Best Hotels in Ilulissat, Greenland: Where to Stay by the Icefjord (We Stayed at Cabin Jomsborg)
Where to stay in Ilulissat — hotels, self-catering cabins, and guesthouses by the icefjord. We stayed at Cabin Jomsborg, ten meters from the ice, and it was one of the best accommodation decisions we've made anywhere.
Our cabin in Ilulissat — Dreamier, impossible!
Ilulissat has roughly a dozen hotels, guesthouses, and self-catering cabins for a town of 4,500 people. We've stayed here ourselves — at Cabin Jomsborg, a self-catering cabin sitting ten meters from the water, which turned out to be one of the best accommodation decisions we've made anywhere. Every property in this guide has icefjord or Disko Bay views in some form. In a town built above a UNESCO World Heritage glacier, there is no such thing as a bad location — only different ways to experience it.
Jump to: Luxury hotels · Mid-range hotels · Cabins & apartments · Guesthouses & hostels · Best for northern lights · FAQ
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“Luxury” hotels in Ilulissat
To us, luxury are not hotel stars but views like this… 11pm from our accommodation in April
Luxury in Ilulissat (and in remote, Arctic places in general) doesn't mean what it means in Paris or Dubai. There are no marble lobbies, no rooftop pools with city views, no Michelin stars in the conventional sense. What you get instead is something most five-star hotels can't buy: a UNESCO World Heritage glacier outside the window, icebergs the size of buildings drifting past at breakfast, and a stillness that no amount of thread count can replicate. The properties in this section offer genuine comfort — good beds, excellent food, attentive service — but the real luxury is the location, and in Ilulissat that location is unlike anywhere else on earth.
🧊 Hotel Arctic
The most iconic address in Ilulissat and one of the most famous in Greenland — Hotel Arctic sits directly on the UNESCO Ilulissat Icefjord, with the calving front of Sermeq Kujalleq glacier visible from the property. The main building has standard hotel rooms and apartments, but the reason most people book months ahead is the Aurora Cabins: standalone accommodations on the icefjord edge built specifically for northern lights viewing, with the kind of views that make the logistics of getting to Greenland feel worthwhile. Two restaurants — Brasserie Ulo for casual meals, Restaurant Ulo for the full fine dining version — both source ingredients from local fishers and sealers and are the best in Ilulissat by a clear margin. Green Key certified. TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice 2024.
🌊 Hotel Icefiord
Thirty-six rooms positioned to give what the hotel calls "first row tickets to the sea" — an accurate description. All rooms look out over Disko Bay, and the 19 Deluxe Explorer rooms each have a large skylight window and private balcony for unobstructed iceberg sightlines. The restaurant works with local Greenlandic ingredients — freshly caught fish, reindeer, musk ox — served from an outdoor terrace over the bay.
Hotel Icefiord is also launching an Aurora Lodge in 2026: a three-day remote cabin experience built around snowmobiling, dog sledding, and dedicated northern lights viewing. The main property sits 0.6 miles from the town center, which in Ilulissat terms is a short walk with icebergs the whole way.
🏨 Best Western Plus Hotel Ilulissat
The newest hotel in Ilulissat and the first in Greenland to carry the Best Western Plus flag — Greenlandic-owned and operated, with a rooftop restaurant delivering panoramic icefjord and city views from a central location. Airport transfers are included in the room rate. The interior is modern without losing the Arctic character, and the conference facilities make it the practical choice for anyone combining work with the icefjord. A straightforward, reliable option in a destination where reliability is not always a given.
Penguin tip:
If the northern lights in Greenland are the main reason for your trip, book Hotel Arctic's Aurora Cabins before anything else and plan everything else around whatever dates are still available. They go months in advance.
Mid-range hotels in Ilulissat
🎨 Hotel Hvide Falk ⭐ We had lunch here
We loved this painting at Hotel Hvide Falk
Greenland's oldest hotel — opened in 1970 as the first luxury property in the country, extensively renovated between 2022 and 2024 — and still one of the most characterful places to eat and sleep in Ilulissat. We stopped for lunch and it turned out to be one of the best meals we had in Greenland: Smørrebrød with reindeer, smoked halibut and fresh fish, and a musk ox burger that was amazing after a morning on the ice. The restaurant leans on local Greenlandic ingredients with some Thai influence, and runs a weekly Greenlandic buffet in high season. The staff offered to show us the upper floors, where the walls are hung with works by Greenlandic painters including Emanuel A. Petersen, alongside an original qajaq over 70 years old. It functions as an informal gallery as much as a hotel corridor. Of the 37 rooms, 20 face Disko Bay — go for those — and nine are spacious apartments by the water. Free parking and airport shuttle included.
