Transport between town and the meeting point on the listings that say so, including the drive up to Gruve 3
- Free cancellation up to 24 hours before, with a full refund
The honest answer
Is going into the ice worth it?
Three hundred and eighteen dollars is a lot for two and a half hours, and it buys something you cannot buy in most places on the planet in any month: standing under a glacier rather than on top of one, in a chamber that only exists while the cold holds. The twenty-six dollars between that and the top listing buy an hour more and a route that six people have rated 5.0. If your dates fall outside the frozen months, the answer is different and simpler — the mine at $158 is underground, open all year and carries more reviews than anything else here.
What makes it worth it
- The lowest fare into a glacier cave is $318, and it takes two and a half hours out of your day in Longyearbyen
- Four listings go into the ice: a short private run, the shared trip we point at first, a seven-hour snowmobile day and one that adds a frozen waterfall at Elveneset
- What the operators name inside is the same each time — blue chambers, frozen waterfalls and ice shaped by the meltwater that made the cave
- Outside town the trips go with a guide, which is how Svalbard is travelled, so the route and the timing are somebody else’s job
- Free cancellation up to 24 hours, so a date held early is not money spent
Keep in mind
- The caves are a winter thing: all four listings run in the ice season, and in summer the page is boats, hikes and the mine instead
- You reach them by snowmobile, and on the seven-hour listing you are the one driving
- The Global Seed Vault is shown from outside on every tour here — visitors are not taken in, and the listings say as much
- Winter trips on this page run $129 to $926; the private summer photo day at Pyramiden is $1,209
- The ice cave listings are young: 6, 4 and 3 reviews between three of them, while the Gruve 3 mine tour carries 515
The trip, step by step
Out of town, across the valley, down into the ice
Hold the date before the week fills up
Free cancellation runs to 24 hours on these tickets, so a booked date costs you nothing until the day before. Several of the Longyearbyen listings ask to be booked three to ten hours ahead, and in the dark months the good-weather days go first.
At the meeting point in Longyearbyen
The group gathers in town, the guide runs through how the day will go and what the machines do, and everyone is dressed for the ride before anything moves.
Out of town on the snowmobile
The houses drop behind within minutes and the valley opens up: white ground, dark ridges and whatever light the season is giving that week.
The glacier, and the way in
The machines stop at the ice and the rest is on foot. The entrance is a hole in the surface of the glacier, and the guide goes first.
Blue chambers and frozen waterfalls
The ice above your head is old and the light coming through it is blue. The operators name frozen waterfalls and ice shaped by running meltwater, and this is the part people came for.
Back across the valley to Longyearbyen
The same ride in reverse, usually with the light changed. The short trips are back in town inside three and a half hours; the long day takes seven.
What is left of the day in town
The coloured houses, the museum and the shops are a few minutes apart, and on a clear winter night the sky is worth stepping outside for.
Best time of day
Take the earlier departure, and the day has somewhere to go
Two things pull against each other out here, and an earlier meeting time settles both. The first is weather: the valleys are read on the morning of the tour, and a group that leaves early has the whole day behind it if the guide decides to swap one route for another. The second is arithmetic. The cave runs are two and a half to seven hours counted from the meeting point in town, not from the glacier, so a late start on the seven-hour day pushes the return into the evening. In the dark months the question changes shape rather than going away: the sun is below the horizon either way, the headlights and the blue chamber look the same at eleven as at two, and an afternoon slot then leaves the evening clear for the northern lights instead.
On the day
What the day actually looks like
Inside the ice
The chambers are cut into the glacier itself, and the light through them is blue.
Getting there
The caves are reached by snowmobile, out across the valley from town.
The town
Everything on this page starts in Longyearbyen, at 78 degrees north.
Back in town
The coloured houses are a few minutes from where most of these tours meet.
What it's like
One small town, one glacier, and a season that decides the whole trip
Almost everyone books this trip the same way round. The plane lands at Longyearbyen, the hotel is a few minutes from the airport road, and the plan is simply “the ice cave”. What nobody explains before you start comparing listings is that the cave is not in town. It is a chamber inside a glacier out in the valleys, and the thing you are actually buying is the ride out to it — a snowmobile, a guide, and the hours the machine spends crossing the white ground between the two.
The cave day is a winter day. All four of the ice cave listings here run on snow, all four go out by snowmobile, and the ice you walk into is the winter ice: blue walls, a frozen stream above your head, and a chamber that has to be entered on hands and knees before it opens up. The short version is two and a half hours from the meeting point at $318; the long version is a seven-hour day at $926 with the driving lesson, the wider valleys and a meal out on the ice.
