I Visit The Town Where It NEVER Get's Dark!

I'm about to visit one of the world's northernmost inhabited places. Sitting at 78 degrees north, close to the North Pole, lies Svalbard, a remote archipelago in the high arctic. In the summer, the sun doesn't set. No darkness, no sunset, just endless daylight. It's surreal, disorientating and strangely beautiful. But what is it really like to visit a place where the night simply doesn't exist? What greets you when you come out of the airport is a warning sign for polar bears. Yeah, there's more polar bears than people on Svalbard. More about that later. Let's get a taxi and show you where I'm staying. This is crazy. Let me just show you. Almost at the top of the world. I mean, especially when you go across, right? You see where we are there, look. Further north than Russia, just across over Greenland. Look, you can't even see Canada and the United States are down there. Mental. Arrived at my hotel. The bus service from the airport is pretty good, actually. It only costs about £5. Right, let me show you where I'm staying. Here it is. So it's a little bit confusing because the reception is actually over the road. But the main part of the hotel is there. So let's go check in. First thing I've got to do is take my shoes off. It's customary here in London to take your shoes off and to get your slippers on. Nice and cosy. Just got to find a spot. So I don't have a room key. I have a code to get into my room. Here we go. 303 and then my code. Believe it or not, the air conditioning is on in this room. I don't know why. It's pretty cold outside. So my view outside, there's a lady walking huskies out there. I love that. There's a lot of snowmobiles here. And what's crazy about this place is that there are more snowmobiles and snow buggies and snow cats and all that kind of thing than there is people. I'll tell you some interesting facts all about Svalbard a little bit later. But let's have a look around my deluxe room. Turn on these reading lights, make it look nice and cosy as always. I love what they've done though with the lighting in here and straight away behind the bed. Just check that out. The towering mountains of Svalbard. I mean, what's crazy is that you're looking at the photo there and then you look at your window and you can see them obviously without bits of snow. There's still some snow up there a little bit. But what they've done with the light around the headboard is that it almost looks like a live picture because the street lighting on the photo down there is lit up by the headboard. Looks really good, doesn't it? They've got a little chocolate polar bear on the bed. There's two of them. Another one over there. Scandinavian style bedding. I mean, this is so squishy and comfy. So you've got a... Well, it's like a... It's like a mattress topper on top of like a little foam mattress and then what you probably would call a box spring. That's squishy as well. So it's like ultra comfort. So I've got my wardrobe and I have my slippers. So these are just temporary but these are the slippers that I can use whilst I'm here. And apparently they have my room number on them. Obviously a good idea to wear socks and slip these in. Oh yeah, nice and cosy they are. I also have some robes. Very nice. Look at that. Branding's on point. A little bit of space. Somewhere to put my luggage. A deluxe room means it does come with a sofa stroke sofa bed. Little living room area. Little office chair as well. Even got a coffee machine. No kettle though. I guess we could get hot water out of there if we needed it. The bathroom is here. Let's turn the light on. Oh it's a censored light. Hope that doesn't go off when I'm in the bath. Nice big bath. Stroke shower. Lovely and clean. Hairdryer there. Huge big sink. I always say you know it's a good hotel when they bring the toilet paper to a point. Love the little window over there. Little window over there and then you've got the huge window there. I'm hoping that it's going to be full-on blacked out later because obviously it doesn't get dark. And these are... Are they blackout blinds? I'm guessing they are. There is a bit of gap there but thankfully the curtains will... No they won't look. You still see the light up there. That's a bit rubbish. I was really hoping this would be fully blacked out. Just gotta watch my head on the TV. I can push that back. Yeah nice little seating area here where I can relax with a coffee in the morning. Now it's almost six o'clock and I know a lot of the shops down there might be closings but there is actually quite a lot here during the summer. A lot of people visit here. They want to experience the arctic and the midnight sun. Fingers crossed that the weather holds out actually and I can actually see the sun at midnight. Right just before we go exploring I just want to say a massive thank you to today's sponsor Odoo. 