Welcome to Greenland!

Guests not participating in any excursions can take a stroll around the town on their own until embarkation time in the late afternoon.

In the afternoon, guests will be taken to the small port west of the airport, where the Ocean Albatros will be anchored. Zodiacs will transfer you the short distance to the ship and check you into your cabin. After the mandatory safety drill, enjoy dinner as the Ocean Albatros ‘sets sail’ through the 160-kilometer Kangerlussuaq fjord.

After breakfast, arrive in the colorful town of Sisimiut, where you can get an idea of what modern Greenland looks like. With 5,400 inhabitants, it is Greenland’s second-largest town.

In 1756, Count Johan Ludvig Holstein established a colony here and called it "Holsteinsborg." The oldest part of Sisimiut’s historic quarter features townhouses from the "Holsteinsborg" era, for example, the Blue Church, built in 1775.

Nowadays, Sisimiut is an important place for education and industry, and local factories process the bulk of Royal Greenland's fishing. The fish processing plant is one of the largest of its kind in Greenland and one of the most modern in the world.

The city tour highlights can include the historic colonial quarter, as well as the museum and the beautiful church. In the afternoon, your voyage will continue northward.

Below Disko Island’s 1,000-meter-tall mountains, pull into port in a protected natural harbor. The place is aptly named Godhavn ("good harbor") in Danish, while its Greenlandic name "Qeqertarsuaq" simply means "the Big Island". 

Up until 1950, Godhavn was the most important town north of Nuuk, the main town of Greenland, solely because of the many whales that the whaling boats towed here from Disko Bay. This bestowed the town with much wealth, starting as early as the 16th century. The town is now on its way to oblivion as it gets harder and harder to find work and because of the infrequent connections to the mainland. Walk through town to the characteristic, octagonal church, nicknamed "the inkpot of God." During your stay in Qeqertarsuaq, you might visit the local community.

Based on continually updated ice charts, the captain sets as direct a course as possible all the way into Nares Strait and Hans Island. To make sure you have sufficient time to get through any pack ice, spend a few days at sea. However, the days are by no means wasted: there are always chances to see minke whales and fin whales. The little Arctic fulmar is always right behind you. It moves from windward to leeward, getting faster and more active as it flies along the ship. And in the lecture hall, the expedition staff gives many different talks about the nature and culture of Greenland.

During the night, you cross Melville Bay, with a coastline marked by calving glaciers. The dangerous winter ice in the bay and the long distance to the Danish colonies to the south meant that the polar Inuit from Thule district were isolated from the rest of West Greenland until just 130 years ago. They thus have a closer relationship with the Inuit in Canada and speak a dialect that differs significantly from the southern Greenlandic language.

In 1758, Uummannaq was set up as a colony on the mainland of Nuussuaq. However, in 1763, it was moved to a nearby island where seal hunting was easier. On your walk along the town’s steep streets, visit the historic train-oil building, built in 1860. Inside its yellow walls, whale and seal blubber used to be stored. Because of the horrid stench, the blubber was not boiled here but well outside town! Behind the train-oil storage you can find a peat hut, which was still in use a few years ago.

The dry and settled arctic climate has around 2,000 hours of sunshine and 100 millimeters of precipitation per year, giving Uummannaq the right to call itself the Greenlandic Riviera!

If the ice conditions are favorable, continue north. The ship's speed will be reduced, and you should expect to be at sea most of the time. Sail through Smith Sound and pass Cape Alexander, Greenland's westernmost point.

Smith Sound and its northern continuation, the Kennedy Channel, have strong currents, acting as an outlet for polar pack ice and icebergs from the Arctic Ocean. The bridge officers will of course keep a vigilant watch as you approach Hans Island—or Hans Ø, as it is written in Danish.

Hans Island has been in the news a lot because it is right in the middle of Canada's Ellesmere Island and Greenland. The island is within 12 miles of both shores, which means that under international law, both sides can claim it. Since then, Canadian and Danish officials have been putting up their flags and putting a bottle of either Canadian whiskey or Danish schnapps next to them.In 2018, the governments of the two countries agreed to settle the border dispute through talks and to build a weather station on the island to keep an eye on the Nares Strait pack ice conditions.

In 2010, Albatros Travel reached Ocean Ø with the ship Ocean Nova, and a large group of guests landed on the island as the first tourists ever. A small cairn was erected to commemorate the visit.

After your call to Hans Ø, the Captain sets course again to the south.

During the night, plan to escape the confines of the Nares Strait. Entering Inglefield Bay, as you pass some of Greenland’s biggest bird cliffs, you are again in habituated areas. The Captain anchors the Ocean Albatros off Qaanaaq, the only proper town in northwest Greenland.

In 1953, the Americans built their base near the original trading post of Thule. This was the start of the town. All Inuit were transferred to this new place. Currently, 600 people live in Qaanaaq, which receives weekly flights from Air Greenland and cargo ships twice a year.

Depending on the weather, you might take a walk through the town, where you can visit the small museum and the well-stocked supermarket.

Having left Qaanaaq in the evening, the Captain will cast anchor in North Star Bay at the American Thule Base. The base is off-limits to you and outside the scope of your visit.

