Greenland Tours & Vacations

Generally the summer months of June, July and August are the time to see Greenland, but it does depend what you’re looking for. At midyear the country isn’t as chilly as it can be (temperatures can rise as high as a sweltering 15°C…) and you’ll get to experience the phenomenon of the midnight sun. Of course, if it’s the night lights of the aurora borealis you’re after, the time to go is definitely October through to March, when temperatures can plummet to well below freezing. Pack accordingly.

When 84 per cent of your country is covered in the world’s largest ice sheet (and the rest is classed as permafrost), geography may seem kind of self-explanatory. But Greenland’s coastal fringes are where most of the magic happens. Plunging fjords, rocky promontories, trundling glaciers calving off into the Labrador Sea. Most of the settlements along the western coast are colourful wooden houses painted every colour of the rainbow. Towns and settlements are virtually cut-off from each other (roads are very rare in Greenland), so most trade and movement is done by sea and air.

1. Humpback whale

Humpback whales migrate to the cooler waters of the Arctic to feed each year. It’s a mammoth journey, often spanning thousands of kilometres (and all at travelling just a few kilometres per hour). That’s probably why humpbacks like to blow off a bit of steam in Greenland. Around Aasiaat, Qeqertarsuaq and Sisimiut between April and November it’s not an uncommon sight to see a 30-tonne humpback leaping clear out of the water.

2. Narwhal

In the Middle Ages, Inuits and Norse tribesmen would trade narwhal horns for fabulous sums (they were the marine equivalent of a unicorn). Thankfully the horn trade is over and these beautiful toothed whales can swim and eat in peace. They’re usually found in Melville Bay and around Qaanaaq, where their spiralling three-metre tusk can be seen poking through the surface of the water.

3. Polar bear

This is the world’s largest land predator, and the chances of seeing one increase when you’re on the water. Cruising along the coast of west or north-east Greenland is your best shot at spotting one of these creatures, but don’t hold your breath – they can be quite aloof. But the good news is that if they are out there, they are quite easy to see due to their off-white fur standing out against the snow-white ice.

4. Arctic fox

Technically there are two types of Arctic fox in Greenland – the classic white and the blue. Both species change colour depending on the season in order to blend in with the rocky landscape and the polar ice sheet. Arctic foxes live on an almost exclusive diet of lemmings – so when lemming populations drop, so do the number of foxes. Thankfully numbers are strong, and the Arctic fox isn’t a threatened species.

5. White-tailed eagle

Don’t forget to look up every now and then: Greenland has a huge and colourful variety of birdlife. The biggest and most striking bird is the white-tailed eagle (known as the nattoralik in Greenlandic). You’ll usually find them circling along the west coast down to Cape Farewell, hoping to find a cod, char or smaller sea bird to stoop. These birds are as rare as they are beautiful, and are officially a protected species in Greenland.