Oslo and Svalbard by Sea

Two nights in Oslo, with the Kon-Tiki and Fram museums opened after hours, the Fram over a dinner drawn from the recipes of a polar expedition cook. Then a flight north to Longyearbyen and seven nights on a small expedition ship for 30 guests, landing by Zodiac at bird cliffs, glacier fronts and walrus haul-outs, and paddling beneath the ice, in search of polar bears.

Length: Nine nights
Pace: Two stays
Style: Expedition cruise, wildlife, polar, city
Route: Oslo to Svalbard

OsloTwo nights
SvalbardSeven nights

Days 1 to 3 · two nights

Oslo

Met at the airport. The Kon-Tiki Museum opens outside its hours for private groups, and the Fram Museum hosts private evenings beside the polar ships Fram and Gjøa, with a menu inspired by the recipes of Adolf Lindstrøm, cook on the polar expeditions. By day, a walk from City Hall along Karl Johans gate to Akershus Fortress and the Opera House, the Munch or National Museum, the Holmenkollen ski jump and Vigeland Sculpture Park. On a spring or summer afternoon, a walk through the gardens of the Royal Estate to the greenhouse and farm, with the groundskeepers and producers, the season's harvest and the making of cheese and cider, and a lunch cooked by a chef from what grows there. At Akershus Fortress, a private historian can walk you along the ramparts and through the royal rooms. In Norway, an intimate dinner in the private home of a Michelin-starred chef can also be arranged.

Where you stay

Sommerro

Sommerro fills the old offices of Oslo Lysverker, the city's electricity company, and its 242 rooms keep art deco detail, from loft rooms to large suites. There are seven restaurants and bars, a rooftop pool and sauna, and Vestkantbadet, a 1,400-square-metre historic bathhouse with pool, saunas and cold plunge.

A wide glacier front behind a bay scattered with floating ice, dark mountains on either side.

Days 3 to 10 · seven nights

Svalbard

A flight to Longyearbyen to board. Then the seabird cliffs of Alkehornet and Alkefjellet, Smeerenburgfjorden and the old Dutch whaling outpost of Smeerenburg, the Bråsvellbreen ice front and the Hinlopen Strait, walrus at Torellneset, and Sorgfjorden, Krossfjorden and Kongsfjorden. Naturalist guides lead the Zodiac landings and the walks; kayaks and paddleboards, included in the fare, go out beneath the glacier fronts. A watch for polar bears, a polar plunge for those who want it, and on Day 10 the flight home through Oslo.

Where you stay

Aqua Lares

Aqua Lares is a 77-metre expedition ship for 30 guests in 15 cabins, with a crew of 32 across six decks. Interiors use warm panelling, Dedar textiles and Minotti and Poltrona Frau furniture, there is a sauna, an indoor jacuzzi and a cinema, and Chef Karime López leads the menus.

Arranged on request

Kon-Tiki after hours

The Kon-Tiki Museum takes private groups outside opening hours, with or without catering.

An evening on the Fram

Private evenings at the Fram Museum pair polar history with a menu of Norwegian and Arctic ingredients inspired by the recipes of Adolf Lindstrøm, cook on the polar expeditions.

By kayak beneath the glaciers

On Aqua Lares, kayaks and paddleboards are part of the fare, and naturalist guides take them out under the glacier fronts; the Arctic season runs June to September.

Smeerenburg

Landings at Gravneset and Smeerenburg, the whaling-era graves and the former Dutch outpost, where walrus haul out on the shore.

The King's Garden

On a spring or summer afternoon, the gardens, greenhouse and farm of the Royal Estate with the people who run them, cheese and cider in the making, and a chef's lunch from the estate's own produce.

Subject to availability.

Ways to make it yours

A night on the Oslofjord before the flight home.
A few days by rail across Norway to the western fjords, with a boat to Lidal, an abandoned village on the Sognefjord with no road, and a hike up to a mountain farm, where the guide cooks a hot meal with the view.
A night longer in Oslo, for both the Munch and the National Museum.
In September, a few nights at an Arctic glacier property, to join Sámi families as they move thousands of reindeer between seasonal grazing grounds in the annual migration, a tradition that cannot be staged or scheduled.

This is a sample. The hotels, the pace and the order are where we start, not where we finish: every journey is designed around the people taking it.

Made around you

Most travel is bought. This is designed.

Before anything is booked, we talk: who is travelling, how you like to spend a morning, and the hotel preferences below the obvious, from the kind of bath you like to the time you wake and how much daylight you need in a room. You see options where options matter and clean recommendations where they don't.

The same person remains your point of contact from the first reply to the trip after next. No handovers. No team.