The second kind of winter day has no cave in it at all. Longyearbyen sits inside the polar night for months, which is why the northern lights here are hunted in the afternoon as readily as at midnight: a photography tour with a local expert at $206, or a warmer version by car at $235. Snowshoes take you up to a glacier on foot instead of riding, five hours for $302.
The third kind runs whatever the season is doing. Gruve 3 is a real coal mine on the hillside above the airport and the tour goes underground into it, three hours at $158 — with 515 reviews it is the most rated thing on this page by a wide margin. The Global Seed Vault is visited from the outside, four listings between $129 and $201, and the walks around the town and up Platåfjellet fill the hours in between.
Our top pick is the cave run that does the most for the money: Exploring Ice Cave Adventure by Snowmobile, three and a half hours, rated 5.0, at $344. The most reviewed listing on the page is the coal mine at $158, which 515 travellers have rated 4.8. Across the nineteen tours here there are 963 reviews to read.
The fares stretch a long way, and the reason is hours and machines rather than luxury. A short guided walk or a look at the Seed Vault from the road is $129 to $201. Put a snowmobile under you and the number starts at $318. Put a boat under you in summer and the two Pyramiden trips run $508 and $1,209, the second one private.
Where a listing starts matters less here than almost anywhere, because everything on this page meets in Longyearbyen. What changes is how far out it goes. A town walk or the Seed Vault stay within sight of the houses; the mine is a short drive up the hill; the caves, the snowshoe glacier and the Pyramiden boats are properly out of town, which is why every one of them is led by a guide.
So the plan that works is the plain one. Settle the month first, because that alone decides whether a cave is on the table or whether you are looking at boats and long light instead. Then decide whether you want to be riding, walking or underground. Then hold the date as soon as it is firm: every tour here has free cancellation, and the cave runs are sold as small groups or as a private booking for one party.
If the cave is the reason you came
The three rated ways inside the glacier
Most of this page is the rest of Longyearbyen — the mine, the Seed Vault, the lights, the summer boats. These three are the ice itself: a snowmobile out of town, the ride across the valley, the crawl into the chamber and the blue walls overhead. They run two and a half, three and a half and seven hours from the meeting point, they all go with a guide, and the difference between them is how much of the valley you cross to get there.
The lowest cave fare
Svalbard: Private Ice Cave Adventure by Snowmobile
2h 30m · ★ 4.3 (3)
$318See dates You drive it yourself
Svalbard: Snowmobile Adventure and Ice Cave Exploration
7 hours · ★ 4.7 (4)
$926See dates Our top pick
Svalbard: Exploring Ice Cave Adventure by Snowmobile
3h 30m · ★ 5 (6)
$344See datesPractical
Plan the trip
Four things decide how the week goes: which month you come, which of the nineteen you book, what you wear under the suit the operator gives you, and how much slack you leave for weather. Flights reach Longyearbyen from mainland Norway and the airport is a few minutes from town, so most trips collect you in the centre. Every listing is booked by date on GetYourGuide, with free cancellation, which is the sane way to hold a morning this far north while the rest of the trip settles.
Our top pick
Exploring Ice Cave Adventure by Snowmobile, three and a half hours at $344, rated 5.0, and it is the cave run we point at first.
The lowest cave fare
The private ice cave run, two and a half hours at $318, with you riding as a passenger rather than driving.
The long day on the ice
Seven hours at $926: you learn to drive the machine yourself, cross more of the valley and go into the cave with time to spare.
A cave and a frozen waterfall
The Elveneset run at $402 adds a frozen waterfall and a warm lunch out on the glacier to the five hours.
The most reviewed thing here
Gruve 3, the coal mine above the airport road, three hours at $158, rated 4.8 across 515 reviews.
When the caves are out of season
Northern lights from $206 in winter, and the Pyramiden boats from $508 once the water opens.
Layers under whatever is lent to you
Operators here hand out the outer suit, boots, mittens and a balaclava for the snowmobile runs. What you bring is what goes underneath: wool or synthetic, never cotton.
Warm feet decide the day
You sit still on a moving machine for an hour at a time and then stand about inside ice. Thick wool socks and a spare pair in the bag do more than any other single item.
Something to cover your face
The wind on an open snowmobile is the part people underestimate, and a neck tube or balaclava under the lent helmet is what keeps a long ride comfortable.
Knee room for the crawl
The entrance to a cave chamber is low and you go in on hands and knees over ice, so trousers that move and gloves you can grip with are worth more than a thick coat.
A headtorch is on the packing list, and so is a camera
Your guide carries the light for the group, and a torch of your own turns the blue chamber into something you can actually photograph.
Sunglasses even in the dark months
Snow throws back everything the low sun and every headlight give it, and on the bright spring days out on the glacier the glare is constant.
Settle the month before the tour
The ice caves are a winter product and the Pyramiden boats are a summer one. Which month you come rules out half of this page before you compare anything.
