Greenland Travel Guide (2026): How to Plan, Costs, Flights & Where to Stay
Penguin Trampoline’s guide to everything you need to plan a trip to Greenland: things to do, how to get there, when to go, where to stay, what it costs, and which regions to prioritize.
Ok Greenland, you win! View from the ferry from Ilulissat to Nuuk at 23h
Last update: April, 2026
This guide covers everything you need to plan a trip to Greenland — how to get there, when to go, how much it costs, which regions to prioritize, and what to expect on the ground. We traveled to Nuuk and Ilulissat ourselves; what follows is what we actually learned.
Greenland is the kind of place that makes you stop mid-hike and think, “Wait, how is this even real?” Icebergs the size of buildings drift past sleepy harbors. The sun circles the sky like it’s had too much coffee. Tiny planes drop you off in towns with no roads in or out. And the silence? It’s so quiet it feels like a superpower.
Greenland was a childhood dream for us, and the only Arctic destination we hadn’t explored (with the exception of Siberia, but that’s not happening right now). So, when we heard about Nuuk’s new international airport and direct flights from the US, we HAD to go before everyone else does.
We just came back from Nuuk and Ilulissat — with a ferry ride in between — and we’re still thawing out emotionally. If you’re even slightly tempted to go, this is your sign.
Your trip planning starts here: Find places to stay and things to do
🧳 Field Notes
When we went: April, crisp air, some snowfalls and sunny days, icebergs still crowding the fjords, low tourist season.
Where we stayed: A cabin and an apartment in Nuuk and Ilulissat, with ferry nights spent on the Arctic Umiaq Line between them.
How we got around:By boat and on foot. Distances are vast, and there are no roads between towns — just ferries, small planes, and hiking paths that end at glaciers.
Highlights: Drifting through icebergs, hiking, chatting with locals in Nuuk’s cafés, enjoying local food and realizing silence in Greenland has its own sound.
Mistakes we made: Forgetting that weather controls everything here — flights, ferries, and plans. In Greenland, flexibility isn’t optional.
🗓️ When to see the northern lights in Greenland
The aurora season in Greenland runs from late September to early April, with the best viewing usually between December and February, when nights are longest and skies clearest. Read our dedicated Northern Lights in Greenland Guide.
For photo settings, gear advice, and the best Northern Lights destinations across Scandinavia, check out our full 👉 Northern Lights Hub.
What does our Greenland travel guide cover?
Our Greenland travel guide covers everything you actually need to plan and understand a trip to Greenland without overcomplicating it. That includes how to get there, how to move around once you’re inside the country, and why transport is completely different here compared to most destinations because there are no roads connecting towns.
We also break down where to go depending on the experience you want, mainly focusing on Nuuk and Ilulissat as the two most practical and interesting bases, plus how to combine them in one trip. From there, we go into the best time to visit depending on whether you’re after summer fjords and whale watching or winter snow and northern lights.
Accommodation is another key part, since options are limited and very location-dependent, so we highlight where it actually makes sense to stay. We also cover the reality of moving between places like Nuuk and Ilulissat, where flights and boats replace anything resembling a normal road trip, and finally what to actually do once you’re there — from iceberg fjord cruises to exploring local life and Arctic landscapes.
How to get to Greenland
Don’t let the map fool you. Greenland looks far away, but it’s surprisingly reachable if you know where to look, especially over the past couple of years.
NEW in April 2026: South Greenland just became significantly easier to reach. Qaqortoq Airport opened in April 2026, replacing Narsarsuaq — located some 60 kilometres away — as the main gateway to the region. Qaqortoq is the largest town in South Greenland, and until now it was only accessible by helicopter or boat; you can now fly there directly from Nuuk year-round on Air Greenland, with up to 17 weekly rotations during summer, and Icelandair is adding four weekly seasonal flights from Keflavík. For anyone who had written off South Greenland as too logistically complicated, that calculation has changed.
The plane from Nuuk to Ilulissat
From Iceland: Reykjavik flies direct to Nuuk, Ilulissat, and other towns. If you have time, you can combine Iceland and Greenland BUT make sure you have at least 15-20 days total.
From Europe: Most big routes go through Copenhagen. We flew to Copenhagen from Barcelona, to Ilulissat from Copenhagen, and from Nuuk to Copenhagen.
From the U.S.: Starting in 2025, you can fly directly from Newark to Nuuk. That’s right. You can trade skyscrapers for giant icebergs in a few hours!
