Greenland – an Arctic wilderness that inspires awe and demands respect

By Xander Brett

You get a special feeling setting foot on a landmass where fewer than 60,000 inhabitants have over two million square kilometres between them. As we descended towards Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, passing mountains of all shapes, there was no sign of human habitation until the final moments before landing.

Fellow passengers, speaking in different languages, were taking photos within seconds of stepping onto the tarmac, and like them, this writer was captivated by the reality of having reached somewhere so remote.

But while Greenland’s seclusion is its draw, getting to the territory from overseas has never been easier. A new airport at Qaqortoq, in southern Greenland, opened this year, following the 2024 inauguration of an expanded Nuuk Airport, which has enabled direct flights from both Europe and North America.

In Nuuk, the impact already feels visible. Magdalene Hansen, store manager at the Qiviut traditional clothing shop, was arranging products when we met, and said she believed the recent increase in visitors was partly linked to the expansion of Nuuk’s runway.

Photo: Mads Pihl/Visit Greenland

Greenlandic pride

Qiviut sits across the road from fashion designer Bibi Chemnitz’s boutique, where hoodies and bags emblazoned with “Greenland is not for sale” among the items on display. The slogan, a pointed response to President Trump’s statements about wanting to acquire Greenland, also appeared on a poster placed outside in the street. Trump’s most recent rhetoric brought an influx of world leaders and foreign journalists to Nuuk, but it may also have given local tourism an unexpected boost.

“Trump has given Greenland the best marketing it has ever had,” declared Jørgen Bay-Kastrup, CEO at Hotel Hans Egede, the establishment at which I was staying. “I didn’t like the way he mentioned us, but in a commercial sense, it was useful.”

A kaffemik gathering at a home in Tasiilaq. Photo: Mads Pihl/Visit Greenland

Further up the thoroughfare from Qiviut and Chemnitz’s store, I noticed a large Greenlandic flag stuck to the side of a green building. It was one of many; the flag, with its distinctive counter-changed red and white disc, was omnipresent around Nuuk. It fluttered from a crane downtown, flew from a pickup truck parked outside the Greenlandic parliament and was displayed in countless office and residential windows. The Danish flag, representing the Realm of Denmark of which Greenland is part, appeared less often, though the Danish language was everywhere, from signage to packaging.

As I looked towards a statue of Hans Egede, Nuuk’s founder, I got chatting to a British tourist who had lived in the USA for 18 years and whose trip to Greenland also included the smaller settlements of Aasiaat and Ilulissat. “I’ve flown over Greenland many times,” he explained, sunglasses on and a rucksack slung over his shoulder. “I thought: ‘I have to go and see that place’. So, I’m here out of curiosity.”

As we parted, I told him that I would probably see him around, as in a city where walking around the centre takes less than half an hour, there was a good chance of that happening. This is a capital where consulates are huts and the tallest building is but ten stories high. In mid-March, snow coated the ground, and an iceberg, bright blue in appearance, had found its way to the shoreline. The jingling of snow chains was a morning soundtrack.

Nasaasaaq lit up by the Northern Lights. Photo: Mantas Hesthaven/ Visit Greenland

Not just Nuuk

The cottage capital is home to around a third of Greenland’s inhabitants. It sits, facing Canada, in the territory’s southwestern sector. Other towns in this section of the island (though there are also settlements in the north and on the east coast) help house most of the remaining population. Greenland’s centre is empty and blanketed by an ice sheet.

But while the interior stays untouched, there is such an array of delights along the coast that condensing the countless pursuits into a manageable menu is a challenging, if not impossible, task. This is a stunning land whose climate and geography naturally lend themselves to adventure.

With settlements scattered sporadically, long car journeys are not possible, and inter-settlement movement is by sea or air. Seaborne connections include the Arctic Umiaq’s weekly Sarfaq Ittuk ferry, complete with dining, accommodation and entertainment. It departs Qaqortoq (home of the new airport) and arrives, having stopped regularly during its journey up the west coast, about three days later in Illulissat, where there are air connections to Nuuk, seasonal flights to Reykjavik and, from October, when a new runway opens, a weekly flight to Copenhagen.

The Sarfaq Ittuk travels (weather permitting) year-round, but Greenland is a tourist destination shaped by the seasons. The arrival of summer and the thawing of snow render kayaking, fly fishing, hiking and cycling accessible along the island’s shores. Come winter, those options are replaced by the likes of snowmobiling, ice fishing, snowshoeing and skiing (whether it be of the touring, cross-country or even heli variety).

Greenland Travel and Visit Greenland are among organisations advertising an Arctic Big Five of experiences that visitors to Greenland should take in, namely dog sledding, viewing the Northern Lights (you have a good chance of glimpsing them from late summer to mid-spring), experiencing ice and snow, whale watching and discovering what the organisation refers to as Greenland’s pioneering people.

Greenland has its own breed of dog, and sledding is an activity synonymous with the territory, offered either as a standalone experience or wrapped up as part of a package itinerary. It falls, of course, into the category of a winter offering, while whale watching, conversely, is perhaps best left to the summer months. Indeed, the yearly return of humpbacks is, to residents of Nuuk, a signal that summertime has arrived.

Photo: Mads Pihl/Visit Greenland

Flying to a faraway wilderness

According to Visit Greenland, airport developments and new routes are key drivers for tourism growth. Current projections indicate an average annual growth in air travellers of around four per cent towards 2050, and it is expected that new routes will not only help distribute tourism more evenly across Greenland, but will also support a longer tourist season, beyond the traditional summer peak.

“Importantly,” it made clear in a statement, “this growth is being approached with a strong focus on sustainability and value creation, ensuring that increased visitor numbers translate into positive economic and social impacts for local communities.”

Those communities of pioneering people might be the most important item on the Arctic Big Five checklist. For, wild and empty as this land largely is, to the Greenlanders it is home. Modernisation has reached these communities without erasing their culture, and visitors can encounter it both at the main points of arrival and through internal travel connections. For tourists, there is the opportunity to join locals for a kaffemik: a gathering over coffee often arranged at times of celebration.

Fine-tuning the balance between proudly sharing Greenland – its nature, culture and communities – and respecting Greenlanders’ privacy and pristine landscapes is an ongoing task.

As new flight routes bring more visitors from both Europe and North America, that balance will become even more important. Done carefully, however, greater access need not diminish what makes Greenland exceptional; it can help more people understand the country on its own terms. After a visit, one thing feels as clear as the waters around its shores: Greenland is not simply a destination to be explored, but a place to be approached with respect.