Guide to Greenland

Although roughly a third of the size of the USA, almost 80% of it is covered in ice, making this a wilderness like nowhere else on earth, where nature dominates and majestic blue-tinged glaciers calve in a thunderous cacophony amid a backdrop of the oldest bedrock in the world. 

Greenland presents a wealth of opportunities when it comes to unique activities, including dog sledding, snowmobiling, heli-skiing, ice fishing and Viking settlement visits, to name a few of the pursuits on offer in this extraordinary region. 

One of the most popular tourist attractions in Greenland is the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Ilulissat Icefjord, luring thousands of visitors each year to witness the vast calving icebergs. Due to its popularity, an innovative-designed wooden visitor centre opened in July 2021, with an array of eye-opening exhibitions showcasing the impact climate change has had on the ice. The main exhibition centres around the Ice Core interactive display which spans from roughly 124,000BC to date, and illustrates the story of culture and climate change via layers of bubbles and particles trapped within the specimens. The unique layout of the visitor centre acts as a gateway between town and wilderness, where whale watching is also a popular pastime. 

Heading south, you'll find the capital city Nuuk which boasts the second-largest fjord system in the world and beautiful backcountry ripe for exploration. South Greenland in general encompasses an array of towns and settlements, with rolling hills and sheep farms, with rich cultural links with the Norse Vikings who settled here, and is now home to 3 UNESCO World Heritage listed sites. Some of the most popular summer activities here include hiking, boat tours, whale watching, horse riding and fishing.

In the north, yacht charters make a beeline for Kangerlussuaq in the Arctic Circle region, which also functions as Greenland's primary international airport. Highlights here include the majestic Russel Glacier and 160-km-long Arctic Circle long-distance hiking trail.

A favoured destination amongst expedition yachts, Greenland offers up a tableau of breathtaking scenery, best enjoyed from the bow of a charter yacht, with numerous quiet sheltered bays for anchoring and watching the midnight sun.  

Of course, the tranquil wilderness of Greenland also offers up another thrill for charter guests in the guise of the shape-shifting spectacle of the Northern Lights, where the vast night sky is aglow with curtains of green-hued shimmering light that surely ranks as one of the most spectacular sights on earth.

For more information regarding the luxury yachts available for charter in Greenland, please get in touch with your preferred charter broker.