POLE POSITION
When the 16th-century Dutch explorer William Barentsz first sighted the polar archipelago of Svalbard while attempting to find a northern sea route to Asia, he christened it Spitsbergen, or “pointed mountains.” That name is now reserved for its largest island—more than 700 kilometers off the Norwegian mainland— where the former coal-mining town of Longyearbyen lays claim to the northernmost full-service hotel in the world. While tourists arrive throughout the year, Spitsbergen’s natural wonders are best experienced in the summer months. Here, deep inside the Arctic Circle, the midnight sun means that guided excursions into the tundra can stretch up to 10 hours. Another plus? Retreating seasonal ice opens the way for voyages around the fjords in search of walruses, prolific birdlife, and—most enticing of all—polar bears on the hunt for prey.