Hello. First of all, I am not a Svalbard local, just someone who visited last March, so probably other people can offer you better advice. Still, here it goes. I did a trip to the East Coast, to Spitsbergen, with the company called Better Moments As. Apparently, the chances of seeing a polar bear are higher there. I was unlucky and did not see any, but I had a super commited guide and a great experience that day. I totally left with the feeling that I had done my best to see polar bears. I have to add that, even if I did not see them, the landscape that I encountered was the most spectacular thing I have ever seen. I also saw that day the only bird that you can apparently encounter in Svalbard, rare as well. Alternatively, there seems to be chances if you take a boat to Pyramiden, on a glacier that you encounter on the way. I took the other typical boat trip, to Barentsburg, but I could not come close to its correspondent glacier due to strong winds that day, which made navigation tough. Concerning more fauna, even if there are specific trips to see Arctic fox, for example, you can also see them if you are lucky on other trips (motorbike, sledging...). And about summer animals no idea, but I believe you may be able to see other birds, walrus and maybe whales. Best of luck on your trip and enjoy the breathtaking islands!

Dear Carol. From us we generally recommend tall mountainering shoes - they should be able to withstand a few seconds dip of a few centimeters of water. Our goal is to transfer from the zodiac and onto the beach completely dry, but there may of course be some waves/swells that wash up during this operation.

Hey Carol! As you say, we can never guarantee wildlife, but we do see polar bears among other wildlife quite regularly throughout the summer. I would highly recommend our Catch of the Day for this :) Feel free to drop us an e-mail at info@bettermoments.no for help with planning your adventure, All the best, Alex

Dear Melanie Thank you for reaching out to us. East coast is usually the better one for wildlife. I am not sure which trip you are referring to as a 3 day excursion so it is a bit hard for me to compare. Drop me an e-mail at info@bettermoments.no and include your time of arrival and departure and we can look at making a nice program for you :) All the best and a happy new year to you as well - Alex

Hei Tanja, Juli er en flått måned å oppleve Svalbard. Det er midt på sommeren og de fleste blomstene og de fleste dyrene/fuglene har sin mest aktive periode i Arktis. Vi vil absolutt anbefale en våre båtturer. Om du går på vår nettside vil du finne mange gode alternativ med båt. Jag vil selvfølgelig anbefale en Walrus Safari og en kveldstur med besøk til en glacier som heter Catch of the day, dette er en wildlife tur som foregår på kvelden så da får dere også oppleve midnattsolen. I Juli tilbyr vi også dagstur med kayak fremfor en isbre, noe som er unikt for denne delen av året. Jeg anbefaler også å ta en titt på denne turen på vår nettside. Vi tilbyr ikke hudeturer, men det er mange firma i longyearbyen som gjort dette. Vær obs på at de fleste turene foregår på hjul langs bilveien på denne tiden av året. Om dere ønsker litt lengre turer kan vi tilby en veldig fin fottur som går over to dager eller en full dag med båt til verdens nordligste by Ny Ålesund. Begge turene finner du på nettsiden vår. Jeg skulle gjerne lagt ut linker til siden vår til de ulike turene jeg beskriver i teksten, men dette er noe TripAdvisor ikke tillater. Send oss gjerne en mail eller ring oss, så kan vi hjelpe dere videre. Håper dere finner noe av interesse. MVH Eivind

Heated comfortable and even beer

I did both Catch of the Day and the Walrus Safari, and I did see walrus on BOTH. The big difference was on the Walrus Safari, we were able to land on the beach and walk close to the walrus, about 15 meters away, which was a great thrill, though it took a lot of time on the boat to get there - it was a full day boat ride for 20 minutes with the walrus. It is a tough call, because you can take the Catch ride and not see any wildlife, or you can get lucky and see bears and walrus and whale, while getting close to the sea-ice and glaciers, while the Walrus safari is pretty much a sure-thing to spot walrus. If I had to choose one, I would choose the Catch of the Day, but you cant go wrong with either!

Hi, Most our trips are fine for kids in that age, contact us on mail for more info when you have decided what trip you would like to join. Regards Better Moments

Hi Mountiem, I am sorry to say we don't offer boat trips in the dark season. The sun does not go above the horizon in January so we only offer shorter snowmobile trips with focus on Northern lights. The whales is most common to see in Tromsø this part of the year, so I recommend to stop a day or two in Tromsø on the way to us. Best regards Eivind

Good morning, Sorry for the late answer. Walruses leave Svalbard by the beginning of August so you won't see them or the chances are tiny. It's also not the best time to spot Polar Bears, even if it's always hard to see them, this time of the year you'll have to be really lucky :) But it happens that we spot them on our boat trips. It really depends. Let me know if you need anything else. Val