Kangerlussuaq, Greenland
Greetings from Kangerlussuaq, Greenland.
My brother and I are here in Greenland for about a week. My brother was doing some volunteering in Northern Ireland, so I’d thought I’d join him for a trip “in the area” when he was done.
Greenland is part of Denmark, so the primary way to get here is on the Air Greenland a330 from Copenhagen. I spent a few days in Copenhagen myself. I flew in from Washington just a day before the Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) strike, which was a relief. The highlight of my time there was a private walking tour by a guide named Mila. It felt less like a tour and more like a friend was just showing me around her city. Definitely one of the best day tours I’ve had.
Since most of the runways in Greenland are not large enough to handle such large planes, the a330 lands in the small town (500 people) of Kangerlussuaq, and people take connections to the other towns of Greenland from here.
We took Premium Class for this 4.5 hour flight because economy was sold out. The recliners were very comfortable, and the flight attendants (especially Bettina the Cabin Manager) were about the friendliest I’ve ever encountered. Greenland is not part of the European Union nor the Schengen area. This means that if you require a visa to visit the Schengen area, you must apply for a separate authorization to visit Greenland on top of the visa, which is obtainable via the Danish Embassy. If you are able to visit the EU without a visa (like Americans are), you don’t require any other authorization
We asked the Bettina about getting a stamp in Greenland, and she said it’s only possible for non-EU citizens. My brother and I are both EU citizens, but we figured we’d use our American passports to get the stamp.
When landing into Kangerlussuaq, if you are an EU citizen you just walk into the arrivals hall— no need to even show your passport. Ifs on the honors system, but if you don’t get a stamp as a non-EU citizen you’ll almost certainly have issues on departure. If you’re not an EU citizen (like we were posing to be), you have to wait next to the passport control counter until everyone has disembarked.
The very friendly immigration officer asked where our Schengen entry stamps were, but when we explained we entered on EU passports and just wanted the stamp she happily obliged. Score!
We decided to spend a night in Kangerlussuaq in order to go to the Greenland ice cap— this is the easiest city to do that from. We stayed at the Old Camp hostel about a mile outside town (private room, shared bathroom) which organized a group tour to the ice cap. The 5 hour tour took us from the town to a bunch of lakes, a waterfall, and then on to the ice cap. The highlight was getting to drink some iceberg water straight from the source.
After the tour, we took another hotel shuttle to the Roblukken restaurant (make reservations online beforehand). It’s located a couple miles south of the city and has a gorgeous view of a lake. That night they were serving halibut with some mixed vegetables. Super tasty meal with a gorgeous view for about $30 a person— not horrible for Greenland.
Flying today to Ilulissat where we’ll stay until July 12. Here we have a bunch of tours booked via Hotel Arctic (owned by Air Greenland). Will keep you updated on those.
Denmark is UN Country 62/193 for me.