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There's a tourist centre there so if you want to book any trips whilst you're here that's the best place to do it. Here's the other side of my hotel. It's a little husky or not a little... Hello! Look at that there's a church over there. Can you see that? Svalbard has got the most northern church. Now it's coming up to quarter past nine. What is there to do in Svalbard this time of night? We'll find out. There's a few gift shops around here. There is a couple of bars. This is the Svalbar but I'm going to be heading to Station which is just in front of me. So yeah polar bears can walk into the town but it doesn't happen very often. But what does happen is reindeer often walk in. Look at those antlers. Wow check out the bar. Look at that. They have a lot of whiskey in here. Look at that. Right to cover more ground I've just hired this bike. And we're going to do a little bit more exploring. And I'm going to show you something very special and unique to this part of Svalbard. Well you certainly wouldn't want to be doing this in the winter. I mean it is still pretty cold. I think the temperature's around about five degrees. Could do with some gloves to be honest. So this is the Radisson Blu and it is the most northern hotel in the world. I've done a video and you can see my stay there. The link is in the description. Baby geeselet. There's not that many petrol stations around the world that have become tourist attractions. And this is because this is the most northern petrol station in the world. And here is some other very interesting Svalbard facts. Located 74 to 82 degrees north you could expect 24 hours of darkness in the winter known as polar night and 24 hours of daylight in the summer known as the midnight sun. Svalbard is home to over two and a half thousand people. But amazingly polar bears outnumber people. Being the world's most northern most town there is the most northern most liquor store, supermarket, cinema, library and kebab van on earth. Svalbard is actually classified as a desert. The air is almost as dry as it would be in a hot desert. There's also no trees that grow here. During polar night you can see the northern lights at any time during the day. You're not actually allowed to die in Svalbard because of the permafrost. No one can actually be buried here and you cannot give birth either. In the event of a global catastrophe Longyearbyen is home to the global seed vault. Almost 1 million of seed samples from all over the world are stored here. Residents of Longyearbyen are not permitted to bring any cats with them to the island. The harsh law is necessary and strictly enforced to protect the local fauna and safeguard the local bird life. Scientists also reckon that this part of the arctic is warming seven times faster than anywhere else on the globe. And here we up to the city limits. I'm not going to go any further beyond this point. Not that it makes a difference actually that I'm standing here or just over there. Polar bears don't look at signs and go oh I shouldn't go in there. But most polar bear sightings have always been beyond the city limits and beyond this point. So I'm not going to go any further. Just on the edge of town I've come across this abandoned building. It feels so weird that unfortunately it's been cloudy but it feels like I've been stuck in a time warp. Like time has literally stood still. And it's obviously going to be like this till three, four, five, six in the morning. It's weird. I don't know if I could get used to sunlight for 24 hours. The other thing I didn't expect to see is people to be walking around so much at this time of I would say night. Because if I was back home right now half past midnight in my little sleepy Norfolk village there'd be nobody walking around. It really does mess with your senses. Anyway as it is now after midnight I'm off to bed and I'll see you. It feels weird saying see you in the morning. I'll see you in a few hours. Good night. Morning. So what's pretty good is they've got free coffee over there so I thought I'd grab a cup before I head out today. So I'm going to be heading out on an excursion which lasts for six hours where I'm going out on a catamaran to see some glaciers and some wildlife. This should be interesting. Quite good they do compliment your coffee here actually. So when you wake up in the morning if your coffee machine isn't working like mine wasn't you can head down here. It is so weird to see everyone walking around in slippers. They are super comfy. More hotels should do that. It goes back to the history of Svalbard and the mining that obviously the miners had to take their shoes off because they didn't want to bring all the dirt into people's houses. So that tradition has carried on into hotels and so it's quite a nice tradition actually. So any hotel that you stay in in Svalbard you have to take your shoes off and get slippers on. Temperature this morning it's about eight degrees. Right so before we take this trip I thought it would be a nice idea to get a little bit of a better perspective of the town from above and to do that I'm going to walk up that mountain just behind me. It's probably going to take me about half an hour. Come on. Famous last words right. It doesn't look that big. We'll find out. Love these colourful little houses. Well I'm used to dandelions in the UK but look at these. They are literally like cotton wool buds. By the way this is not a bus stop. This