🏔️ Hotel SØMA Ilulissat
Set at the highest point in town, fifteen minutes' walk from the center, Hotel SØMA trades central convenience for elevation — rooms face either the icefjord or the mountains, and the restaurant terrace makes the most of both. The connected building layout gives it a slightly resort feel, and there's a penthouse apartment with its own kitchen for those who want self-catering at altitude. The walk into town is straightforward in good weather and considerably less enjoyable in a January storm; factor that in if you're visiting in deep winter.
🐧 Penguin tip: Ilulissat is small enough that no hotel is far from anything. The real decision is whether you want to be closer to the icefjord rim (Hotel Arctic) or the harbor and town center (Best Western Plus). Both work as bases — it comes down to preference.
Self-catering cabins & apartments in Ilulissat
Coffee with a view at our cabin!
Ilulissat offers incredible self-catering opportunities — some of these properties put you closer to the ice than any hotel room can, with a kitchen, no check-in desk, and the icefjord entirely to yourself in the evenings. Just a word of advice: don’t forget your sleeping mask in spring and summer, as the sun reflects on the ice! Read our guide to packing for Greenland for more tips.
🛖 Ilulissat Stay — Cabin Jomsborg ⭐ We stayed here
We stayed at Cabin Jomsborg and it was the right call (I got very excited when I found this gem at a reasonable price in April). The cabin sits ten meters from the water — that is not a figure of speech. You step outside and you are at the edge of the sea, with icebergs drifting past while your coffee brews in the fully equipped kitchen. The scale is intimate, suited for couples or a small group, and the sense of being right on the ice rather than looking at it through a hotel window changes the whole experience. Waking up to the icefjord at 3 am with a permanent sunset is hard to describe. We can't recommend it enough, and the owner is very friendly.
🏡 Ilulissat Stay — Seawatch Retreat & 4-bedroom villa
Two larger self-catering villas from the same operator for groups or families. Seawatch Retreat is uniquely positioned by the ocean with iceberg sightlines from the balcony. The 4-bedroom villa adds a jacuzzi to the setup, sleeps up to eight, and is as close to a luxury self-catering experience as Ilulissat gets.
→ Book Ilulissat Stay Seawatch Retreat
→ Book Ilulissat Stay 4-bedroom villa
🏘️ Illu Rental — Green House, Whale View & Seaview properties
Illu Rental operates several vacation houses in Ilulissat — each with direct iceberg and sea views, garden or balcony access, and self-catering kitchens. The Green House has balcony views over the icefjord; the Whale View house has terrace and parking; the Modern Seaview property has a balcony with garden.
→ Book Illu Rental Sea & City Views
→ Book Illu Whale View
→ Book Illu Green House
🐧 Penguin tip: Self-catering in Ilulissat doesn’t require complicated logistics. We were very surprised to find pretty large grocery stores, considering the size of the town and the remoteness. Pisifik usually has the cheapest prices (but Greenland is obviously not cheap), and Brugseni sometimes has good ready-made dishes.
Guesthouses & hostels in Ilulissat
Save on your accommodation and keep money for a boat tour in the Icefjord!
🏘️ Möller Guesthouse
A recently renovated guesthouse with sea views and a terrace — the straightforward, no-frills option for those who want a clean, comfortable base in Ilulissat without the hotel price tag. Sea views and terrace access. For a town where the real experience happens outside anyway, it covers everything you need.
The budget baseline for Ilulissat — shared kitchen, garden, lounge, and free WiFi. For solo travelers or anyone prioritizing spending on experiences over accommodation, the hostel works. In a town where almost all your waking hours will be spent outside, it does the job well and leaves money for the boat tours and dog sledding that are the real reasons to be here. Read our llulissat Travel Guide for more awesome things to do!
🔵 One to watch — Igloo Lodge
Not yet bookable but worth knowing about: World of Greenland's Igloo Lodge, located 15 km inland from Ilulissat near the icefjord, is opening for overnight stays in winter 2027. The experience — candlelit igloos, full board, ski machine transport from town, northern lights viewing, no electricity or WiFi — is the kind of thing that books out the moment reservations open. Worth bookmarking now.