Free cancellation on every tour
Holding a date early costs you nothing on any of the nineteen, so book as soon as your Longyearbyen nights are firm.
The cave groups are small
The cave listings run as small groups or as a private booking for one party, which is also why they sell out earlier in the week than the town walks do.
Private means the guide and the machine are yours
On the private cave run and the private Pyramiden photo tour the booking covers your party alone, and the pace is set with you rather than for you.
One price everywhere
Hotel desk, operator or this page — the fare is the same. Booking ahead buys the date you want, not a discount.
Read the meeting point, not just the hour
Everything here meets in Longyearbyen, but some tours start at the operator’s base where the suits are handed out, which adds time before the clock on the listing starts.
Flying in
Longyearbyen has the airport, and it is the one on Svalbard with scheduled flights. Allow a night either side of a cave day so a delayed plane does not eat the booking.
Around town
The town is small enough to walk, and the hotels, the shops and the meeting points are within a few minutes of each other along the main road.
Out to the caves
The caves are reached by snowmobile across the valleys, and on some listings by snowcat, with the guide leading and the machines provided.
Up to the mine
Gruve 3 sits on the hillside near the airport road, a short drive from town, and the tour takes you underground into the workings themselves.
To the Seed Vault
The Seed Vault is above the airport and the tours stop at it from the outside — the door and the lit artwork above it — then carry on to the viewpoints.
Out to Pyramiden
In summer the old mining settlement is reached by boat along the fjord, nine hours there and back on the shared trip and eight on the private photo tour.
Best time
When to come
The calendar does more here than anywhere else we cover. The caves belong to the frozen months and are simply not on sale in summer; the boats up the fjord are the other way round. Between them sit the trips that run whatever the month: the mine, the Seed Vault viewpoints and the walks around town.
Nov – Jan
Polar night, lights and the first ice
The sun does not come up at all, and the town runs on street lamps and headlights. This is when the northern lights tours work, by car or on foot with a photographer, from $206. The snowmobile season is building and the cave trips start appearing on the calendar. Book the dark-sky evenings a few days ahead.
Feb – Apr
The cave season, with daylight back
Light returns quickly through February and by April the valleys are bright most of the day, while the ice is still hard. This is the window the cave listings are built for, from $318, and the snowmobile routes are at their best. It is also the busiest stretch of the winter, so the private trips go first.
May – Jun
The thaw, and the caves close
The snow goes off the valley floor, the machines stop and the cave trips come off sale until the cold returns. What is left is good in its own way: long light that does not end, walks up Platåfjellet and along Bjørndalen, the mine and the Seed Vault viewpoints. If the ice is what you came for, these are not your months.
Jul – Oct
Boats up the fjord, then the dark comes back
Summer is water rather than ice: nine-hour boats to the old settlement at Pyramiden and the glacier front, from $508, with a private photo version for those who want the light to themselves. Through September and October the nights return, the lights start being seen again, and the winter list reopens.
Worth knowing
Six things that aren't in the listing
01
There are three products here, not one. A snowmobile run that goes inside a glacier, a winter day that stays on top of the snow — lights, snowshoes, the mine — and a summer boat along the fjord. They are sold under the same search words and they happen in different halves of the year, which decides more than the price does.
02
The caves are a winter chamber. All four cave listings here run on snow and reach the ice by snowmobile. If your dates fall outside that window, the honest answer is the mine, the Seed Vault and the boats rather than a cave, and this page says so on every card.
03
The Seed Vault is seen from outside. Four listings take you to it, and each of them shows you the concrete wedge in the hillside, the lit artwork over the door and the view back down over the town. The inside is closed to visitors, and any listing that says “exterior” is being straight with you.
04
Gruve 3 is the one that runs all year. Three hours at $158, underground in a real coal mine, rated 4.8 across 515 reviews — more than the rest of this page put together. It is the answer when the weather closes the valleys.
05
Outside town, the guide is the rule. Every tour on this page is led, and that is simply how Svalbard works beyond the last houses: you go with someone who knows the ground, carries the kit and turns the group round when the day says so.
06
Book the date, not the discount. The fare is the same wherever you buy it, and every tour on this page carries free cancellation, so holding a morning as soon as your dates are firm costs you nothing.
Round out the trip
Booked alongside
Underground, all year
Longyearbyen: Historic Coal Mine Tour at Gruve 3
3 hours · ★ 4.8 (515)
$158View Winter evenings
Svalbard: Northern Lights Photography Tour with local expert
4 hours · ★ 4.6 (36)
$206View In summer, by boat
Longyearbyen: Pyramiden & Glacier Arctic Boat Tour
9 hours · ★ 4.6 (54)
$508ViewGo deeper
More on Svalbard and Longyearbyen
Common questions
Svalbard ice caves, answered
Can you go inside an ice cave on Svalbard?
