A Luxury Expedition Cruise to Svalbard and Greenland

This privately guided tour of Norway's capital will be structured with your interests in mind. Your local guide will introduce you to some of the city's most important and interesting sites. You could take a tour of the Viking Ship Museum and learn all about the Scandinavians who explored Europe by its seas and rivers. Stop in at the open-air Norwegian Folk Museum, the country's largest museum of cultural history, where there are a variety of exhibitions of folk art, costumes, toys and Sami culture. Or spend some time in the Vigeland Sculpture Park which boasts more than 200 sculptures in bronze, granite and wrought iron, all crafted by Gustav Vigeland. You can also take a turn past Holmenkollen ski jump hill and the Ski Museum below it. The museum's exhibitions outline 4000 years of ski history.

Cruise northwards along the west coast of Spitsbergen, stopping at intriguing places like Kongsfjorden or Magdalenefjorden. Kongsfjorden (Kings Bay) is incredibly scenic, the fjord is headed by two giant glaciers. There’s ample time ashore for hiking on the lush tundra amongst the summer flowers and observing the remarkable bird cliffs near the 14th July Glacier, where even a few puffins nest between the cracks in the cliffs.

You'll keep watch for polar bears and arctic fox and feel a sense of history at the 350-year-old remains of a Dutch whaling settlement, Smeerenberg on Amsterdamøya. The name Smeerenberg literally means blubber town in Dutch. It is a place of extraordinary legends, of thousands of men living there during the 1630s, a town complete with shops, gambling dens and the like. However, in reality, only 400 men and 15 ships visited Smeerenberg during its peak in the 1630's for whaling purposes.

Cape Humbold is a beautiful bay on Ymer Island. There is a good chance to take a tundra walk and witness musk oxen graze. You will also keep a lookout for arctic fox and ptarmigan and the elusive Gyrfalcon. A lone trapper’s hut looks over the bay and magnificent icebergs.

Sefstrom Glacier fans out and blocks nearly half of the rugged Alpefjord. Zodiac access allows us to observe the dynamics of a glacier face and to cruise the beautiful hanging gardens with arctic flora growing in the autumn light.

Ittoqqortoormiit is Scoresbysund’s colourful Inuit community of approximately 500 people. You are free to explore the village, the fascinating museum or sit quietly in the beautiful Lutheran Church. The people are friendly, and the young children vie for our attention from underneath their arctic seal skin and fox-fur jackets.

Sydkap in Scoresbysund offers good walking and delightful views across the sound. Kayakers will have good opportunities to explore the lonely beaches. It has always been an important hunting site for the indigenous people and it contains many ancient grave sites.

Next you'll head over to Red Island (Røde Ø) has one of the best iceberg cruises you can find at either pole. You will cruise among the beautifully carved blue icebergs with a fantastic contrasting red island as a background.

The approach to Jan Mayen is spectacular. The huge volcano (2277m altitude) is the world’s northernmost active volcano, and last erupted in 1985. The northern part of the island is a great place to look for whales and dolphins, and contains impressive glaciers, some of which reach the sea. If the weather is friendly, the ship will try to land at Kvalrossbukta, a relatively sheltered bay on the island’s west coast. This is one of the landings used to supply the weather station Olonkinbyen, situated on the eastern side of the island. If conditions allow, you may walk from Kvalrossbukta to Olonkinbyen (approximately three hours walk to visit the station). Zodiacs will be waiting for you at a small bay to transport you back to the ship.

Learn about Norway’s oldest export produce at the Lofoten Stockfish Museum, enjoy a Zodiac cruise through spectacular Trollfjord, a two kilometre-long, 100-metre-wide gorge with steep mountains of up to 1000 metres surrounding the fjord, perhaps visit Norway’s oldest and best-preserved fishing village at Nusfjord.

Sailing south, you will stop at Reine, one of the most picturesque fishing villages in Lofoten, with red and white fishermen’s huts dotting the shoreline surrounded by soaring granite peaks rising out of Reinefjorden. Further south, you will land at Torget Island to inspect the bizarre rock formation - Torghatten, a legendary hole in the mountain supposedly created by a troll’s arrow. En route to Bergen, you may also visit the charming fishing villages of Sor-Gjaeslingan.

As you head farther down the coast, you will visit the beautiful and historic stave church at Kvernes or the scenic former fishing village of Grip along the outer coast. The island of Runde is one of Norway’s premier seabird nesting islands and is home to several sea eagles as well.

Today you will explore Bergen, Norway's UNESCO gateway city to the fjords. Filled with history and tradition, this big city enjoys a small-town charm and is easily explored on foot. Stroll around the fairy-tale-like old cobbled streets and small wooden houses and discover the well-known, old Hanseatic wharf with its unique architecture.

Bryggen, recognised as the old wharf of Bergen, defined by a line of colourful heritage buildings, the architectural character here saw this area designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. A stop at the city's fish market for a little bit of local hustle and bustle in a picturesque setting will also be part of the tour, as will a trip up the funicular to Mount Floyen for remarkable views back across Bergen.

The history of Rosendal dates back to the 1650s, when the nobleman Ludvig Holgersen Rosenkrantz (1628-1685) came to Bergen as Commissioner of War for the Danish king, Fredrik III. At a ball at the fortress of Bergenhus he met Karen Axelsdatter Mowat (1630-1675), sole heiress to the largest fortune of the country at the time. Her father was a great land owner and had more than 550 farms all over the western part of Norway. Ludvig and Karen married in 1658, and were given the farm of Hatteberg in Rosendal as a wedding present and shortly after, Rosenkrantz started building his own manor. In 1678 King Christian V of Denmark gave the estate the status of barony – the only one of its kind in Norway. There were more than 500 farms in its domain and an expansive renaissance garden was laid out. The families of Rosendal were important and influential and Norwegian celebrities such as Henrik Ibsen, Hans Gude, Edvard Grieg and Ole Bull were regular exclusive guests of the Barony.

Today the farm has a total area of ​​approximately 1200 hectares, including 200 hectares of farmland and 1000 hectares forest. The residence consists of three two-story wings together built around a square courtyard. The building is now a museum. The garden of the Barony is often referred to as the most magnificent Victorian garden in Norway and around 2000 roses in bloom can be seen from June to November.

The Guddal Galllery, which dates back to 1993, is located at the very charming farm at Guddalstunet just outside then Rosendal centre. It houses exhibitions of the best Norwegian contemporary art and has a section devoted to graphic art, ceramics, glass, jewellery, textiles and booksdedicated to around 70 different Norwegian artists. This section is kept updated with the latest work of each artist.

The Kabuso Art Centre alongside the Ingebrigt Vik museum, showcases temporary art exhibitions right in the heart of Hardanger. The exhibitions cover everything from Norwegian national romanticism to international contemporary art. Kabuso also has a wonderful chamber music hall with outstanding acoustics and concerts and other shows are put on throughout the year. A beautiful park connects Kabuso with the Ingebrigt Vik Museum - the sculpture collection of the artist Vik. Vik (1867-1927) is considered one of Norway's foremost sculptors and the art centre is celebrating his 150-year anniversary.