Best accommodation for the northern lights in Ilulissat
Imagine the northern lights over the Icefjord! Too late for us late April, but we want to come back in winter
Ilulissat at 69°N is deep inside the auroral oval — the lights here appear overhead rather than on the horizon, and even moderate geomagnetic activity produces displays that the right window makes immediately visible. The properties that give you the best shot at seeing aurora without leaving your accommodation:
Hotel Arctic's Aurora Cabins are the purpose-built answer — freestanding on the icefjord edge, designed around exactly this. Hotel Icefiord's Deluxe Explorer rooms with skylights and private balconies give you a wide sky view from inside. Cabin Jomsborg at Ilulissat Stay, ten meters from the water, puts you in near-total darkness with an open northern horizon.
Whatever you book, any clear night between October and March warrants a short walk toward the icefjord rim — the aurora there, with the glacier below, is the Ilulissat experience in its most magical form.
For the full northern lights guide, including forecast tools and best months, see our northern lights in Greenland article.
🌍 Plan Your Greenland Adventure
✈️ Find flights to Greenland — fly into Nuuk, Ilulissat, or Kangerlussuaq from Iceland or Denmark.
🚢 Book your Arctic Umiaq Line ferry — the most unforgettable way to see the coast.
🏨 Find hotels in Greenland — from iceberg-view lodges to colorful harbors.
🧭 Heymondo Travel Insurance (5–15% off) — reliable coverage for the world’s wildest weather.
🧳 Arctic gear — check our travel essentials on Amazon.
🐾 Fahlo Wildlife Bracelets (20% off) — track a real Arctic animal and stay connected to the north.
📱 Get a travel eSIM — stay connected at the end of the world.
🌊 FAQ: Best hotels in Ilulissat
What is the best hotel in Ilulissat, Greenland?
Hotel Arctic is the most celebrated property — four-star, directly on the UNESCO Ilulissat Icefjord, with fine dining at Restaurant Ulo and the iconic Aurora Cabins for northern lights viewing. Hotel Icefiord is a strong alternative for modern facilities and Disko Bay views from every room.
What accommodation is available in Ilulissat?
Ilulissat has around a dozen properties across all types: luxury hotels (Hotel Arctic, Hotel Icefiord), mid-range hotels (Best Western Plus, Hotel SØMA, Hotel Hvide Falk), self-catering cabins and villas (Ilulissat Stay, Illu Rental), guesthouses (Möller Guesthouse), and a hostel. They’re all available on Booking.
Are there hostels in Ilulissat?
Yes — the Ilulissat Hostel is the main budget option, with a shared kitchen, garden, and free WiFi. It's on Booking.com and is the most affordable way to stay in town.
Where should I stay in Ilulissat for the northern lights?
Hotel Arctic's Aurora Cabins are the most purpose-built option — freestanding on the icefjord edge. Hotel Icefiord's Deluxe Explorer rooms with skylights are a strong alternative. For self-catering with an open sky view, Cabin Jomsborg at Ilulissat Stay sits ten meters from the water in near-total darkness.
How far in advance should I book hotels in Ilulissat?
Several months for the aurora season — Hotel Arctic's Aurora Cabins and the best Ilulissat Stay properties sell out long before winter. Book accommodation before booking international flights.
Is Ilulissat or Nuuk better for hotels?
Nuuk has more options and more budget flexibility. Ilulissat's properties are fewer but almost all sit on or near the UNESCO icefjord — the setting is considerably more dramatic. Our Nuuk vs Ilulissat guide covers the decision in full.
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Ilulissat is not a destination where you arrive and find somewhere to stay. Aurora Cabins at Hotel Arctic sell out months before the season. Ilulissat Stay's cabin and villas go early. The town has limited accommodation and one commercial airport connection to the outside world. Book everything — accommodation, internal flights, key tours — before you book the international flight. This is what we did with our Ilulissat cabin!
If you haven't decided between Ilulissat and Nuuk yet, our Nuuk vs Ilulissat guide breaks down which base suits which kind of trip. For things to do, where to eat, and how to plan the full itinerary, our Greenland travel guide covers everything. And if you're thinking about connecting the two towns the slow way — which we'd absolutely recommend — our Greenland by ferry guide covers the Arctic Umiaq Line route between Ilulissat and Nuuk.
Ready to plan your Greenland adventure? We’ve got dedicated guides:
🧭 Nuuk Travel Guide
🧊 Ilulissat Travel Guide
⛴ Greenland by Ferry
🇬🇱 Nuuk vs. Ilulissat (where to stay)
🏨 Best Hotels in Nuuk
🧳 Packing for Greenland
🗓️ Best Time to Visit Greenland (Month-by-month guide)
✨ Northern Lights in Greenland
