Longyearbyen Town Centre – Self-Guided Walking Tour
Longyearbyen Self-Guided Walking Tour
Follow my Longyearbyen self-guided walking tour for the best overview of the town! Located at 78 degrees north, Longyearbyen is the northernmost settlement in the world. With a population of around 2,500 people, the town is a thriving area with cool restaurants, bars, shops and day-trips around the archipelago. However, Longyearbyen wasn’t always this comfortable and modern town. For most of the town’s 100 year history, it was a harsh, hostile and difficult place to live. Most of the town is owned by the mining company that established it, and even today it feels like a company town. This walk around Longyearbyen covers the modern centre but also the historic past of the town.
Longyearbyen Self-Guided Walking Tour
Downloadable Version of This Guide
I offer downloadable versions of my self-guided walks on our online store.
Online Guide
- Information about points of interest
- Images of each point of interest
- Historic overview of the neighbourhood
- Directions between points
- Historic photos
Downloadable Guide
- Information about points of interest
- Images of each point of interest
- Historic overview of the city
- Directions between points
- Historic photos
Longyearbyen Self-Guided Walking Tour
This walk begins at the Radisson Blu Polar Hotel.
Radisson Blu Polar Hotel
This walk begins at the Radisson Blu Hotel. The hotel was constructed here using buildings from the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics.
Kullungen Daycare
The daycare opened in 1997. The building has a pile foundation, where wooden piles are permanently frozen in the permafrost and the building is built on top. On Svalbard this is a common way for the foundations of the buildings. Elsewhere the building is clad with lath paneling, treated with iron vitriol and the roof is covered with lath roofing felt. The fence around the kindergarten is to protect children from polar bears. Kids in Norway typically start daycare around the age of 1.
Iconic Longyearbyen Houses
These houses are from the 1970s and are nicknamed “The Indian Village”. They are all on a road called Hilmar Rekstens Vei, named after the main chairman and shareholder of SNSK from the war up to 1962.
After more mines opened in the 1950s and 1960s, more homes for the families were required and with better standards. The town began to spread down into the valley. The first houses were built here in the 1970s. The neighbourhood is called “Lia”.
The Blåmyra dormitories were built in 1981. They were intended to provide the miners with better living conditions than the two-man rooms in Nybyen.
Lompen Senteret
Lompen Senteret was built in 1985, but first it was a cloakroom, café and laundry for the miners. The work clothes for the miners are called lomps, and here the coal-black mining buses were cleaned and changed into clean clothes. It was converted into a shopping mall in 1997 and is today the northernmost shopping mall in the world. It has eateries, a pub, café, wellness centre, outdoor clothes, and souvenirs.
Be sure to try the local chocolate brand Fruene. The coffee here is also fantastic!
The Svalbard Store
The complex to your left is the Svalbard Store. Inside you’ll find ‘Nordpolet’ (the liquor store – a play on the Norwegian name ‘Vinmonopolet’) and a Coop grocery store. There are also some nice souvenirs in here. Coop is the only grocery store on Svalbard.
In Svalbard the residents are limited to a certain quota of alcohol. Every month, residents can buy up to two bottles of spirits or up to four bottles of wine, or up to 24 cans of beer. All residents have a purchase permit card. People who do not live on Svalbard can buy as much as they want – just show a travel document in the form of a plane ticket when buying alcohol.
Mine 1a
High up on the hill you can see the cableway system of the first mines to be constructed on Svalbard. The cableway system carried the coal from the mine to the pier, where it would be loaded onto boats for export.
Apartment Complex
Most people on Svalbard live in apartments, and here you can see some typical apartment buildings. Note that they resemble worker’s barracks, referencing Longyearbyen’s past as a mining town. Here you can also see the pipes above the ground; as there is permafrost here, nothing can be buried into the ground.
Huset
Off in the distance to the left is Huset. Huset was built in 1951 and is referred to as the ‘heart of Longyearbyen’. In the building was a cinema, a school, an exercise room and some apartments. In recent years, the building has been transformed into one of the most high-end restaurant experiences in Longyearbyen.
Longyearbyen Old Town Building Remains
The posts you see sticking up from the ground are where buildings stood before World War II. Most of these buildings were barracks for the miners, but they were destroyed when the Nazis bombed Longyearbyen. Today the site is under cultural heritage protection.
