Svalbard Driving Advice and Car Hire Info
Driving in Svalbard
There are only 40km of roads within Svalbard. Within Longyearbyen, Barentsburg and Ny-Ålesund, there are road systems, but they don’t connect with each other. Trips between towns are usually undertaken by boat.In Winter land travel is usually undertaken by snow mobile and it is possible to travel overland between Longyearbyen and Barentsburg -45 km, and Longyearbyen and Pyramiden 100 km. The only “highway” is a 20km road which links the Longyearbyen airport to EISCAT Svalbard Radar station. It is mostly not paved and shouldn’t be travelled without a gun to ward off polar bears.. There are some paved streets in Longyearbyen itself and many of the local residents tend to have cars. There are specific rules covering use of snow mobiles and you should check these with the rental company.
Svalbard Car Rental
Not surprisingly, none of the big car rental companies have seen a need to open an office in Svalbard.
This company rent snow mobiles –
http://www.spitsbergentravel.com/Start/Equipment/Snowmobile-rental/
2 comments