Barentsburg

Barentsburg sits on the southern shore of Isfjorden about sixty kilometres from Longyearbyen, a Russian settlement of a few hundred people built around a coal mine worked by a Dutch company from 1921 and by the Soviet trust Arktikugol from 1932, with Soviet-era apartment blocks, a cultural centre, a Lenin bust that is among the northernmost anywhere, and a brewery that claims the same distinction. A museum covers Pomor hunting and the settlement's history. Greenhouses and a farm operated here in the Soviet years to feed the settlement, and parts of that infrastructure are still standing among the blocks.

What to look for

• The Soviet-era townscape - apartment blocks and murals of the mining settlement.
• The Lenin bust - among the northernmost statues of him anywhere.
• The Pomor museum - the collection on Russian hunting and the settlement.
• The brewery - the operation that claims to be the world's northernmost.

When to go

June to September for boat access, March to May for snowmobile. There is no road at any season. Tours run from Longyearbyen.

Good to know

There is no road; access depends entirely on boat or snowmobile and weather. The settlement is a working mining town with limited facilities. Photography of infrastructure is discouraged.

Nearby

Grumant is east, and Longyearbyen is beyond it.

Key facts