Longyearbyen is a town of 2,595 people (as of 2023) and is the northernmost in the world. It is owned by Norway, and located on Svalbard, an archipelago 650 kilometers north of Scandinavia. It started as a hotel, which got shut down, and then they started mining coal which caused a town to grow and here we are now.

There are 2 ways to get into Longyearbyen.

1.  By air - Longyearbyen has an airport - Svalbard Airport Longyear (IATA: LYR). You can either fly there from Oslo or Tromsø. A bus will come and pick you up from the airport and drive you to the town.

2.  By cruise - There are several crusies that go there.

There is no public transport in Longyearbyen. However there are taxis as well as bike and car rentals. If you go outside the town you must carry a rifle due to polar bears.

There are plenty of things to do in Longyearbyen!

1.  Svalbard Museum - A museum showcasing the 400 year history of the islands!

2.  North Pole Expedition Museum - A museum showcasing the pioneers to the north pole and their expeditions!

3.  Go dog sledding! - There are plenty of companies who can arrange it for you!

4.  Tour of Mine 3 - A tour of an actual mine that closed in 1996 with machines left behind.

5.  Svalbard Church - The northernmost church in the world!

There is one supermarket in Longyearbyen, Svalbardsbutikken (also called coop svalbard). It is like a supermarket and department store combined. There are two souvenir stores, Souvenir Svalbard and the Svalbar Museum Gift Shop. You can also find souvenirs at Svalbardsbutikken. There are also a handful of other stores. They use the Norwegian Krone.

There are many restaurants in Longyearbyen, including a dog café with huskies! (Café Huskies) They also have their own brewery, Svalbard Bryggeri, which is the northernmost brewery in the world and their beers are brewed on 16% glacier water!

There are 9 hotels and one camping ground (where people have been killed by polar bears) in Longyearbyen. However, all hotels are hella expensive (at least 1270 Norwegian Krone), so beware.

Longyearbyen has a hospital, police station and fire station. Here are the numbers:

Ambulance: 113

Police: 112

Fires: 110

If you see a polar bear, seek shelter IMMEDIATELY indoors (a car or house), and call the governor on 112. Do not take photos, approach, or follow as they are unpredictable and protected by law. If you can't find shelter, stay calm, make noise, avoid cornering it, and get out of there calmly. If you exit the town, you must carry a rifle and flare gun due to these situations. Use a flare gun before it gets too close, and if it attacks, fight back with whatever you have (rifle/flare gun) and focus on it's face. It is illegal to disturb, lure or chase them, and doing so anyway will result in heavy fines.

There are 3 submarine cables going into Longyearbyen and two out of it to Ny-Ålesund. There is 4 and 5G coverage in the town and most restaurants, hotels and cafés have free Wi-Fi.

Cats are forbidden not just in Longyearbyen, but in the entirety of Svalbard due to that the little bastards that they are will hunt down all the birds. It is also illegal to die and give birth there, as giving birth there will put a strain on the hospital as it is very small. Pregnant women will be flewn to norway to give birth, and so will dying people as it's also forbidden to die there. Why? Between 1918 and 1920 50,000,000-100,000,000 people died of the spanish flu. 7 of these people, died in Longyearbyen (all of them during the first week of of october 1918), and were buried in a new graveyard. What people didn't realize was that the permafrost in the ground preserved the bacteria in their bodies. They finally discovered it in 1950, and burials were banned the same year. The school also has a giant fence spanning around it to protect the children from polar bears.