Greenland & Exploring Scoresbysund

Embark in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, founded around 870 C.E. as the first permanent settlement on the island. Explore a city that is home to nearly 200,000 people, making up almost 60% of the country’s population. Discover why Reykjavik is the world’s northernmost national capital and renowned for being clean, green, and safe.

Visit Grundarfjordur, a small fishing village on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula with access to Stykkisholmur, Snaefellsbaer, and Snaefellsnes National Park. See Mt. Kirkjufell, known as “church mountain” and one of the most photographed peaks in Iceland. In summer, a Viking Village is set up in the town center with regular reenactments. In July, during the A godri stund festival, residents decorate their houses in red, blue, yellow, and green.

Trade in the town began in 1786, and around 1800 French merchants settled here and built a church and hospital. The town has long depended on the fishing industry. The surrounding waters support birdlife and marine life throughout the year.

Spend the day at sea aboard Seabourn Venture, enjoying ocean views, seabird sightings, and the ship’s amenities.

In Scoresbysund everything is bigger. Mountains rise to 2,000 meters in dark basalt that loom over the ice-filled water of the fjord below. Huge icebergs drift with the currents and pile up in crowds choked white, in huge quantities and volume that will take your breath away. If you are lucky a polar bear might appear, like a small speck in this vast, remote, and wild area. Scoresbysund, or Scoresby Sound was named in honor of the English explorer William Scoresby who mapped the area in 1822.

The small Greenlandic town of Ittoqqortoormiit sits at the entrance to Scoresby Sund, the longest fjord on Earth. Although founded in 1925, the original colonists to the area were Palaeo-Eskimo peoples 4,000 years ago.

Housing 500 people, Ittoqqortoormiit derives its name from Greenlandic meaning ‘Big-House Dwellers’. A walk through town, reveals a vibrant Greenlandic culture. Seal, muskox and even a polar bear skin can be seen drying on racks outside of private homes. Greenlandic sled dogs sit patiently on their leashes in front yards, awaiting winter, their wooden sledges propped against buildings. In the local food store seal and whale meat are among the regular traditional foodstuffs laid out beside common western items. Ittoqqortoormiit has a post office where you can purchase Greenlandic stamps and mail your postcards as well as a quaint church, its gabled interior painted in white and sky-blue. The entire community, in fact, is a picturesque kaleidoscope of color, each building painted in bright hues of red, blue, yellow and green.

Spend the day at sea aboard Seabourn Venture, relaxing on deck, observing the Arctic horizon, and preparing for the upcoming Greenland landings and fjord explorations.

On the King Frederick VI Coast of Greenland’s southeast quadrant, the semi-circular Umivik Bay is carved out just north of the Denmark Strait. Unlike the sheer cliffs and rugged terrain presented by much of the coastline, the shores inside the bay are smooth and the massive Greenland Ice Sheet comes right down to the shore in undulating slopes. This profile persuaded Fritjof Nansen to select the bay as the starting point of his successful 1888 expedition to cross Greenland over the ice sheet. There are several large islands in the bay, including Uppernattivik Island smack in the middle. There are calving glaciers to survey and a landing is possible here as well.

The transit of the Prins Christian Sund is one of the highlights of cruising in Greenland. The approximately 60-mile sound cuts between the mainland and an archipelago of islands from east to west, under the southern edge of the massive Greenland Ice Sheet, which covers 80 percent of the island. The sound is narrow, sometimes as little as 1500 feet across, and numerous glaciers reach the sea on its shores, calving icebergs into the sound. High, barren and sharply defined peaks tower on both sides. The only indications of humanity to be seen are the Ikerassasuaq weather station (using the Greenlandic name for the sound) where the ship enters, and the small village of Appilattoq, housing approximately 100 people. Animal life is more abundant, with minke, fin and blue whales seen frequently, as well as ringed and bearded seals that haul out on the floating ice. It is a breathtaking display of natural splendor in the severe, rugged vernacular of rock, ice and sea that is unique to the arctic realm.

