Just back from a Hurtigruten Expeditions (HX) trip to Svalbard and thought future travellers might be interested in our experiences and hopefully find them useful for their own trip planning.
We booked direct with HX and found them a little difficult to deal with, mainly because their IT system kept pumping out requests for information that we had already supplied.
We decided to have 2 nights in Oslo at both ends of our trip and this was a good idea as the HX dates got changed after we'd booked. This meant we had one full day at the start of our trip and again at the end to explore the city. We arranged the Oslo part of the trip ourselves and decided to stay in hotels at the airport and use the excellent public transport to get into the city, saving lugging heavy bags on the train and putting us close to the airport for our flights to Longyearbyen and eventually back to Scotland. We stayed in the Radisson Blu hotel on the way out and the Radisson Red on the way back. The Blu was much closer to the terminal building and was a little more expensive than the Red, which was a longer walk from the terminal. The bedroom at the Red was bigger, and the bathroom was much more modern and larger than the one at the Blu. Both hotels were quiet and had very comfortable beds. Breakfast buffets at both hotels were superb and we were glad to have booked a rate that included breakfast. It's worth joining their loyalty scheme for lower rates and 10% off food - we had dinner one night in each hotel, which was good if a little expensive by UK standards (so the 10% discount helped soften the blow).
We used the Ruter App to buy public transport tickets, opting for a 24 hour pass for all zones. This meant we could use the train (regular services not the Flytoget express) into the city, and then any bus, tram, metro or ferry services to get around the city and environs. This worked out at about £11 for my husband (a senior) and £22 for me for a 24 hour ticket.
I would not recommend paying extra to use the Flytoget express train into Oslo, as the regular train only makes one stop. The trains are punctual, clean and not overcrowded. A delight in fact!
Once in Oslo we enjoyed using the various ferry services to see something of the Oslo Fjord. You can hop on to any Ruter service from Aker Brygge, getting off to explore the small islands, or simply staying on board for the round trip. The weather was so lovely that we didn't bother with any museums, preferring to wander around. We loved the Vigeland sculpture park, which we'd visited years ago on a previous trip. We also used the trams, which are very easy to navigate.
Our flight up to Longyearbyen in Svalbard was part of our package with HX and used a commercial flight with SAS. As Svalbard is outside Schengen we had to go back through passport control and the flight used the F gates which are quite a distance from check in. On arrival in Longyearbyen we were bussed to our hotel, the Radisson, which has now apparently been acquired by Hurtigruten Svalbard. Dinner was included, which was excellent. Our room was small, but comfortable. The bathroom was very small and cramped, with shower over the bath. Breakfast was buffet style and also very good. The hotel is very central and all the shops and the museum are within walking distance. In any case you are not permitted to leave the 'city limits' without either your own firearm (eek!) or accompanied by a polar bear guard. Before embarkation we had time to explore the shops, which include outdoor clothing stores, as well as well stocked souvenir shops (we bought Christmas tree ornaments, and warm hats) and a COOP supermarket, that puts our local Skye COOP to shame. We also enjoyed the museum which covers both natural history and the story of humans in Svalbard.
Continued in part 2.