"Visited this while touring Svalbard by ship and I have to say, this is one of my favorite places of the trip. We toured the cliffs by zodiacs in mid-August and the cliffs were teeming with birds. My understanding is that a few weeks later the cliffs would be empty as the birds were starting their migration. The main bird that we saw were the Brünnich's Guillemots which lay eggs on the narrow ledges to keep out of reach of predators.
As we motored off shore, the air and the water was filled with birds. Everyone got pooped on, it is just part of the experience.
In addition to viewing the birds, I really enjoyed the cliffs themselves with dozens of glacier fed waterfalls among the steep jagged cliffs.
I highly recommend a visit during the active season."

Jason F

"Alkefjellet Spitsbergen, Svalbard
79.5848°N 18.4608°
Our guides on Quark Expedition’s flagship, Ultramarine, told us that Alkefjellet (Mount Guillemot) is the nesting location for over 60,000 breeding pairs of Brünnich’s guillemots, nesting in the cliffs and basalt columns that we encountered during our Zodiac cruise at the mountain’s base in early May 2024.

We traveled close enough to the cliffs to hear the cacophony of the guillemots and see their young take the first dives into the water, with the dad guillemots guiding the young ones.

Whilst in the waters adjacent to Alkefjellet our crew spotted the recent kill by a polar bear; and then found the polar bear likely responsible for the kill lumbering away on the packed ice.

During this stage of the expedition the Ultramarine took us over 80°N."

Chris McNeil

"Alkefjellet is the most famous bird-watching site of Svalbard. The cliff of Alkefjellet is alive with guillemots, gulls, and kittiwakes. Facing the often ice-filled Hinlopen Strait, Alkefjellet is a major bird cliff that is home to around 60,000 pairs of breeding Brünnich’s guillemotsas well as a smaller number of glaucous gulls and kittiwakes. Even without the Brünnich’s guillemots, Alkefjellet is well worth the visit. The cliffs are high and sheer and in places around 100 meters (330 feet) tall, some of them free-standing towers and others part of the main body of rock. All are impressive example of doleritic intrusions from the Jurassic or late Cretaceous period. They are so much bigger than we could possibly have imagined. Some of the rock towers stick out like fingers. In other places Alkefjellet – the mountain of the Guillemots – looks like amedieval castle. In any case, I felt to have entered a movie-like scene. Alkefjellet may not be Spitsbergen’s biggest bird cliff, but it is certainly among the most spectacular ones while being quite easily accessible from the sea side. Slowly gliding past the steep rock walls with birds all over, I sat and watched in awe: guillemots constantly taking off from the ledges, returning to them, splashing about in the water, diving, re-emerging. Some droppings landed on my zodiac and on my guano-proof clothing; I did not mind too much as it is said to bring luck. Two guillemots were fighting fiercely, slapping each other with their wings and trying to use their sharp beaks as weapons. They got carried away by their conflict that in the end they had drifted right alongside the zodiac. They even continued bashing at each other under water! When the fight ended after a few minutes, one of the birds was bleeding, and the other looked fairly tousled as well. By the time I reached the glacier at the northern end of the colony, I had seen and listened to thousands of birds, felt very tiny in my sturdy rubber boat towered by the rock (and bird) masses, found one of the greenish eggshells shattered on a ledge and observed two Arctic foxespatrolling the foot of the cliff. Across steep tundra and snow fields they went, nose down, ears playing, in search for a scent or a sound. When I finally turned around the sun just came through, reflecting on the water while the mist was still clinging to the steep walls. It was as eerie as it could possibly get – a stunning finale to a magic Alkefjellet morning."

SUHAS Dubey