Qaqortoq, Greenland 
Qaqortoq is the largest city in Southern Greenland with 3,300 inhabitants. The town rises steeply above the natural small-boat harbor with its fish, shrimp and fur processing plants. It was founded in 1775 by the Dano-Norwegian trader Anders Olsen, working on behalf of the General Trading Company.

Qaqortoq is best known for its open-air art exhibition. The Stone & Man project, designed to transform the town into an outdoor gallery, had the participation of 18 Nordic artists from Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Greenland. Initially 24 stone sculptures were created using the existing rock faces and boulders in the town. Now there are over 40 sculptures celebrating Greenlandic culture.

Other points of interest include Mindebrønden, the oldest fountain in Greenland, the Qaqortoq Museum and The Saviors Lutheran Church. Eighteen kilometers northwest of town are the famous remains of the Viking church of Hvalsey. It represents the last written record of the Greenlandic Norse, who attended a wedding there in A.D. 1408. Hvalsey is the most prominent Norse site in Greenland.

Included Qaqortoq On Foot Experience
Join your local guide on this informative walking tour providing insight into life in this remote area of Greenland as well as its history, culture and traditions.

Your city tour starts among the old houses of the colonial quarter on your way to the Fish and Meat Market. Here you will learn about the traditional hunting and fishing methods, changing conditions faced by today’s fishermen and hunters, and Greenlandic culinary traditions.

Next on your tour, proceed to the old church from 1832 – "Annaasisitta Oqaluffia" (The Church of Our Savior) – and hear about the history of Christianity in Greenland.

A visit of the city’s administrative buildings is your next stop where your guide will provide insight into the island’s political system.

Throughout the tour, there will be a number of opportunities to see the famous "Stone & Man" open-air art exhibition. The project was created by local painter and sculptor Aka Hoegh, who worked with visiting Nordic artists to create over 30 exterior stone sculptures and lithographs throughout the city.

After getting insight into life in Qaqortoq, return to the pier with your guide or feel free to stay in town, visit the Qaqortoq Museum on your own (entrance included) and return at your leisure. Your guide will also advise where and when to view the local kayak demonstration.

Please note:
Wherever Included Experience tours are offered, guests are allowed to participate in only one included experience per call unless otherwise specified in the tour description. The Expedition Team will advise your booked included experience departure time onboard and will try to accommodate your booked optional excursions or optional expeditions accordingly. If a timing conflict occurs guests should anticipate to participate on their booked optional experience or optional expedition and forgo the included experience. Participants must negotiate stairs and/or uneven surfaces and is therefore not advisable for guests using a wheelchair or for those with mobility limitations. Dress in layers and wear comfortable walking shoes. Bring insect repellent; wear sunscreen. The level of guide experience varies in this region due the remoteness of its location. Limited tourism infrastructure is part of the charm here, and you are trading breadth of experience for authentic interaction. Please bring your spirit of adventure and bear with any language difficulties your guide may encounter and with any operational surprises that may crop up. Please be sure to book your included experience in advance as space may be limited on your specific choice.

Optional Excursions Available for purchase after booking
Helicopter Flight to Qalerallit Glacier with Landing
Boat tour to Uunartoq Hot Springs

Hvalsey, Greenland
Twelve miles by Zodiac up the Hvalseyjarfjord from Qaqortoq, the largest community in South Greenland, lies the most prominent Norse archaeological site in Greenland. The so-called Eastern Settlement lasted from the 10th until the mid-15th century. Your expedition team archaeologist can interpret for you the ruins of the great halls and church at Hvalsey that hint of a prospering medieval farmstead. The site evokes an era when the Norse were trading with the indigenous Thule people of the area for furs and ivory, which were a prized commodities in Europe. A wedding held in the church in 1408 comprises the last written record of the Norse adventure in Greenland. Within a few years, Hvalsey and the rest of other Norse communities of Greenland withered as immigrants returned to the more established communities in Iceland and Norway. The site’s meadows of wildflowers sloping up from the fjord give a sense of the peaceful community that existed here in that long-ago summer.