💡 Heads-up: There are no roads between the towns in Greenland. Once you're there, you’re either flying (on a tiny plane, it’s like a free sightseeing tour), boating, or ferrying. And once you fly over these mighty mountains and the icecap, you’ll understand why!
Did you know?
Greenlandic (Kalaallisut) is the native language of Greenland. It’s polysynthetic, meaning a single word can pack in what would take a full sentence in English — like qaqqaliartorluni (“while going to the mountains”). Spoken mostly along the west coast, it’s deeply tied to Inuit culture and worldview, and it’s the sole official language since Danish is no longer official as of 2009.
Best time to visit Greenland: Summer vs. winter
This is a very good consideration point, and a question you should definitely ask yourself before making any travel plans to Greenland. Here’s a (very) short summary of each season.
Summer (June–August): Midnight sun. Whale season. Hikes with actual flowers and no, or little snow. It’s wild and bright and strange in the best way.
Winter (Oct–March): Northern lights (read our dedicated Northern Lights in Greenland Guide). Dog sleds. Frostbite if you’re not careful. Worth it if you're down for the full Arctic experience, but hikes won’t be accessible unless you have the right gear and hire a guide.
Shoulder seasons: Moody light. Fewer tourists. Surreal stillness.
We went at the end of April, which is a mix of summer-looking days and winter madness. Days were already too long for the northern lights and the weather was mostly sunny with a snow storm and cloudy days in between. Even though the temperatures were a lot higher that what we are used too (between -5 and 0 ºC), it felt a lot colder due to the surrounding ice and snow.
Read our full guide: Best time to visit Greenland
In Nuuk (late April), we could hike up Quassussuaq but not Sermitsiaq
🐻❄️ Far north in coastal Greenland, the ice belongs to the polar bear. You might not see one — but knowing they’re out there changes how you see the Arctic.
If you’d like to help protect them, Fahlo’s Polar Bear Bracelet supports polar research and lets you follow a real bear’s journey across the ice.
🐾 Use our link for 20% off your bracelet: Track a polar bear with Fahlo
Where to go in Greenland
It’s Greenland’s capital, but not in a ‘crowded-streets-and-honking-cars’ kind of way. Think: art galleries, cool (literally) Greenlandic designer shops, sushi with snow crab, muskox burgers, cozy cafés, museums, nice hotels and killer views from every angle. Bonus: it’s got just enough city vibe to ease you in before things get really remote. Oh, and there’s a mall. Seriously!
Read our Nuuk Travel Guide and the best tours in Nuuk to plan your stay.
View of old Nuuk - More picturesque, impossible!
Find things to do in Nuuk
Find hotels in Nuuk
Ilulissat
Icebergs. Everywhere. Ilulissat Icefjord is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and you’ll understand why the second you arrive. The light bounces off the ice like it’s been Photoshopped. Also: more sled dogs than people, good coffee, accommodation with a view, and boat tours you’ll never forget.
Read our Ilulissat Travel Guide and the best tours in Ilulissat to plan your stay.
Our Icefjord tour was out of this world and a checkmark off the bucket list!
Find things to do in Ilulissat
Find a hotel in Ilulissat
The ferry between Nuuk & Ilulissat
Most people fly. We floated like Greenlanders. Three days down the west coast, navigating through the ice, stopping at tiny settlements, eating with locals, watching magical sunsets. It’s slow travel at its absolute best.
Read our guide to traveling by ferry in Greenland to plan your adventure.
With views like this, the ferry ride felt more like a sightseeing tour
What do do in Greenland
Sail past icebergs the size of stadiums
Hike through tundra that looks like Mars got a forest floor
Go dog sledding in winter
Meet the locals — take time to talk to them, listen to their stories, they’re extremely welcoming and a formidable example of resilience.
Eat local — reindeer, halibut, musk ox, salmon, snow crab, scallops, berries, and, it might be controversial, but seal and whale too.
Catch the northern lights (or the midnight sun — choose your fighter)
Listen to the silence. Then listen harder.
This is not a checklist country. It’s a lean-in, slow-down, look-around kind of place.
