Reach The North Pole
Still to do
Stand at 90 degrees north, on ice floating over four kilometres of ocean, where every direction you face is south.
The adventure
There is no land at the North Pole, no monument and no rock to stand on, just a vast white plain of sea ice drifting slowly over the Arctic Ocean. Getting here is the adventure: days of an icebreaker grinding and shuddering through pack ice, or a flight to a temporary camp followed by hours of skiing across pressure ridges and frozen leads in temperatures far below zero.
Then the GPS ticks over to 90°N and everyone gathers on the ice. Expedition crews often form a circle so you can walk around the world in a few seconds, through every time zone at once. The sun circles low around the horizon without setting, the silence is total, and somewhere out there on the ice a polar bear might be watching. Few places on Earth feel so final.
Why it’s epic
- The geographic North Pole, where all lines of longitude and every time zone meet.
- Sea ice usually a few metres thick, floating over an ocean more than 4,000 metres deep.
- Twenty-four-hour daylight during the summer expedition season.
- The chance of seeing polar bears, walruses and seals on the way through the high Arctic.
What it is
The geographic North Pole sits on drifting sea ice in the middle of the Arctic Ocean.
How to do it
Expeditions fly from Svalbard via a temporary ice camp, or nuclear-powered icebreakers sail from Murmansk in summer. Some people ski the last degree.
Top tip
These trips are expensive and often affected by ice conditions and politics, so book with an experienced operator.
Need to know
- Options change with politics and ice conditions; Russian icebreaker voyages and ice-camp flights have been disrupted since 2022, so check what is running.
- Trips sell out and must be booked a long way ahead, and itineraries can change at short notice because of the ice.
- Insurance must cover polar travel and emergency evacuation, and ski expeditions need serious fitness and cold-weather training.
Make it happen
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Why it’s on my list
64.7511° N, 147.3494° W
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