Bear Island Voyage Tips and guide

Bear Island, Norwegian Bjørnøya, is an islet in the Arctic Ocean, between Northern Norway and Svalbard. The island has no permanent population, except some meteorology crew.

Bear Island is named after a polar bear and is the southernmost island in Svalbard. Along with the adjacent waters, it was declared a nature reserve in 2002.

There are very few opportunities for individual travel to Bjørnøya. A few yachts make landfall, usually en route between the Norwegian mainland and Spitsbergen.

Check with the Governor of Svalbard if you are permitted to land or anchor your boat where and when you plan to do so at the island. There are for instance seasonal restrictions and bans due to bird colony activity.

A small number of cruising ships have visited the island, but tourism is otherwise almost nonexistent. HX Hurtigruten Expeditions makes a stop at Bear Island when heading to Svalbard.

There is no more than a few hundred meters of roads, these are close to the meteorological station near the north of the island, at Herwighamna. Your legs are likely what will be used to get around the rocky landscape.

For detailed topographical maps of the island, see Topo Svalbard.

Breathtaking natural scenery and cliffs, especially if you are in high luck and the weather happens not to be cloudy.

There are remnants of coal mining activity in the east part of the island at a place called Tunheim, including short defunct railroads.

There are a few cabins for recreational purposes on the island one can stay in. Permission for access and renting must for general visitors be worked out with the island administration in advance.

There are no restaurants or facilities on the island, everything has to be brought in and your trash brought out.

There are unfortunately no bars or cafés. Unless you manage to befriend the meteorological station staff and get served there, be prepared for self reliance here too.

You could run in with a polar bear as a few can come over on ice floes from the north in the cold season. However, this is very rare, and no attacks on the island have ever been recorded.

Your safety issues here would more likely come from the isolation. Be prepared to be completely self-reliant.

Be aware there are no medical facilities to treat sudden and serious illness. It would be advisable that you are both prepared by being in good physical condition in the first place, having a good stock of emergency medicines and also being insured for the visit, with a plan that covers a very expensive medical evacuation off the island. Also you would need a way to actually do a distress call from this isolated place; see Connect.

There is no mobile phone network on the island, so for safety reasons, bring a satellite communicator that works this far north - not all do. One using the Iridium network should be good.

Your vessel could go to mainland Norway, Spitsbergen - main part of Svalbard, or possibly Russian Franz Josef Land - the latter only with very special permissions acquired in advance as it is a military area.