Norse farmers settled in this area in the 10th century, the earliest type of farming to the Arctic. It was from the Brattahlid (Qassiarsuk) farmstead that Leif Eriksson (Eric's the Red's Son) set sail and discovered Vinland, reaching the North American continent at Newfoundland and Labrador. UNESCO has included Brattahlid and other nearby sites as part of a World Heritage Site.

Greenland’s capital Nuuk, is a city of vitality and Greenlandic culture. It’s here that old traditions and modern influences combine to create a diverse population. Nuuk is the home of the University of Greenland with its 650 students and the Greenland National Museum with is its extensive historical archives and cultural displays. Also of interest are the Nuuk Art Museum and the Kayak Museum. The Art Museum holds a body of 300 paintings primarily featuring the work of traveling European artists, while the Kayak Museum houses a very impressive collection of sealskin kayaks and traditional hunting artifacts. The modest wooden frame of the Nuuk Cathedral, built in 1849, is a recognizable landmark on Nuuk’s skyline.

The site of Nuuk was occupied as far back as 2,200 B.C.E. by ancient pre-Inuit peoples from Canada. It was settled again in the 10th century by Viking explorers. The current city was founded in 1728 by Danish missionary Hans Egede. A statue of Egede stands adjacent to the cathedral.

Eternity Fjord, situated in the remote wilderness of Greenland, is a breathtaking natural wonder known for its awe-inspiring beauty and dramatic landscapes. Carved by ancient glaciers, the fjord is flanked by towering snow-capped peaks and sheer cliffs that plunge into crystal-clear Arctic waters, creating a majestic spectacle of contrasting colors and textures. The serenity of the fjord is punctuated by the occasional crack and groan of the icebergs as they calve and drift slowly towards the sea. This pristine and untouched environment offers a glimpse into the raw, untamed beauty of the Arctic, captivating visitors with its sense of timeless grandeur and an overwhelming feeling of being in the presence of an unspoiled, primordial masterpiece of nature.
 

Located 24 miles (40 km) north of the Arctic Circle, Sisimiut is “rough, real and remote.” These three words cut to the core of Sisimiut’s reputation as an outdoor adventure-travel hub. It’s the second-largest city in Greenland with 5,600 inhabitants and was founded in 1756 under the leadership of the Danish missionary, Hans Egede. The name is Greenlandic meaning ‘place of fox dens.’ The area has been inhabited for 4,500 years, first by the Inuit peoples of the Saqqaq culture, Dorset culture, and then the Thule people, whose descendants comprise the majority of the current population.


One of the most picturesque towns in Greenland, Sisimiut is set in a tranquil fjord perched on bare outcrops of rock. Mount Nasaasaaq, 2,572’ (784 m) tall, is the backdrop for the town, where colorful houses of bright red, yellow, green and blue stand out in stark contrast to a landscape of gray and white. The Sisimiut Museum hosts a traditional Greenlandic peat house and the remains of an 18th century kayak.

Arrive in Kangerlussuaq, home to Greenland’s largest commercial airport, originally built as a U.S. airbase in 1941. The 170-kilometer-long fjord and flat alluvial plain made it ideal for aircraft operations. Learn that from 1971 to 1987, missiles were launched here for upper-atmosphere research. Disembark and transfer by school bus to the airport for your charter flight to Reykjavik, then continue to your hotel, Reykjavik Charter Hotel or similar.

After your overnight stay in Reykjavik, transfer from your hotel to the airport for your onward journey.

Steeped in history and bursting with contemporary flair, Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, was founded around 870 C.E, marking the birth of the first permanent settlement on this island nation. Today, it is home to approximately 200,000 inhabitants, making up nearly 60% of Iceland's population. Reykjavik holds the title of the world's northernmost national capital, and it takes pride in its reputation as one of the cleanest, greenest, and safest cities globally. Its commitment to sustainability and eco-consciousness is evident in every corner, from its energy-efficient buildings to its pollution-free skies.