Two remarkable Arctic sailing adventures. Go deep into Greenland’s fjords, or keep sailing all the way to Svalbard.

Every now and then a trip comes across my desk that makes me stop whatever I’m doing and start staring at maps.

Northeast Greenland does this to me a lot.

It is one of those corners of the world that still looks properly wild on a chart. Great fjords cutting deep into the land. Glaciers. Mountains. Icebergs. Very few people. Vast amounts of nothing in between.

Add a beautiful old tall ship and I’m pretty much packing my bag.

Right now we have two expeditions at Another World Adventures that head into this extraordinary part of the Arctic, and I’ve been thinking about the difference between them because, frankly, I’d happily do either.

One is all about Greenland.

The other starts in Greenland and then does something rather wonderful: it keeps going, right across the High Arctic to Svalbard.

Same ship. Same tiny group of just 12 guests. Same spirit of genuine expedition travel.

Two very different adventures.

First, East Greenland

If Greenland is the thing that has been niggling away at the back of your mind for years, this is probably where I’d start.

The Sail East Greenland expedition is wonderfully focused. Fly into Greenland, get aboard and spend your time exploring the fjords, glaciers, ice and enormous landscapes of the northeast coast.

And enormous really is the word.

This is home to some of the biggest fjord systems on Earth. You’re sailing at around 70 degrees north, deep into a region where settlements are few, distances are huge and the scale of everything makes a tall ship suddenly look rather small.

That is part of the magic.

There isn’t a tight programme of “Tuesday at 10am we see this glacier, Wednesday at 2pm we see that iceberg”. The captain and expedition team work with the weather, the ice and what is happening around them.

You sail. You go ashore. You explore by Zodiac. You hike. You watch for wildlife. You stand on deck with a cup of something warm and wonder how an iceberg can possibly be that blue.

There’s an optional citizen science programme running aboard too, with observations and data collected as the ship travels through an area where scientific information can be surprisingly scarce.

I really like this element.

You don’t have to suddenly become a polar scientist for the week, but if you’re going somewhere difficult to reach, why not help gather useful information while you’re there?

And then there is the ship.

A traditional three-masted wooden tall ship. A dozen guests. A library of polar books.

And a Finnish sauna.

Obviously.

Explore the Sail East Greenland expedition

But then there’s the other route…

This is the one that really sent me back to the map.

In September 2027 the ship will start in Northeast Greenland, explore north through its great fjord systems and then, instead of turning back, point the bow east.

Destination: Svalbard.

There is just something about an A to B sailing adventure that I find impossible to resist.

Perhaps it comes from my own love of ocean passages, but travelling between two places under sail feels fundamentally different from flying into one, exploring it and flying home again.

You begin to understand how the pieces of the world join together.

Greenland isn’t suddenly a destination on one trip and Svalbard a destination on another.

There is an ocean between them.

And you cross it.

Greenland to Svalbard under sail

The Sail Northeast Greenland to Svalbard expedition begins in Reykjavik, with a charter flight taking the group into Greenland.

From there you join the ship and head north through Northeast Greenland National Park, exploring huge fjord systems including King Oscar Fjord and Kaiser Franz Joseph Fjord.

Then comes the bit I love.

The ship turns east into the Fram Strait.

For several days you are making a proper High Arctic sea passage between Greenland and Svalbard, settling into life aboard while keeping watch for whales, seals and seabirds and seeing what the Arctic decides to throw your way.

Eventually another mountainous coastline appears ahead.

Svalbard.

And instead of stepping off an aeroplane in Longyearbyen, you have actually sailed there from Greenland.

That feels quite different.

Explore the Sail Northeast Greenland to Svalbard expedition

So which one?

I don’t think there is a “better” trip here.

They scratch slightly different itches.

If your dream is Greenland, go deep into Greenland.

Give it your time.

Spend your days among the fjords, glaciers and icebergs rather than looking ahead to the next destination. For many people, reaching somewhere this remote is already quite enough adventure for one fortnight.

But if you are someone who looks at a map and immediately wonders whether it is possible to travel from there to there, the Greenland to Svalbard voyage is very tempting indeed.

It turns the expedition into a journey.

And I think that’s an important distinction.

This isn’t really about ticking off Arctic destinations

One of the things I love about these trips is that neither is trying to squeeze Greenland into a highlights reel.

You are on a small ship, with a small group, in a huge landscape.

There will be days when the weather changes the plan.

There will be places you hoped to reach that the ice might decide are off limits.

There may be wildlife encounters that suddenly rewrite the entire day.

Good.

That is what an expedition should be.

I think we have become so used to travel being organised down to the minute that it is easy to forget how exciting it is to genuinely not know what the next day will bring.

In the Arctic, you don’t entirely get to decide.

A small ship makes a big difference

Both expeditions take just 12 guests.

I love that.

Twelve people means you aren’t disappearing into a crowd every time you go ashore. It means the people around the breakfast table are the people you’ve been scanning the horizon with, bouncing around in a Zodiac with and swapping stories with over dinner.

It also means an expedition can respond to what happens.

Something interesting on shore?

Go and look.

Wildlife spotted?

Plans change.

Weather window opening?

Use it.

That flexibility is a huge part of travelling somewhere like Greenland.

And yes, there is citizen science

Both adventures also offer the chance to get involved with scientific data collection aboard.

This is increasingly something I look for in expedition travel.

Not because every holiday needs homework attached to it, but because sailing vessels reach parts of the ocean and coast that are difficult and expensive for researchers to access.

If you’re already there, binoculars in hand, surrounded by people who are curious about the place they’re travelling through, it makes a lot of sense to contribute.

Participation is voluntary.

Curiosity isn’t.

One last warning

I should probably mention that these are dangerous trips to browse if you have a weakness for maps.

Because first you look at Greenland.

Then you find Scoresby Sound.

Then King Oscar Fjord.

Then you notice Svalbard sitting over there on the other side of the Greenland Sea.

And before long you’re wondering whether you can possibly justify doing both.

I can’t help you with that part.

Although I can tell you there is a sauna. And last season there was a whole wheel of parmesan, champagne and expedition port … 😉

Explore Sail East Greenland

Explore Sail Northeast Greenland to Svalbard 2027

And if you’re looking at the two and genuinely can’t decide, drop me a line. That’s exactly the sort of adventure dilemma I enjoy helping with.