North Pole

The geographic North Pole, at 90°N, has no land under it: it sits on floating sea ice in the middle of the Arctic Ocean.²¹ You can still stand there. In 2027 Ponant's icebreaking cruise ship Le Commandant Charcot sails to the Pole six times between July and September, from Longyearbyen in Svalbard or from Reykjavík, and when the ice allows, passengers walk out onto the frozen ocean.¹⁸⁹ Of all the expedition lines whose 2027 Arctic voyages we have checked, Ponant is the only one going to the Pole. The Russian nuclear icebreaker that carried tourists there for decades still sails from Murmansk, but Poseidon Expeditions, its longtime Western seller, put those cruises on hold in 2022, and the company that runs Russia's nuclear icebreakers is under US sanctions.¹²¹⁴²⁵

Can regular people go to the North Pole?

Yes, if you can pay for an icebreaker voyage, and the realistic choice for most Western travelers in 2027 is one ship. Three routes have carried tourists to the Pole, a fourth way is to ski the last stretch, and their status today is very different:

What decides whether you can go is a ship or aircraft able to get that far north, and the politics of the port it leaves from.¹⁹¹⁷

How much does a North Pole cruise cost?

From $44,370 per person, the cheapest cabin still on sale on Ponant's 2027 North Pole voyages when we checked on October 15, 2026: an upper deck balcony stateroom with two sharing on the 12-night round trips from Longyearbyen on August 8 or August 20, with economy flights between Paris and Longyearbyen included.¹⁵ The lower deck balcony staterooms advertised at $43,580 were already sold out on both dates, and Ponant's page data showed one upper deck balcony stateroom left on August 8 and three on August 20.¹⁵ Here is every 2027 departure as listed that day:

All of these prices are per person with two sharing and already include the PONANT Bonus, an early-booking discount of up to 30% that, Ponant says, decreases as a cruise fills; the page gives no end date.¹⁰¹ The round trips include flights between Paris and Longyearbyen both ways, and the two Greenland voyages include the flight one way.¹⁸⁹ Ponant's fares also include an open bar and port taxes.¹¹ None of these cruises can be booked online; Ponant asks you to request a quote.¹ If you can wait a year, the 2028 round trips appear in the same page's departure data from $39,640, with a 30% bonus applied.¹

At $44,370 for 12 nights, the cheapest round trip works out at about $3,700 a night (our arithmetic).¹ For what a trip to the far north costs more broadly, see our Arctic page and the North Pole cruises guide.

What happens on a North Pole cruise?

Most of the voyage is spent breaking north through the pack ice, with a stop at 90°N and a last few days back on the coast of Spitsbergen. Ponant's round trip runs like this: Longyearbyen; sailing along Spitsbergen; days navigating the sea ice; the Geographic North Pole; more sea ice on the way back; Ny-Ålesund, the former mining town founded in 1916 and now a science base, with a museum and a post office Ponant calls the most northerly in the world; northwest Spitsbergen; and Longyearbyen again.¹ The two longer voyages add the east coast of Greenland between Reykjavík and the ice.⁸⁹

The activities Ponant lists are Zodiac outings and shore visits, landings on the ice, kayaking, hiking or snowshoeing, and a polar plunge.¹ It is careful about promises. The voyage page says you will "perhaps" walk on the ice at the Pole, describes "opportunities to glimpse or observe polar bears, seabirds, cetaceans", and states that the sailing program, outings, activities and wildlife "cannot be guaranteed and are subject to weather and ice conditions".¹ If seeing a polar bear matters more to you than the latitude, read our polar bear page first.

The ship is the reason the route exists. VARD delivered Le Commandant Charcot in 2021 as a hybrid electric polar exploration ship powered by liquefied natural gas, built to Polar Class PC2, with 123 staterooms for up to 245 passengers and a crew of 215.³ In 2021 it became the first French ship to reach the geographic North Pole.²

What happened to the Russian icebreaker cruises to the North Pole?

They still run, sold by Russian agencies, but no Western operator we have checked sells them, and the icebreakers' operator is under US sanctions. Russian nuclear icebreakers began carrying tourists to the Pole in 1990.¹³ From 2008 the ship was 50 Let Pobedy (50 Years of Victory), a 128-passenger nuclear icebreaker, and in 2013 Poseidon Expeditions marked the 100th time an icebreaker had reached the Pole.¹² In 2017 Poseidon sold 14-day voyages on it from Murmansk, and Quark Expeditions sold three departures of its own on the same ship.¹³

In 2022, Poseidon put its North Pole cruises on hold because of the war in Ukraine.¹² Its North Pole page now says it is "currently unable to market or operate the North Pole icebreaker cruises that travel in Russian territory" and will resume them "when the situation permits".⁴ The icebreaker itself kept going. Rosatom's newsletter says it made five North Pole cruises in 2024, one of them for schoolchildren from 15 countries, and in August 2023 Le Commandant Charcot met it in the ice near the Pole while it carried a student expedition.¹⁴¹⁵

Russian agencies still sell places. RussiaDiscovery lists a 13-day voyage from Murmansk departing June 30, 2027, from $51,680 per person in an expedition cabin with two sharing, with the final price set by the Central Bank of Russia's exchange rate; the route returns by way of Franz Josef Land.¹⁶ Prices on Russia's own market run from 2 million to 3 million rubles for an icebreaker trip to the Pole, Izvestia reported in April 2026.²⁴ An official of the Russian Arctic National Park said in June 2026 that foreign tourists travel on the icebreaker too, but that foreign demand is waiting for sanctions to be lifted.¹⁸ The ship belongs to Russia's nuclear icebreaker fleet, run by Atomflot in Murmansk.¹⁴ The US State Department designated Atomflot for sanctions on May 19, 2023, and it is still on the Treasury's sanctions list; US persons may not do business with a blocked company unless the Treasury licenses it.²⁶²⁵ For Americans the answer is simple: the US State Department's advisory for Russia is "Level 4: Do Not Travel". It says "Do not travel to Russia for any reason" and that US citizens in Russia should leave immediately.¹⁷

Can you fly to the North Pole?

