The Arctic

The Arctic Archipelago of Canada is made up of more than 35,500 islands in the country's north and covers over 48% of its territory. Here visitors have a rare chance to learn about the culture and way of life of the Inuit, the region's indigenous people, who have inhabited this land for more than 4,000 years. With the right timing and a good measure of patience, travellers can enjoy the polar light (also known as the Aurora Borealis), or watch polar bears, caribou, musk oxen, Arctic foxes, belugas and narwhals in their natural habitat.

Greenland, the largest island in the world, lying between the Arctic Ocean and the Atlantic, is one of the most fascinating places a person can set out for. Glaciers and ice formations are unquestionably at the top of the list of attractions. The finest place to watch glaciers calving (the process in which great masses of ice break away from a glacier and drift from the coast out to sea) is the Ilulissat Icefjord, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 2004. Sailing among the icebergs, visitors can observe whales at close quarters.

The North Pole is not among the usual holiday destinations, which is why only 1,000 people a year visit this mysterious place. There are just two ways to reach the point from which every road leads south: by ship or by helicopter. Only the nuclear-powered icebreaker 50 Years of Victory can master ice that is in places 2.5 metres thick.

Svalbard is among the most astonishing places on earth. Despite its Arctic latitude, the archipelago is rich in natural beauty: seven national parks and a host of protected areas, bird sanctuaries and nature reserves make it the perfect place to observe and photograph, at close range, polar bears, walruses, whales (the blue whale among them), seals, narwhals, reindeer and more than 200 species of bird in their natural habitat. Svalbard is the only inhabited place on the planet where polar bears outnumber the human population.

The Faroe Islands are an archipelago of 18 volcanic islands in the north Atlantic, between Iceland and Norway. This paradise offers incomparable views of imposing basalt cliffs, rock formations and waterfalls falling straight into the ocean. Many of the breathtaking sights can be reached on foot, whether it is Lake Sørvágsvatn with the Bøsdalafossur waterfall or the idyllic villages of Gásadalur, Saksun and Gjógv, where picturesque wooden cottages have roofs covered in turf. For bird lovers, a visit to the island of Mykines is essential, where numerous colonies of razorbills nest.