22-02-2025
The secret to visiting the most enigmatic region on Earth
In September 2024, Le Commandant Charcot, bearing a complement of excited passengers, nudged through pack-ice to become the first cruiseship to reach the North Pole of Inaccessibility, the remotest point in the Arctic Ocean from land. Three days later, she reached the geographic North Pole.
That they penetrated so far in five-star luxury, a far cry from the hardships endured by explorers such as Roald Amundsen and Sir John Franklin, might diminish the Arctic's chiselled aura of remoteness. As do rising sea temperatures, which are reshaping its geography and accessibility. By 2024 the Arctic Ocean's sea-ice coverage had reached a historic low by extent.
Yet this evolution of the icescapes and wild tundra above the Arctic Circle – outside of out-of-bounds Russia, which encompasses half the region – have opened new doors to opportunities to explore it. Just a few decades ago, the centre of attention was Sweden's Icehotel, first conceived in 1989, and a Christmas wishlist to visit Santa in Lapland.
Now, there are wildlife cruises to see polar bears in the increasingly popular Svalbard archipelago and Astro-tourism is booming, driven by the sunspot phenomena Solar Cycle 25, which will yield wondrous northern lights sightings well into winter 2025/26. You can dogsled with the Inuit and learn their secrets of survival – ' coolcations ' also offer ever more unique and remote accommodation immersed in the wilderness.
