Antarctica
The Antarctic Peninsula by small expedition ship from Ushuaia: penguin colonies, blue ice and landings by inflatable boat.
Small expedition ships to the ice at both ends of the earth, for penguins, polar bears and silence
Polar travel: Polar and Expedition
How to think about Polar and Expedition
Polar travel is expedition travel. You go by small ship, and the days are shaped by weather and ice rather than a fixed timetable. Landings are by Zodiac, led by expedition staff who know the wildlife and the history. The choice of ship matters more than almost anything else, because smaller ships put guests ashore more often.
The two ends of the earth are very different trips. Antarctica is penguin colonies, whales and vast icebergs, usually reached across the Drake Passage from South America during the southern summer. The north is polar bears, walrus and the midnight sun: Svalbard for bears on the sea ice, Greenland for icefjords and Inuit settlements, and longer voyages across the Arctic.
You rarely combine the poles in one trip, but each pairs well with somewhere nearby. Antarctica sits well with Patagonia or Buenos Aires, and Svalbard with a few days in Norway or Iceland. The best cabins on the smaller ships go early, so these trips are worth planning a year or more ahead.
Destinations in Polar and Expedition
Greenland
Icebergs the size of towns, an ice sheet you can drive to and Inuit communities, four hours from Copenhagen.
Svalbard
The high Arctic three hours from Oslo: glaciers, walrus and polar bear country, reached on a scheduled flight.
The Arctic
The Northwest Passage by expedition ship: Franklin's route through Arctic Canada, narwhal waters and Inuit communities.
Journeys in Polar and Expedition
Sample routes to start from. Every one can be changed.
Antarctic Peninsula by small expedition ship: 13 nights
A night in Buenos Aires and one in Ushuaia, then 11 nights on a small expedition ship across the Drake Passage to the Antarctic Peninsula, with Zodiac landings among penguin colonies and cruises through the ice.
Around Spitsbergen: a nine-night Arctic voyage for polar bears
A night in Oslo and one in Longyearbyen, then nine nights on an expedition ship circling Spitsbergen in the midnight sun, looking for polar bears along the pack ice, walrus on the beaches and seabird cliffs in Hinlopen Strait.
From the Journal
Antarctica: how to choose a ship and a month
Ship size decides how often you go ashore. The Drake Passage decides how you feel on the way. The month decides what you see. How the landing rules work, whether to fly or sail, and what changes through the season.
Plan your Polar and Expedition trip
No forms to get through first. Tell us roughly what you have in mind and a specialist will take it from there.