Not on any trip running today: Barneo, the ice camp that North Pole flights used, has not operated since 2018, although a new company, SIX, plans helicopter trips from Longyearbyen in 2027, ExplorersWeb reports.³¹ For years the flights left from Longyearbyen for Barneo, the Russian ice camp set up each April since 2002 at 89°N, on Ukrainian-built An-74 aircraft that could land on its ice runway.¹⁹ The 2019 season was cancelled after a political dispute over those aircraft and then bad weather, leaving 250 to 300 people who had booked stranded in Longyearbyen; marathoners had paid about €15,000 each and last-degree skiers €20,000 or more.¹⁹

In December 2023, Barneo's Swiss owner announced a return for April 2024, but Norway's aviation authority had refused permits for flights from Longyearbyen. The trip was moved to start in Krasnoyarsk in Siberia: four days in all, flying in stages by way of Khatanga, with a helicopter flight of 40 to 45 minutes from the camp to the Pole, about an hour at 90°N, and a price of €28,500.²⁰ That season never reached the Pole: ExplorersWeb reported a cracked runway, bad weather and international travelers held in Krasnoyarsk, and the 2025 season was cancelled too, the seventh year in a row.³⁰ Since that route runs through Russia, the State Department's Level 4 advisory covers it as well.¹⁷

Can you ski to the North Pole?

Not on any trip we could confirm will run in 2027. The usual tourist version, the last degree, starts with a flight to 89°N and skis the final 69 miles (111 km) to the Pole, and for years those trips depended on Barneo.²⁸³¹ Here is what the specialists list now:

Icetrek, which has run North Pole ski trips since 2002, says it "will not be offering North Pole expeditions, trips or flights in 2027 due to significant logistical constraints".²⁷ On the Adventure Peaks trip you ski for six to eight days, 7 to 11 miles (12 to 18 km) a day, and a £5,000 deposit holds a place.²⁹ Any route that starts in Russia falls under the State Department's Level 4 advisory.¹⁷ Before paying a deposit for a ski trip, ask the company in writing which aircraft and which camp it will use.

How cold is it at the North Pole?

Around freezing in summer and far below it in winter: NASA gives average temperatures of 32°F (0°C) in summer and -40°F (-40°C) in winter.²¹ The sun sets at the Pole around the September equinox, near September 21, and does not rise again until the March equinox, near March 21, so a July or August voyage reaches the Pole in 24-hour daylight.²² Summer does not mean dry weather: more than half of the precipitation events at the Pole in summer are snowfall.²²

Which is colder, the North Pole or Antarctica?

The South Pole is much colder. NASA's averages for the South Pole are -18°F (-28.2°C) in summer and -76°F (-60°C) in winter.²¹ The difference is geography: the North Pole sits on sea ice over the ocean, and the open water around it helps warm the air, while the South Pole sits on a high plateau of ice up to 3 miles (5 km) thick on top of a continent.²¹ Our Antarctica page covers the other end of the planet.

Is there land at the North Pole, and is it legal to go there?

There is no land: the Pole lies on sea ice floating in the middle of the Arctic Ocean.²¹ It is legal to go there. When the Barneo flights were disrupted in 2019, the Barents Observer explained that the airspace over the Arctic Ocean is international and that landing on the ice is governed by the law of the sea.¹⁹ The practical limits are the ice, the cost and the port: Ponant leaves from Norway's Longyearbyen, while the icebreaker leaves from Russia, and Barneo has not run since 2018.¹¹⁶³¹

Does anyone live at the North Pole, and are there penguins?

No to both. Nobody lives at the Pole, because it sits on sea ice that is always drifting; even Barneo was a temporary camp that appeared each spring on the ice near the Pole.²¹³⁰ There are no penguins either: all penguin species are native to the Southern Hemisphere.³² On the way north, Ponant describes "opportunities to glimpse or observe polar bears, seabirds, cetaceans", with no promise of any of them.¹

How long does it take to get to the North Pole?

Ponant's round trip from Longyearbyen takes 13 days, with 12 nights on board, and the Greenland voyages take 18 days.¹⁸ From Murmansk the distance to the Pole is about 1,500 miles (2,400 km); RussiaDiscovery's itinerary spends days 3 to 6 sailing north and reaches the Pole on day 7 of 13.¹⁶

Is a North Pole cruise worth it?

Only if reaching 90°N is the point of the trip. The cheapest round trip on Le Commandant Charcot, $44,370 for 13 days, comes to about $3,400 a day, while HX's 11-day Circumnavigating Spitsbergen costs $9,306 with its current offer (was $10,160), flights from Oslo included, or about $850 a day (our arithmetic).¹²³ The Svalbard trip spends its days around the archipelago's coasts and toward the edge of the pack ice; the Pole voyage spends several of its days crossing the pack ice itself, where Ponant promises no landing or sighting.²³¹

Book the Pole if you want the latitude itself and a ship that can break ice to reach it, and book early, because the cheapest cabins sell out first.¹⁷ Skip it if your goal is polar bears, walruses and glaciers: a Svalbard circumnavigation gives you those for about a fifth of the price. Our pick for most travelers who want the high Arctic is the Svalbard trip, with the Pole as a later, separate ambition.