is actually where all the letters get delivered to all the houses just over here and even though it's eight degrees it's now summer in the high arctic. The permafrost obviously further down in the ground doesn't melt. So all the pipe work to all the buildings are all actually above ground so as you walk around you'll see all the pipes. The best form of transport to get around Longyearbyen is obviously the skidoos, the snowmobiles. First thing you notice though are the mountains. They are so dramatic and if you ever have come here just before polar night when the sky goes all orange honestly it's so dramatic. Don't really have gardens but got some outside spaces to enjoy. So although you can't be born on Svalbard you can have children here. A semi playpen, a little play area. It's a bit sparse. You've got somewhere to warm up here. Even though it's July there's actually still some ice and snow up here. It leaves me thinking this was a good idea. This is one way to get your steps in and work out in the morning. Wow look at the view. Now a lot of people don't think of Svalbard, Longyearbyen as a ski resort but they do have a ski slope up here for the locals to enjoy in the winter. Obviously doesn't look much in the summer. People love to stack, don't they? No matter where you go in the world if there's stones or bits of rock people love to stack them There's a letter box here. What's this all about? There's a book. People put in their names in here and the date that they've climbed up here. I don't normally carry a pen with me. Okay let's do my today's date which is the the 9th, the 7th. There you go. So let me know if you've ever been up here and you write your name in here. Send me a photo on my socials. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong in the comments but these big metal structures going all the way down the mountain and up here are to stop avalanches with the amount of snow that's on here in the winter maybe. Talking of snow there's still some up here. You can see my hotel is just down there. I've got to get the bus from just down there as well. I've got to show you the most northern supermarket in the world. This is the Co-op. There won't be any polar bears in here so you can leave your gun outside. Just look at all the danishes they've got and the bread. I didn't expect it to be this big. I mean they've got everything in here. Fresh fish, look at the hot food. Quite possibly the best Co-op I think I've ever seen. I mean this place has everything and it is huge. We're in the arctic. I mean this is this crazy one and if you want to go trekking look at this. They've got loads of this great outdoor food that you just heat up with hot water. Pasta bolognese, casserole. Look at this kebab stew, beef stew. Fancy some scum? They sell it here. And if you forget some clothing when you come don't worry this shop's got you. There's gloves, waterproofs and something you don't normally see in most shops. Because of guns they're selling. That's a pretty nice backpack actually. There's actually so many different trips that you can do whilst you're here. You can go into some of the mines, you can go into some of the ice caves. I've decided to do this though which is a catamaran tour to go and check out some glaciers and some of the local wildlife. Let's go and check it out. Morning. So we say goodbye to Longyearbyen and we're heading north. Let's do a little bit of a tour of the boat. It's three levels obviously catamaran so it's nice and smooth. Wow look at that incredible scenery. When I booked this it did say that you would get some complimentary soup. However the bar downstairs has got a price list for soup, for coffee, for cookies. So we'll see what happens there. Apparently after you buy the first cup of coffee you can get free refills for the rest of your trip. It was cold in Longyearbyen this morning. It was about eight degrees but out here on the water with a windchill it's about four degrees. We're leaving Longyearbyen all the way up here going close to Prymiden. I wanted to go here but unfortunately this is all closed off at the moment because of what's going on with Russia. This is like a massive Russian outpost with buildings and stuff like that. So it should be interesting. Just found out that soup is included. I thought I'd get myself a coffee. It is blooming cold out there. Just look at how dramatic those mountains are. And over there in the distance is the glacier which we're going to visit. The mountains are just so intimidating. I mean you can imagine when this is all covered in ice as well and snow. It looks incredible. So apparently if we're lucky we might see some walruses, puffins and even some polar bears as well. It's really great they give you loads of information as well talking about how explorers discovered the northeast passage back in the 1800s. I mean you think about how hard it must have been and in fact one intrepid explorer decided that he was going to walk from here to the north pole. Bearing in mind that's over a thousand kilometers. That's crazy. There's some walruses just there having a sleep I hope. There's even a little house stroke cabin just over there. Nobody lives in