[ncfausti]

Interesting – I was just looking into visiting/living in Svalbard for a couple of months for the unique experience of it. Unfortunately, I could only find one apartment building [1] and the price for an apartment was $6,000 USD.

I've read that most of the apartments are owned by companies, and you have to work for the company to have access to the apartment. Does anyone know of any other alternatives for a short stay there?

[1] https://en.visitsvalbard.com/where-to-stay/svalbard-hotell-l...

[throwaway290]

Have you looked up hotels/hostels e.g. on Booking.com? Last time I checked this fall there were enough reasonably priced options.

As an aside, IME the expectation that you can show up and rent an actual apartment for a month or two is just not met (locals don't like that and/or law explicitly forbids) in many places around the world, not just Svalbard. Being able to do it for $6000 or at all is seems fair. In Seoul, for example, you'd need to have substantially more than $6000, possibly two or three times that will be required as a deposit even if you are able to find someone who rents you, a tourist, an actual flat in a residential building for two months (which I doubt; note that on Airbnb most rentals listed as "flats" mean you get a private room with shared space).

[cdibona]

We stayed at the Radisson blue and it was pretty terrific, could walk to the main drag, etc... I mean , it was -35, but it was great.

[alister]

So an isolated, remote, thinly populated location like Longyearbyen with almost zero tourism doesn't have many short-term apartment rentals. Fine, that makes sense. But what's the story with Seoul? It's among the densest and most connected cities in the world with plenty of tourism and business visitors. Why is finding a real short-term apartment so difficult? Can you explain more about the legal or cultural problem there?

[kimburgess]

I can't comment on current availability, but when I visited ~4 years ago I stayed in someone's apartment that was listed on AirBnB.

[Muskoxworks]

I am living and working in Longyearbyen, and have an apartment through work. It stands unused for 4 weeks when I am away on summer vacation. Send me a mesage if you are interested in renting

[drstewart]

>I've read that most of the apartments are owned by companies, and you have to work for the company to have access to the apartment.

Did you read that in the linked PDF, which says it on the first page?

>Almost all the accommodation is owned by employers. In most cases, you must have a job in order to get accommodation.