Colourful blocks
On the slope.
Jerzy Strzelecki — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Andre Shutterbird — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bjoertvedt — CC BY-SA 3.0
Barentsburg is the second-largest settlement in the Svalbard archipelago, home to about 300 people, on the south shore of Isfjorden on Spitsbergen, about 36 km in a straight line west of Longyearbyen. It has been a coal-mining town since it began. A Dutch company bought the mine here in 1921 and named the settlement after the Dutch explorer Willem Barentsz, who discovered Svalbard in the 16th century. The company sold the mine and town to another mining company in 1932, and coal is still mined there today. The town sits on a slope above the fjord, with colourful apartment blocks, power-station chimneys and mine buildings, and views over the water and snow-covered mountains. A small museum on the history of the archipelago and its mining welcomes visitors, along with a hotel and restaurant. It is reached by boat in summer or snowmobile in winter, on paid guided trips from Longyearbyen. Do not wander outside the town without a guide because of polar bears, and bring warm clothes.
On the slope.
Archipelago history.
Snowy mountains.
Isfjorden, Spitsbergen, Svalbard
By boat in summer or snowmobile in winter.
Yes, with a restaurant.