Hunting in Greenland — especially for seal, whale, and polar bear in certain regions — sparks controversy abroad, but it's deeply rooted in Inuit tradition and survival. These hunts are small-scale, community-regulated, and incredibly sustainable: nothing is wasted. Meat feeds families, fat becomes fuel, fur turns into clothing, and bones are used for tools or art. Unlike industrial systems, it’s a cycle of respect and necessity, not profit. Most Inuit hunters don’t rely on imports — they live from the land and sea, in a way that’s far more sustainable than shipping packaged goods across oceans.
Where to stay in Greenland
Hotels, guesthouses, and lodges are available, as well as a handful of Airbnbs — but book early…like, months early. The rooms go fast, and options are super limited outside “big” towns.
Don’t expect infinity pools and pillow menus. Expect handmade decor, a “hygge” vibe, big duvets, and windows facing glaciers. Some cabins don’t have running water, or have limited hot water. Also bear in mind that Wifi is not available everywhere.
In Ilulissat, we stayed in an incredible cabin right by the water and the ice (Jomsborg by Ilulissat Stay). The views were insane at all time! In Nuuk, we stayed at a local apartment in the center.
Looking for a place to stay? Check our favorite accommodation options in Nuuk, and our selection of hotels and cabins with a view in Ilulissat.
Zoom in on the map below to find hotels and rentals in Greenland:
Our cabin in Ilulissat: that’s what we call an accommodation with a view (Jomsborg by Ilulissat Stay)
What to pack
That’s a smart question! We strongly advise you to read our Ultimate Arctic Travel Guide and our Packing for Greenland List for more tips, but here’s a short list to get you started:
Layers (trust us, it changes fast)
Thermal socks and base layers
Windproof gear (not just waterproof — the wind is serious)
Sleep mask (midnight sun, baby)
Gore-TEX hiking boots (you’ll be walking on tundra, rocks, and occasionally, a small stream)
Snow boots and pants if you’re visiting in winter
Hat, gloves and neck warmer
Sunglasses & sunscreen if you’re visiting from March to September
Read our guide: What to pack for Greenland.
The Inuit people of Greenland
The Inuit people of Greenland — known as Kalaallit — aren’t just welcoming; they’re quietly extraordinary. There’s a calm confidence in how they move through the world, shaped by generations of living in one of Earth’s most extreme environments.
🌍 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.
💬 FAQ — Visiting Greenland
How do you get to Greenland?
Seasonally, there are nonstop flights from the U.S. to Nuuk (Newark–Nuuk, summer schedule) and a Nuuk–Iqaluit link from Canada. Year-round, most travelers fly via Iceland (Keflavík) or via Denmark (Copenhagen). Once in Greenland, you can move along the west coast on the Arctic Umiaq Line ferry or by domestic flights; ocean cruises also visit several ports.
When is the best time to visit Greenland?
June to September for hiking and boat trips; February to April for Northern Lights and snow adventures.
Can you travel independently in Greenland?
Yes, but logistics take planning. There are no roads between towns, so you’ll fly, ferry, or boat between destinations.
What’s the best way to see Greenland?
The Arctic Umiaq Line ferry — a slow, local voyage through fjords, icebergs, and small villages.
Is Greenland expensive?
Yes. Groceries and tours cost more than in mainland Europe, but the experience is unmatched.
Penguin tip:
Getting rescued in the Arctic — even for something as simple as a broken leg — can cost a lot. Our travel partner HeyMondo offers insurance that covers adventurous stuff like snowmobiling, and if you book through our link, you’ll get 5% off (up to 15% with seasonal offers). Not bad for peace of mind at the edge of the world.
So... is Greenland worth it?
Yes. Unequivocally. Not because it’s “bucket list” or “Instagrammable” (although it is). But because it’s real. It’s hard to get to. It’s hard to describe. It’s getting a lot of attention lately, and more tourists will come. It’s the kind of place that stays with you long after you leave — in your lungs, your bones, your brain and your heart.
You won’t be the same after you go. And that’s the point.
Ready to dig deeper? We’ve got dedicated guides:
🧭 Nuuk Travel Guide
🧊 Ilulissat Travel Guide
⛴ Greenland by Ferry
🇬🇱 Nuuk vs. Ilulissat (where to stay)
🛥️ Ilulissat Best Tours
🚶Best Tours in Nuuk
🏨 Best Hotels in Nuuk
🏨 Best Hotels in Ilulissat
🧳 Packing for Greenland
🗓️ Best Time to Visit Greenland (Month-by-month guide)
✨ Northern Lights in Greenland
Meanwhile, get in the Greenlandic mood with some Kalaallisut music:
