Breathtaking landscapes and Inuit culture in a land of wonder.
I walked to the black sand beach on Disko Island, Greenland to see a cluster of icebergs, their angled sides shining in the sun, on a 10°C August day. The ice formations ranged from towering to tiny, a scene almost too much for my brain to process.
Greenland is a country of superlatives. Everything seems bigger, wilder and more vibrant here on the largest island on earth. The townsites bring a smile, with buildings painted deep red, green, blue and yellow. It’s a holdover from the 18th century, a time before addresses, when the colours signalled a building’s purpose.
While more than 80% of Greenland’s landmass is covered by a two-kilometre-thick ice sheet, I was surprised to find a landscape rich with summer growth. I hiked up hills covered in spongy summer-thawed tundra, a miniature rainforest of flowers and plants beneath my feet.
Greenland’s small coastal communities aren’t linked by roads. The only way to travel here is by air, dogsled – or the way I got around, by water on the Adventure Canada expedition ship
Ocean Endeavour. The 174 passengers, most of them Canadian, were drawn here by the chance to explore this remote and beautiful part of the world above the Arctic Circle.
The 17-day Into the Northwest Passage voyage began with five days in Western Greenland. Later, we crossed Davis Strait and headed to Nunavut and the Northwest Passage.
Colourful Sisimiut
I had my first glimpse of colourful Greenland from one of the nimble Zodiacs that ferried passengers from the ship to shore. Sisimiut is the second-largest city in Greenland, home to 5,000 people and about 1,000 purebred Greenlandic sled dogs. The animals are crucial for winter hunting on the ice; Greenland doesn’t allow hunting from snow machines. In the summer months, the muscular canines are on summer holiday, relaxing at a noisy Dog City compound.
Our ship had nine Inuit expedition crew, to help us learn about the Indigenous people who have lived in this vast region for thousands of years. There were more than two dozen scientific, cultural and social sciences experts on board as well. We learned about geology, archeology, birds and mammals and history. It’s no surprise writer Margaret Atwood likened these Adventure Canada trips to a “floating university.”
Former Greenland prime minister Aleqa Hammond, the first woman to hold the post, was also part of the expedition crew. “People want to know how we live here. That’s something you can’t Google,” she said.
In Sisimiut, a local teen was our guide for a walking tour. He had what I soon learned was a typical Greenlandic trait: a dry sense of humour.
We walked past the harbour, which was filled with fishing boats, apartment blocks, stores and brightly painted houses. As we walked uphill to the Taseralik Culture Centre, locals greeted us in Greenlandic fashion, with a raised eyebrow.
The modern community hub hosted a Taste of Place meal, a chance to try the Inuit “country foods” that are the cornerstones of the local diet. I liked the muskox meatballs and soup and fresh-caught shrimp. Pungent squares of purple-red raw seal meat, valued as a belly-warming source of protein and minerals, and chewy muktuk (beluga whale skin and blubber) were a challenge.
At the Sisimiut Museum, a group of heritage buildings tell the community’s story from the past century. I was fascinated by the display of heavy dogsleds. Inside Bethelkirken, built in 1775 and Greenland’s oldest church, there was a display of colourful traditional dress, including glass-bead collars and sealskin leggings.
Iceberg Alley
The next morning, we woke to find the ship was well into Western Greenland’s Iceberg Alley. One passenger was so excited by the spectacle, she raced on deck in her pajamas, her sleeping mask pushed up on her forehead.
I never felt unsafe. The captain and bridge crew were experts at sea ice navigation, and the Ocean Endeavour has a double hull.
It was thrilling to be in the area where icebergs are born. They crash from glaciers to float through the North Atlantic. The most prolific iceberg nursery is at the Ilulissat Icefjord on Disko Bay, about 300 km north of Sisimiut.
The UNESCO World Heritage area includes the popular Ilulissat Icefjord Centre, which explains all about Greenland’s iceberg factory. Ironically, the captain decided the ice around Ilulissat was too unpredictable that day. (Being adaptable and ready for change is a hallmark of expedition cruises, where nature and weather dictate the route.) That’s how we made our unscheduled stop at Qeqertarsuaq. But it was no hardship. The town welcomed us, opening the small history museum, and we hiked to a spectacular waterfall.
Long Arctic days are a bonus. We went out in the Zodiacs after dinner to get a close-up look at the face of the Eqip Sermia glacier, watching chunks calve and tumble into the water with huge splashes.
Greenlanders hold ice in such high esteem, their flag depicts the sunrise over the ice.
“Ice is lovely,” said Hammond. “It brings sea ice krill, food for sea mammals, fish, whales, polar bears.”
Armed bear guards were with us on all onshore activities outside of community visits. Unfortunately, we didn’t see polar bears until we got to Nunavut. The Arctic’s apex predators need sea ice to hunt their favoured prey of seals.
Green Travel & Greenland
With cruise ship traffic up substantially in 2025, Greenland is focusing on better tourism, not more of it. That means double-hulled ships and lower C2 emissions, something Adventure Canada is addressing with two newer, more fuel-efficient ships that will sail in the Arctic
in the 2026 season.
It will be easier to get there. A new international airport opened in the capital of Nuuk in 2024. New airports open this year in Ilulissat and southern Greenland at Qaqortoq.
If You Go
Adventure Canada runs all-inclusive expedition cruises to Greenland and the Arctic during summer months. Starting this summer, it will operate two ships on Arctic, Greenland and north Atlantic expeditions: 144-passenger Exploris One and 78-passenger Ocean Nova.
Linda Barnard was a guest of Adventure Canada, which did not preview this story. For more info, visit AdventureCanada.com
