Exploring the pristine wilderness of Svalbard does not necessarily mean you have to cook dinner on your portable stove and spend the night on a sleeping mat.

After immersing in the Arctic wilderness and maybe catching a glimpse of a polar bear, travellers can enjoy relaxed luxury at the 78th parallel at the newly renovated Radisson Blu Polar Hotel Spitsbergen in Longyearbyen.

The hotel offers premium accommodation and laid-back gourmet dinners.

“We aim to merge unique and sustainable nature adventures with informal high-end hotel experiences. At the new Polar Hotel, you kick off your shoes before entering the restaurant, and you’re more than welcome to wear your hiking clothes, while enjoying your full-course dinner,” says SVP Destinations in Hurtigruten, Thomas Westergaard.

The iconic hotel is a premium quality platform for experiencing what is probably the most unique destination of the Arctic. It recently reopened after three months of multi-million dollar renovation.

The make-over includes 95 rooms, conference and meeting rooms, a lobby with fireplace, sauna and outdoor Jacuzzi, a pub and fine dining restaurant.

As a last stop before the North Pole and a former Arctic outpost, Svalbard is home to about 2,650 people, of which most live in Longyearbyen, the administration centre of the archipelago.

Hurtigruten Svalbard offers accommodation, restaurants and unprecedented experiences in the wild. The adventure travel expert is a full-service provider of unique experiences, accommodation and dining, ranging from experiencing panoramic views from snow-covered glaciers, the sunset over soaring peaks, dogsledding, kayak paddling, hiking, ice-caving, skiing expeditions, and more.

Building on 125 years of Norwegian pioneering heritage, Hurtigruten is the world’s largest expedition cruise company.

Hurtigruten’s rapidly growing fleet of custom-build expedition ships takes modern-day adventure travellers to the world’s most spectacular destinations on our Planet – from the High North to Antarctica in the south.