Is it Worth Visiting Svalbard in February?: 7 Key Things to Know

If you’ve decided to visit Svalbard, congratulations: an incredible adventure is ahead of you, no matter when you decide to visit.

But more than anywhere else I’ve ever visited, the time of year you visit Svalbard has a huge impact on what your trip will be like.

And I’m not just talking season to season or even month to month. Honestly, from week to week or sometimes even day to day, Svalbard can be a completely different experience.

So much so that I’ve actually written a full guide to when to visit Svalbard — it outlines everything from daylight hours (and how they change over the course of the month… if they change at all) to the typical weather conditions to the activities that you can likely do during that time.

But if you landed on this post, it’s likely because you’re specifically considering a trip to Svalbard in February 2026. Or you’re just a daydreamer, in which case, same — and I hope this post is interesting nonetheless.

After visiting, I can say that yes, it is worth visiting Svalbard in February… but I do have some tips to make the most of it and so that you have the right expectations for your trip.

My February Trip To Svalbard

I made my first trip to Svalbard this past February, specifically from February 12 to February 16.

Though it may seem like overkill to tell you my exact dates of travel, hopefully by the end of the post, you’ll understand why these dates matter so much!

I was going with my friend Megan, who is a true Svalbard expert! She had been to Svalbard many times before, but never in February.

While we originally had booked the same dates, she ended up extending her trip until February 20th, and frankly — she had the right idea! She got to do a lot of things that I didn’t get to do, as many tours began operating again on February 15th.

7 Key Things to Know About Visiting Svalbard in February

Daylight conditions change quickly, as in, from day to day.

For the entire first half of February, there’s no sunrises or sunsets at all in Svalbard. And even by the end of the month, the town of Longyearbyen won’t have seen the sun. That’s because the sun doesn’t rise high enough above the horizon to shine on the town until early March (when it is welcomed back with a festival!).

That said, despite the lack of direct sun all month long, the light conditions are incredibly different throughout the month. Even before the first sunrise of the year, there are prolonged periods of civil twilight, which progressively get longer. Colloquially, the twilit period gets called “blue hour,” even though it actually extends throughout much of the day, far longer than just an hour or two.

Here is an example of how much “blue hour” you can expect:

• February 1: Blue hour from 10:40 AM to 1:40 PM [~3 hours]
• February 14: Blue hour from 8:30 AM to 3:55 PM [~7.5 hours] ** mirrors my experience
• February 28: Blue hour from 6:30 AM to 5:45 PM [~11 hours]

Technically the sun rises for the first time each year around February 15 (about from 11:30 AM to 12:50 PM).

That quickly extends, until by the end of February, the sun is up between 8:30 AM to 3:45 PM, but you won’t see it unless you leave Longyearbyen to find a spot that isn’t blocked by the mountains.

Blue hour in Svalbard is absolutely stunning.

If you’re a photographer coming to Svalbard, the light conditions in February are a dream. How does it sound to literally never worry about harsh mid-day light? Kind of dreamy, right?

The downside of not having a lot of hours of light is pretty obvious. But the upside, also probably obvious, is that there is truly no part of the day where your photos will come out in harsh light or overexposed.

The blue hour light means that you’ll mostly have beautiful dawn-like conditions all day long, with mostly robin’s egg blue and deep, rich jewel-toned blues the likes of which I’ve never seen elsewhere. It’s really a magical color palette that is unique to Svalbard, and unique to this particular time of year.

As the middle of the February creeps nearer and sunrises and sunsets are soon to return to Svalbard, you’ll also get some beautiful pastel pink and purple tones.

If you have a keen and creative eye, you’ll surely find no shortage of photo opportunities that inspire you in February!

Expect to have your rhythms thrown off.

I visited Svalbard before the sun had officially risen for the first time that year, but there was plenty of “blue hour” light, at least six hours a day of semi-lit conditions.

I was aware of that going in. I wasn’t too concerned; I had previously spent a lot of time in the Arctic, including nearly all of January in Rovaniemi and other parts of February in Tromsø and Alta. I definitely got more tired, but not significantly so.

But I wasn’t prepared for how impactful those limited hours of sunlight that places north of the Arctic Circle, but south of Svalbard, were for my body…. until I entirely gave them up.

Visiting Svalbard in mid-February, I drank so much coffee during the day — a literally uncountable amount — yet I always felt tired.

I was in my bed every day by 5 PM, feeling as if I could pass out at a moment’s notice… and then somehow, time would pass, and I’d find myself still awake at 2 AM (probably because the caffeine and my Circadian rhythms were at war).

When I returned to Tromsø, where I could see a bit of sun, I instantly felt revived and my energy and sleep schedule got a lot more normal, even though there wasn’t that much daylight there.

This isn’t to scare you off visiting Svalbard in February… I still overall loved my experience. Just don’t underestimate it, especially if you have ever experienced seasonal affective disorder (SAD), which I have and do.

The weather also changes quickly.

Given the fact that Svalbard is roughly halfway between the North Pole and the northernmost tip of Norway, you’d think that the weather in Svalbard in February is brutally cold.

