Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sleeping & Eating
Barentsburg Hotel
HOTEL, RESTAURANT €
( 79 02 10 80, 79 02 18 14; d Nkr650)
The Barentsburg Hotel (the settlement's only
accommodation for visitors) has reasonable rooms that are, like Barentsburg itself, in need
of an overhaul although they're fine for a night. The restaurant serves traditional Russian
meals, featuring such specialities as boiled pork with potatoes and Arctic sorrel, parsley
and sour cream. If you're one of very few visitors who overnight, sign on for the gourmet
dinner, offering both Russian and Ukrainian cuisine, lubricated with Russian champagne
andvodka.Inthebar,youcanenjoyadeliciouslyaffordableandgenerousslugofvodkaor
a Russian beer. It also sells large tins of the Real McCoy caviar at prices you'll never find
elsewhere in the West, let alone Norway.
Shopping
The Polar Star Souvenire Shop sells babushka dolls, Lenin lapel badges and some Soviet
army surplus.
Getting There & Away
Two companies (
Click here
) offer summertime nine- to 10-hour
boat trips (from
Nkr1250)
to Barentsburg from Longyearbyen. The boats head across the fjord to the vast
Esmark glacier on the homeward journey. The price includes 1½ hours in Barentsburg,
mostly occupied by a guided tour.
In winter, it's possible to travel between Longyearbyen and Barentsburg as part of a snow-
mobile safari (
Click here
).
Pyramiden
Formerly Russia's second settlement in Svalbard, Pyramiden, named for the pyramid-
shaped mountain that rises nearby, is a rewarding day trip from Longyearbyen.
In the mid-1910s coal was discovered here and operations were set up by the same
Swedish concern that exploited Sveagruva. In 1926 it was taken over by a Soviet firm,
RusskiyGrumant,whichsoldouttotheSovietTrustArktikugol,exploitersofBarentsburg,