The team is planning to make a Zodiac landing at the abandoned settlement, Uummannaq, at the foot of Dundasfjeldet. In 1910, Knud Rasmussen established his legendary Thule Station here. For the first time, the polar Inuit could trade their skins for money and not just for the simple glass beads whalers formerly paid them. A good deal of Rasmussen’s earnings actually went back into society in the form of employment on the many expeditions (1st–6th Thule Expedition) that he and his companion, Peter Freuchen, organized. On these expeditions, local Inuit, men and women, always participated on equal terms with Knud Rasmussen and Peter Freuchen.

On your route south, you should pass below Cape York and Meteor Island, famous for the huge Cape York iron meteorites. The largest of the many fragments, the 40-ton Ahnighito, is on display at the American Museum of Natural History. Also at Cape York is the huge cairn, erected by Robert Peary.

After a nice morning at sea, you should reach "The Devil's Thumb," a 540-meter-high rock pillar that stands out from the flat area around it. The island is home to the 400 inhabitants living in the settlement of Kullorsuaq, which in Greenlandic means "The Big Thumb." You are still in polar bear territory, and the local hunters have a quota of several bears. Their skins are used for the much sought-after polar bear pants, and the tasty (to the local palates) meat is shared amongst everybody in the settlement.

The Upernavik territory covers an area nearly the size of Great Britain. The town itself and the ten smaller settlements in the area inhabit some 3000 people, mostly Inuit hunters. Upernavik is a mix of the hunter culture of old and new, high-tech fishing. You can equate old and new with the dog sleighs that exist alongside modern snowmobiles.

Although the land surrounding the city and the nearby small towns date back more than 4500 years, the Danes built it as a colonial outpost. This was when groups of hunters and gatherers traveled along the coasts of Alaska, Canada, and ultimately Greenland.

If everything goes according to plan, the ship will anchor and make a landing, allowing you to visit the little city and the open-air museum.

Nights are getting darker, and it might be a good idea to dress up warm, go on deck, and check the sky for the aurora borealis, the Northern Lights.

When you wake up this morning, you should find yourself in one of Greenland’s most beautiful and sunny regions. The ship is set to reach Uummannaq, situated on a small island. The impressive 1,175-meter heart-shaped mountain has given the town its name (Uummannaq means ‘place where the heart is’). There should be enough time to explore the city before heading back to the ship for lunch.

Ilulissat is one of the most scenically located towns in Greenland. The name simply means ‘icebergs’ in Greenlandic, and the town’s nickname is rightly ‘the Iceberg Capital of the World’.

Just south of town, the Ilulissat Icefjord sends huge icebergs into Disko Bay, which has cold water. These impressive frozen structures are born some 30km deeper into the fjord by the enormous Sermeq Kujalleq Glacier. This 10 km-wide glacier is the most productive outside of Antarctica. Whereas most glaciers only calve at a rate of approximately one meter (three feet) per day, the Ilulissat glacier moves forward at a rate of 25 meters per day, producing more than 10% of all icebergs in Greenland. These facts, together with the fjord’s unforgettable scenery, have secured the Ice Fjord a place on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

Ilulissat has been around for more than 250 years, and in that time, the town has grown steadily. Today, Ilulissat is Greenland’s third-largest town, with more than 4,500 inhabitants. The legendary Arctic explorer, Knud Rasmussen, was born in Ilulissat.

During the visit, if the weather allows, you can have the opportunity to join a boat trip to the Ice Fjord (an optional excursion). The journey takes about two and a half hours in total and offers a great opportunity to take a closer look at the amazing ice-sculpted scenery.

If a hike or a trip by boat does not present enough excitement, there is also the opportunity to arrange a flight excursion in a fixed-wing aircraft over the Ice Fjord (an optional excursion).

Please note that the boat and flight excursions to the Ice Fjord are not included in the general tour price. Refer to Price Information for more details.

In the evening, you should cruise southward, leaving lovely Disko Bay behind as you part.

The settlement of Sarfannguit, which translates as ‘the place of the little stream," is an appropriate name for a settlement nestled at the foothills of the mountains and glaciers in the distant backcountry. The settlement’s slightly more than 100 residents live off hunting, trapping, and fishing, most often in pursuit of arctic char, reindeer, and musk oxen.

Although Sarfannguit is quite remote, it lies within a few hours of Sisimiut, the second-largest town in Greenland. A small town like Sarfannguit gets a huge economic boost from being close to a big city like this one.

A walk through the settlement might give you an idea of what it's like to live in the country in modern Greenland, where the internet and smartphones are commonplace, but people still put a lot of value on important customs and keeping their traditions and Inuit heritage alive.

Continue your journey toward the fjord of Kangerlussuaq, also known as Sondre Stromfjord.

During the night, you completed the passage through the 160-kilometer (100-mile) Kangerlussuaq Fjord. After breakfast aboard the ship, bid farewell to the ship's staff, and the Zodiac boats will shuttle you to shore.

Kangerlussuaq is not as connected to Greenland's rich cultural traditions as other parts of the country. This is because Kangerlussuaq has a military past and is now an important air travel hub. Even though there are still cultural things to do in Kangerlussuaq, the most impressive thing about the area is the nature that is just waiting to be explored.

In Kangerlussuaq, an optional excursion will be offered (not included in the tour price) to the beautiful Reindeer Glacier. The duration of the excursion is about four hours. The excursion is not recommended for people who suffer from bad necks or backs, as the gravel road to the ice sheet is occasionally bumpy and uneven.

Your arctic adventure and time in Greenland conclude as you board the return flight from Kangerlussuaq to Reykjavik or Copenhagen.