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Arctic Travel Guide

For those north-bound adventurers seeking expert insight into how to plan and enrich their expedition, or increase their knowledge of what wonders and wildlife lie in wait for them in the Arctic, our polar specialists have shared some of their detailed polar knowledge for your benefit and enjoyment below.

We do hope this considerable—and hopefully comprehensive—collection of Arctic travel insights inspires and guides your expedition planning journey, but should you have any outstanding questions or concerns at all, our agents are always on hand and eager to help.

A narwhal, a grey whale with a long spiral tusk, surfaces in icy water with snow falling around it.

Wildlife

Narwhal Facts: Secrets Of The Unicorn Of The Sea Revealed

If the beluga whale is the “sea canary,” the narwhal—another Arctic cetacean, and as it happens a very close cousin—is the “unicorn of the sea.” Indeed, the long tusk wielded (mainly) by […]

A Greenland shark swims in the dark, murky depths, its rough skin visible under dim lighting.

Wildlife

9 Facts About The Greenland Shark: The Ancient Arctic Giant Of The Deep

Far less well-known than the polar bear or the orca, the Greenland shark is, nonetheless, an important top predator of Arctic waters just like them. It’s also a much more obscure member […]

Three polar bears at night under the Northern Lights

Wildlife

The 5 Best Places To See Polar Bears In The Wild

Polar bears are not only one of the mightiest of all carnivores, but one of (relatively speaking) the most rarely seen: inhabiting as they do a Far North environment dominated by sea […]

Two polar bear cubs playfully tug on a small fish in the snow near their mother's legs.

Wildlife

10 Fascinating Polar Bear Facts

Likely no creature is so emblematic of the Arctic realm as the polar bear: the spectacular “ice bear” that reigns supreme atop the food web—and sits atop the size chart of all […]

A polar bear stands on a rocky shoreline with a piece of driftwood, facing the viewer near the water's edge.

Wildlife

The Best Time To See Polar Bears In Svalbard (& The Arctic)

Is spotting a polar bear—the world’s heftiest terrestrial carnivore—on your bucket list? It probably ought to be, given the sheer magnificence of the Arctic’s flagship top predator, as well as the uncertain […]

An aerial view shows a partially snow-covered archipelago with dark waterways and swirling clouds.

Geography

What & Where Is The Northwest Passage? Definition & Location

Among the most fabled portals in global navigation, the Northwest Passage of the Arctic also remains very much at the forefront of commercial maritime schemings—on account of our planet’s warming climate. Northwest […]

An antique map shows the Arctic Ocean centered around the North Pole, with labeled basins, ridges, and historical exploration routes.

History

10 Most Famous Arctic & Antarctic Expeditions of All Time

The Arctic and the Antarctic represented some of the final frontiers of human exploration, and indeed continue to draw both scientific interest and fresh ideas for novel adventures and feats of endurance. […]

A black and white illustration shows a large sailing ship trapped in icy water, with smaller boats, sleds pulled by people and a dog, and figures on the ice.

History

The Search For The Northwest Passage: An Exploration History

Since the time of the Ancient Greeks, those of geographic—and, all the moreso, commercial—persuasion dreamed about an efficient passageway from the Atlantic to the Pacific: a connection between Europe and East Asia. […]

A black and white illustration depicts two sailing ships navigating icy waters near a large, snow-covered volcano emitting smoke, with other icy landmasses visible.

History

5 Doomed Polar Expeditions That Failed Fatally

The polar realms—the Arctic and the Antarctic, forming the icy caps of our planet—are among the harshest and most remote on Earth. While native peoples such as the Inuit and Yupik have […]

A dark-furred wolverine with a bushy tail lies on its back in the snow with its paws raised.

Wildlife

10 Wild Wolverine Facts: A Marvel Of The Arctic Kingdom

Few members of the animal kingdom enjoy such an amped-up reputation as the wolverine—and not just on account of the Marvel superhero named after this Northern Hemisphere mustelid. Although it’s found extensively […]

History

A History Of Arctic Exploration (Including Timeline)

The Arctic was one of the last regions on Earth to be comprehensively mapped and scientifically described. From financial enterprise to unquenchable curiosity and adventurism, this top-of-the-world domain of icy seas, glacierized […]

A vintage brass compass with a visible needle rests on top of a detailed antique map of the Arctic region.

History

North Pole History Of Exploration (Including Timeline)

Set amid trackless and ever-shifting sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, the North Pole has long tantalized humankind. Early navigators dreamed of a (fantastical, as it turned out) Open Polar Sea that […]

Two portraits in black and white of two arctic explorers in arctic gear.

History

Who Was The First Person To Reach The North Pole Really?

Among the more extreme points on Earth in more ways than one, both the North and the South poles were coveted prizes for explorers and adventurers, who vied—and sometimes died—for the honors […]

Black and white illustration of two large sailing ships on a body of water, with a smaller boat carrying several people in the foreground.

History

Franklin's Lost Expedition & The Search For Erebus & Terror

There is arguably no better-known tragedy in the chronicles of Arctic exploration than the doomed 1845-1848 British expedition of Sir John Franklin, which set out to penetrate the Northwest Passage and ended […]

Painting of a young man in a blue naval uniform swinging a rifle at a large, aggressive polar bear on ice floes, with two ships in the background.

History

The 5 Most Famous Polar Explorers—Of Both Poles—Of All Time

From Admiral Fabian Gottlieg Thaddeus von Bellingshausen to Sir Robert Falcon Scott to Naomi Uemura, there are many legendary names associated with polar exploration and discovery. But only a minority of intrepid […]

Black and white illustration of a large, arched iceberg with small boats and figures near openings, and a sailing ship in the distance on a wavy sea under a cloudy sky.

History

The 10 Most Famous Arctic Explorers & Their Incredible Feats

From the perilous labyrinth of the Northwest Passage to the heights of the Greenland Ice Sheet and the farflung sea-ice wilderness of the North Pole, the Arctic—long home, of course, to Native […]

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