But that’s actually not the case, especially on the western side of Spitsbergen, where Longyearbyen is. You may be surprised how warm (relatively speaking for its high latitude) it can be in February in Svalbard!

During my 4-night, 5-day trip, we had temperatures ranging from a high of 2° C (36° F) — which is far too warm and alarming for the Arctic, but I digress — down to a low of -15° C (5° F).

Since Megan stayed a little longer, she had some even colder weather… it went down to -25° C (-13° F) on one of the days she was there!

I wrote about how to pack for Svalbard in winter here, if you’re like me and you’re utterly clueless when it comes to the cold.

Some tours only start running again mid-February.

Personally, I think I made one critical error on my February trip to Svalbard — I came just a few days too early in the season, missing some key activities that would have made my time even better.

It’s hard to overstate just how critical a few days here and there can be in an environment as extreme as the Arctic.

My friend Megan quickly realized how much she’d be missing if she left on the 16th as we originally planned. So she extended her stay so she could do a really cool snowmobile adventure to the eastern side of Spitsbergen and take a few boat tours of Svalbard.

She was kind enough to share some of her photos from the East Spitsbergen snowmobile tour (above) and her fjord boat tours with Henningsen Transport & Guiding (below) so that you can have an idea of what you can do in the second half of February.

Can you already see a difference in that light, because I can! So much more pink and purple, and so much less pastel blue.

I can admit when I’m wrong — I definitely should have extended my trip and stayed extra so I could see Svalbard from the water as well as taken a snowmobile to Svalbard’s eastern edge.

In the moment, I was too exhausted by the extreme low-light conditions to feel like I had enough energy to stay longer, but I wish I had powered through because I can truly see how much more she got to see by staying later in the month.

Looking now, I see that the tour she took – the polar bear snowmobile safari – actually runs as early as February 9, but this wasn’t the case when I visited.

It seems like they are starting to run more activities as soon as the light starts to return in the second week of February, which is fantastic news for travelers looking to get the most out of a February trip!

Note that while this tour calls itself a ‘polar bear’ safari, you won’t actually track polar bears as that is illegal in Svalbard… for good reason, because these animals are dangerous!

However, it will take you to the eastern side of Spitsbergen, where there are a lot more polar bears since there is a lot more sea ice for them to hunt from.

This tour will bring you to the eastern side, where you can see the Barents Sea, look out on Königsbergbreen Glacier and Rabotbreen Glacier, and see the Barents and Edgeøya islands, both of which are uninhabited.

That said, if you visit earlier in February, you can still do some tours, like this snowmobile ice caves tour that I did and loved, this wildlife photography tour that I also loved, and this Northern lights snowmobile tour (which I also did and enjoyed, although we didn’t get to see the aurora).

Accommodation prices are usually comparatively low

I stayed at the Svalbard Hotell Polfaren during my February trip and found that prices were extremely reasonable for such a nice hotel at the northernmost edge of the world!

Here’s a look at what you can expect for February prices — only marginally higher than January, but you’ll have a much brighter and activity-filled experience.

For a hotel at the top of the world, I don’t think $370 per night is a bad price, if you can get it at those lower ends of the spectrum!

There are still some cheaper options as well, like Haugen Pensionat, where prices can be as low as $194 per night in February.

I haven’t stayed here personally, but my friend has and she recommends it highly for those looking for a budget stay in Svalbard.

As a bonus it also has a full kitchen area for guests to use, which can definitely help keep your food costs low in Svalbard so you can spend more of your money on activities and making memories!

The Northern lights are still a possibility if you’re lucky!

Unfortunately, I wasn’t lucky during my trip and despite staying in Svalbard for four nights, I didn’t get to see the Northern lights in Svalbard during my trip.

Actually, Svalbard is a bit interesting because it is outside what scientists have deemed the ‘aurora oval’ where the aurora borealis appears the most often. It’s actually a little too far north for its own good!

But that doesn’t mean you can’t see the Northern lights in Svalbard — you definitely can, as pictures show! It just means that actually, places like Rovaniemi in Finland and Abisko in Sweden have higher chances of seeing the Northern lights.

One thing to note is that you can’t leave the town of Longyearbyen independently without an armed guide due to the (small, but life-threatening) risk of encountering a polar bear. So if it’s cloudy in the village, you won’t be able to see the aurora even if there is a spectacular solar storm happening.

For that reason, I suggest taking a tour like this snowmobile tour to an aurora camp in Sassendalen to get a bit more inland (where there is less chance for clouds to obscure your vision) and away from light pollution.

***

So, as you can see, I overall have overwhelmingly positive things to say about visiting Svalbard in February. It’s pristine, it’s snowy enough for all the winter activities, and depending on when in February you visit, you can get enough light to explore and see the landscape properly.

However, do keep in mind that the light conditions are particularly extreme for those like me who are susceptible to SAD and you might want to aim for the end of February or even beginning of March if you think you will do better with more light.

Allison Green

Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016, visiting 75+ countries in total. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. As a former educator, she merges her writing and educational experience to encourage ethical, sustainable travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and TBEX. Her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. When she’s not on the road, she lives in Bangkok, Thailand.