From traveller-now

The edges of the Arctic Ocean are littered with islands, mostly fragments of the North American, European, and Asian continental masses. Some are inhabited; others are completely covered in snow and ice and therefore uninhabitable. Several of the most interesting lie in the border waters between the Arctic and northern Atlantic Oceans, 60° and northward toward the Pole.

Islands

• Greenland - a vast self-governing territory of Denmark
• Iceland - the least-southern nation on Earth
• Faroe Islands - a small self-governing territory of Denmark
• Jan Mayen - home to a tiny Norwegian radio & weather station
• Svalbard - by far the most visited island within the Arctic Circle, a territory of Norway
• North Pole - not actually an island, just a point on a vast shifting and floating mass of ice
• ATOW1996 - Northenmost bit of land on Earth

Understand

The largest number of Arctic islands are parts of the Nunavut and Northwest Territories of Canada, and several are part of northern Russia; most of these are barren and uninhabited, and are covered (to the extent that there's anything to say about them) in their respective countries' articles.

Greenland – so large it hardly deserves to be called a mere "island" – lies largely in the Arctic Circle. Although it is arguably part of continental North America, it bears cultural and practical similarities to its smaller neighbors in the Arctic region. Likewise, Iceland barely kisses the Arctic Circle and has a fairly mild climate, but still has a sparsely-vegetated landscape and moderate accessibility issues. The Faroe Islands are closer to mainland Europe than any of the others (not much further out to sea than the Shetland Islands), but their small size leaves them somewhat more isolated. Jan Mayen and Svalbard are quintessentially Arctic – remote and harsh – but habitable.

Get in

Get around

By plane

Although they lie on or near the "great circle" routes taken by airliners between Europe and North America, the Arctic islands are generally treated as "fly-over" territories, with fewer stops since passenger planes gained the ability to cover the distance without refueling. Because of their historical ties to Europe, they are easier to get to from there than from Canada or the U.S.

• Deutsche Polarflug. [1]. North Pole and Svalbard sightseeing flights, starting in May 2007, 11-hour sightseeing flights departing from Germany in an Airbus 330, cruising over Norway and Svalbard, flying low over special sights, and getting all the way up to the North Pole. Most passengers switch during the flight between center-section seats to pairs of outer-section seats, giving everyone in this class a window or next-to-window seat for half of the flight; a small number of tickets are center-section or outer-section only. Informative in-flight programming. €790-€1190 economy, call for first-class.

By Tour

Big Five Arctic Tours [2] - Offers group and individual tours to the Arctic.

Adventure Life VOYAGES [3]. Offering small-ship expedition to Arctic islands and the North Pole, their Arctic voyages have been featured in New York Times and USA Today.

Quark Expeditions [4]. Provides everything from month-long semi-circumnavigation trips to week-long explorations of the Arctic, including ice-breakers to reach the remote North Pole.

Longyearbyen in Svalbard, is accessible on regularly scheduled SAS flights from Tromsø and Oslo, Norway.

Reykjavik, Iceland is served by several flights a day to and from the United States, and the rest of Scandinavia.

Greenland is reached primarily by flights from Denmark and Iceland.

See

Arctic scenery

Do

Skiing

Stay safe

This is polar land and you need many layers of clothes to survive. Also beware of polar bears.