it. So interesting isn't it being this far north. If we went across to Greenland it would be a lot colder than it is here. A lot snowier than it is here. The reason why this is slightly warmer because of the gulf stream that comes up from New Mexico and then hits basically the west coast of Svalbard. Which means in the summer you can come and enjoy the fjords up here. So next we're heading towards something that I've always wanted to see physically with my own eyes and that's a real glacier and that's just coming up ahead. I was busy looking around and then I realized hang on a second. Where is everybody? Has everyone jumped ship? But I guess the soup must now be being served. Let's go before it all gets eaten or drunk. Eaten? Do you eat soup? Do you drink it? The queue for soup. There was no seats left downstairs or upstairs so I thought I'd be the only person that actually comes up here and eats it with an incredible view but really outside in the elements as well. But it's blooming cold. There's nowhere else to sit. People are scrambling to get this soup you know. People are pushing past it and it's just like I just waited till the end. I've still got my soup you know. Some of these people on this boat act like they've never eaten before. That is good homemade vegetable soup. So over there is the Russian settlement of Pyramiden. There was a mining town there used to hold about 2000 people lived there at one point. I did plan a trip there but unfortunately it got cancelled and trips there have been cancelled indefinitely because Russia's made plans to come back there and do something with it. So whether or not you'll be able to go there again in the future not quite sure but it's a shame because that would have been really fascinating to walk around there all this way up right in the middle of nowhere in the Arctic. A size comparison of the glacier. Look at that boat and the glacier in the background. I mean wow that's incredible. Just incredible. All the colours in the glacier. How old it is. How vast this particular glacier is as well. You can see it from the air. I thought we'd have stayed there a little bit longer actually. It was there for about five minutes. All right back at the hotel. I'm starving. Let's go and see what the options are for dinner. Local delicacies on the menu. There's mink whale for starter. Mains you've got reindeer sirloin. You've got some freshly caught fish. There's a chef's special which is lamb this evening. Looks very, looks very classy. I think I'm going to go for the oven baked catch of the day. Wow this smells amazing. It looks like there's a little bit of caviar on there as well. It smells amazing. The fish of the day is pollock. I've got to say that carefully but let's give this a try. Wow that's nice. Creamy mashed potato. Wow that's good. I hate to offend anybody here but I can't really taste the difference between pollock and cod. So if you do see it on the menu in the UK go for it. It's cheaper right I think. Dessert is here and this is a Norwegian kind of like an apple pie. It's an apple layered dessert. This looks good with a matcha white chocolate shell on the side. Let's give this a try. Oh that's good. Dinner was really nice. A bit of a strange atmosphere knowing that everyone was in slippers. Anyway I'm off to bed. I'll see you in the morning although it doesn't feel like it's night time. Breakfast was great. It was continental style. There was also a little bit of hot options as well. People come here from all over the world not just for work but also as a tourist. It's pretty easy to get to like I got a direct flight here from Oslo. The arctic in the summer is a truly amazing place. Not just the landscape but the people that live here. The wild animals. The mountains that surround Langebyn are just breathtaking. A little bit intimidating but they are just crazy. Being in a place where the sun doesn't set has its challenges for some but also has some advantages for others. What was great was people were out at like midnight 1am doing the kind of things that you would do like four in the afternoon but because it was so light it didn't really matter. Obviously all the shops and businesses they still close normal hours but it's great that if you can't sleep you know you could just go for a bike ride and get the sun on your face at like two in the morning. They do so many tours here. You can go on a snowmobile. You can go and check out these incredible ice caves. You can check out the rich mining history of Svalbard and they also do boat trips like the one I did to that incredible glacier and seeing that with my own eyes was an amazing experience. Obviously it's not going to be too warm in the summer. I mean temperatures today actually are a little bit warmer. The warmest it's been is around about eight degrees. Yesterday was pretty cold but last night when the wind dropped it was quite pleasant. I didn't see any polar bears but I did see some reindeer in July which was an interesting experience. Drop it in the comments if you like the video and if you would come here please make sure you give the video a thumbs up. Remember to hit that subscribe button. I'll see you next time.