Yes, and that is what four of the nineteen listings on this page do. A guide takes you out of Longyearbyen by snowmobile, across the valley to the glacier, and down into a chamber that the meltwater cut through the ice. The entrance is low enough that you go in on hands and knees, and then it opens into blue walls and a frozen stream overhead. The tours run two and a half to seven hours counted from the meeting point in town, from $318.
How much does a Svalbard ice cave tour cost?
The cave runs are $318 for the private two-and-a-half hour trip, $344 for the three-and-a-half hour snowmobile adventure we point at first, $402 for the five hours that add a frozen waterfall, and $926 for the seven-hour day where you drive the machine yourself. The rest of the page starts at $129.
When are the ice caves open?
They are a winter product. Every cave listing here runs on snow and reaches the glacier by snowmobile, so the season is the frozen half of the year rather than a fixed pair of dates. If your trip falls outside it, the tours that carry on are the coal mine at Gruve 3, the Seed Vault stops, the walks around town, and in summer the boats along the fjord to Pyramiden.
Do you have to drive the snowmobile yourself?
It depends on the listing, and each one says. On the private cave run you ride as a passenger behind the guide, which is the version to look for if you would rather look around than steer. On the seven-hour adventure you are taught to handle the machine and then drive it across the valley yourself, which is a good part of why that day costs what it does.
Can you go inside the Global Seed Vault?
No. The four Seed Vault listings on this page take you to it from the outside — the concrete wedge set into the hillside above the airport, the lit artwork over the door, and the view back down over Longyearbyen and the fjord — and two of them say “exterior” in their own titles. They run two to three and a half hours, from $129, and the guide fills in what is behind the door.
Why is every tour guided?
Because that is how Svalbard is organised beyond the last houses of Longyearbyen. Trips outside town go with a guide who knows the ground and carries the kit, and every listing on this page is led. In practice it also means the route is chosen on the day: if the weather turns, the guide moves the plan rather than pushing on with it.
What is the Gruve 3 coal mine tour like?
It is three hours at $158, and it goes underground into a real coal mine on the hillside above the airport road, with the boots and the suit handed out before you go in. With 515 reviews at 4.8 it is the most rated listing on this page by a distance, and it runs all year, which is why it is the answer when the weather shuts the valleys.
Ice cave or northern lights — can you do both?
They sit in the same months and in different parts of the day, so yes, on a trip of three nights or more this is the usual pairing. The cave runs go out in daylight hours and take two and a half to seven hours; the lights are chased in the evening, from $206 with a photography guide or $235 by car if you would rather stay out of the wind. Both carry free cancellation.
One PDF · no account needed
Svalbard by season — the plan we'd follow
Which of the nineteen listings matches the days you actually have: the four cave runs and what separates them, the tours that carry on when the caves are out of season, the mine that goes underground all year, and the summer boats along the fjord. Built from the operators’ own listings and the same live prices as this page.
- All nineteen tours, with hours, what each fare covers and which months they run, from the listings
- The four ice cave runs side by side: riding or driving, private or small group, two and a half hours or seven
- What to wear under the suit the operator lends you, and what to pack for the crawl into the chamber
- What replaces the cave outside winter, and which months suit the Pyramiden boats
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Why trust this page
How we put this together
Checked, not guessed
Durations, inclusions and operator names come from the live GetYourGuide listings for each tour. Prices and ratings are read off the same listings and updated with the page.
How we pick
The ice cave runs out of Longyearbyen are here, along with the rest of what is bookable in town: the lights, the snowshoes, the coal mine, the Seed Vault stops, the walks and the summer boats. Nobody pays to be featured.
We say which season a tour belongs to
Four of the nineteen go inside a glacier, and all four run on snow and reach the ice by snowmobile. The Pyramiden boats are the other half of the year. That decides whether a listing is bookable on your dates at all, so we mark it on the card.
Caves and everything else, stated plainly
A cave run is one shape of day: a snowmobile out of Longyearbyen, the valley, the crawl into the chamber, the blue walls and the ride home. The mine, the Seed Vault and the walks are a different thing and we say so rather than letting the search words blur them together. We compare both because both are bookable here, and because the second half is what carries the trip when the first is out of season.
The answer
Ride out, crawl in, and stand inside the glacier.
The tours on this page work the same ground around Longyearbyen. What you are choosing is how far into it you go: two and a half hours as a passenger to the nearest chamber, three and a half on the run we point at first, five with a frozen waterfall and lunch on the ice, or a seven-hour day with the machine under your own hands. Cave runs start at $318. Pick a date early in your trip and book ahead.
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