Aqua Expeditions Norway

Aqua Lares has 15 guest staterooms, three of which are described as owner’s suites. Courtesy Aqua Expeditions

Aqua Expeditions continues to promote itineraries in parts of the world where other  charter yachts rarely, if ever, travel. The last time we spoke with company founder and CEO Francesco Galli Zugaro, he was preparing to start booking itineraries in the remote outer islands of the Seychelles and Zanzibar in East Africa. Now comes word that he’s moving the 253-foot Aqua Lares to Norway’s Svalbard archipelago and the Arctic Circle, with bookings available starting in June 2026.

“With Aqua Lares, we’re setting a new benchmark for luxury exploration at the edges of the map,” Zugaro says. “No other superyacht offers this combination of access, exclusivity and personalized service in the Arctic. From Svalbard and the Arctic Circle to East Africa, Aqua is pioneering a truly global, deeply luxurious and personal way to explore.”

Scenery in these cruising regions is about as opposite as the world gets from the Caribbean or Mediterranean. Courtesy Aqua Expeditions; morten/stock.adobe.com (top right); ondrejprosicky/stock.adobe.com (botto

Aqua Lares is rated Ice Class 1B for navigating in these types of waters. The charter season here will run from June to September, with a combination of full-yacht bookings and by-the-cabin bookings available. The maximum number of guests is 30. Aqua Expeditions is suggesting itineraries from five to 14 nights long, with the opportunity to spot polar bears, migratory whales and Arctic foxes, as well as to explore historic whaling stations and view seabird nesting cliffs. The vessel’s sundeck has a lounge and bar with expansive views all around.

On board, guests have access to numerous additional lounging areas, dining spaces, a spa, a sauna and indoor-outdoor hot tubs. The crew-to-guest ratio on Aqua Lares is 1-to-1, with twice-a-day small-group excursions by tender, on foot or through a polar plunge.

Onboard amenities include a spa, a sauna and indoor-outdoor hot tubs. Courtesy Aqua Expeditions

It has become a hallmark of Aqua Expeditions to offer itineraries in parts of the world that have a wow factor—even for longtime charter clients who feel like they’ve seen and done it all after years of bookings all kinds of yachts. Prior to its East Africa expansion, the company brought guests to the Peruvian Amazon, the Galapagos Islands, Vietnam and Cambodia, and Indonesia. A Norwegian archipelago and the Arctic Circle, in this context, are simply two more bucket-list locales for travelers whose passports are already packed with memories. They’re the kinds of places for which Aqua Expeditions is striving to be known.

“The less infrastructure, for me, the better,” Zugaro told Yachting. “Our ships don’t go alongside a big marina. These are expeditions. You want the ship to have autonomy.”  

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