John Longyear Memorial
On your left, next to the post remains, you’ll see a plaque commemorating John Longyear, the founder of Longyearbyen.
Svalbard Church
The first church was built on Svalbard in 1921, and Paster Frederick Thorleif Østenstad served as the first clergyman. The mining company built the church and owned it; they also paid for the pastor’s travel and accommodation. When Longyearbyen was being evacuated during World War II, pastor Just Phillip Christian Kruse took the altar silver, baptismal bowl, baptismal jug and church book with him and went to Scotland. The original church burned down in 1943. The remains are visible beneath the red barracks, Formannhuset, located south of Longyearbyen nursery school.
The current Svalbard Church was built in 1958. The items that were saved have been placed inside the church. The church is non-denominational and open 24/7.
The Cableway System
You can see rows of trestles leading from it in several directions. All of Longyearbyen’s mines (except 3 and 4) are high up on the steep mountainside. There was nowhere to store coal, and it had to be stored because the fjord ice prevents it from being shipped for around 6 months of the year. John Longyear chose a cableway as a means of transport.
The first cableway ran from the American Mine, Mine 1a, to the depot and loading dock. In summer the ships were loaded by cableway from the mines and using a four-track railway from the winter depot. There was only one cableway until SNSK built the new Mine, Mine 2a. The cableway crossed the valley via six tall steel trestles. It was destroyed during 1941.
The name of the wooden structure to the right is ‘Kurven’ – it is where the cableway system curves up to the depot, which you’ll see soon.
This is the structure where all the cableways from the different mines met. From here, the coal would be transported down to the pier. The man who ran Taubanesentralen had a lot of power – he could decide would mine could send its coal down to the depot and dock. The structure was like a railway station – here the wagons would be sent off in different directions once they got clearance. From here coal was also taken to the power station. The cableways ran all year round day and night and were only interrupted by maintenance. At Christmas the ‘Christmas Bucket’ made the rounds; it was decorated with motifs and lights.
The current structure you see was built in 1957.
Bell Tower & Flag Pole
The flagpole is where Longyearbyen’s celebrations took place. It was first used on the 14th of August 1925, when Svalbard became part of the Kingdom of Norway. This is where the May Day and Constitution Day parades end. The bell tower next to it is from 1949. The bell was cast in SNSK’s mechanical workshop. The idea came from the miners bell in Røros, a famous mining town on the mainland and now a UNESCO World Heritage area. The bell was also used as a church bell until 1958.
Here you will also see a memorial for those who lost their lives during world War II.
The Governor's Residence
The building was completed in 1950. The buildings are in a square around a courtyard with a large gate. The two story is referred to as a ‘palace’ by the locals in Svalbard. The three story concrete tower looks like it belongs to a castle, which was probably the intention. The small extension close to the storehouse is the only surviving part of the residence from 1934. It has been used as a jail and is currently an outbuilding. Outside the courtyard is the governors garage, one of the few garages for private vehicles in Longyearbyen.
Shortly after passing the governor’s residence, you’ll pass a white stone building on your right – this is another cold food storage area.
Coal Power Plant
This is the main power plant for Longyearbyen and is powered by coal, which is fitting considering the close proximity to the mines. Today’s power station is the third generation of coal power stations in Longyearbyen. Approximately one third of the coal produced in Longyearbyen goes to the power station, which produces hot water, heat and electricity for the town. All the buildings in Longyearbyen are heated by waterborne heat. The red and white building is a food storage building.
Circle K & Toyota Dealership
You’re now passing by the northernmost petrol station in the world, and (of course), the northernmost Toyota Dealership in the world!
Svalbard University Centre & Museum
A large number of people living in Svalbard are students who have come to study here. The Svalbard University Centre works closely with the Arctic University in Tromsø.
In the same building complex as the university is the Svalbard Museum. This is a fantastic museum that covers the history of Svalbard, from the early days of hunters and explorers through to the future of Svalbard. It also includes exhibitions on the flora and fauna found on the archipelago.
Cafe Huskies
Cafe Huskies is a brand-new cafe in Longyearbyen that is home to several huskies who will join you on your visit. The coffee here is excellent and there’s a charming little gift shop.
Longyearbyen Self-Guided Walking Tour
Enjoy your walk around Longyearbyen! If you want a self-guided walk with more details, be sure to buy my downloadable Longyearbyen self-guided walking tour.