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Greenland’s capital and home to over a third of the country’s population, Nuuk is a city where Scandinavian modernity meets deep Inuit heritage. The Old Harbour district preserves the oldest buildings in Greenland, and the National Museum houses the Qilakitsoq mummies, among the most significant archaeological finds in the Arctic world.

Sisimiut, Greenland’s second city and the largest Arctic community in North America, bridges the warmer south and the frozen north of the island. Inhabited for over 4,500 years, the town is known for exceptional dog sledding in winter and for the Sisimiut Museum, a collection of restored buildings tracing the progression from ancient turf houses to modern Inuit art.

Ilulissat, whose name means icebergs in Kalaallisut, is home to the Ilulissat Icefjord, which produces nearly 20 million tons of ice each day. The town of around 4,500 people is the third largest in Greenland after Nuuk and Sisimiut. A local history museum is located in the former home of Greenlandic polar explorer Knud Rasmussen.

Eqip Sermia, known as the Calving Glacier, is one of the most active glaciers in the Northern Hemisphere, with a 3-kilometre-wide wall of ice towering up to 168 metres above the surface. Found at the terminus of Eqi Fjord, its roots lie in the Greenland Ice Sheet, the second-largest body of ice in the world after Antarctica. Fin, humpback, and minke whales frequent the nearby waters of Disko Bay.

Qeqertarsuaq sits on Disko Island’s east coast, overlooking Disko Bay, one of the Arctic’s most spectacular and iceberg-rich bodies of water. Disko Island, Greenland’s second-largest at over 3,300 square miles, is known for its dark basalt landscape and the bay’s extraordinary concentration of icebergs calved from the Jakobshavn Glacier inland.

Evighedsfjord, or Eternity Fjord, is a large fjord northeast of Kangaamiut in southwest Greenland, stretching 75 kilometres with several branches and numerous glaciers descending from the Maniitsoq Ice Cap. The fjord has multiple bends, and whenever the ship reaches an apparent end it continues in another direction. The mountains on either side exceed 2,000 metres and the fjord reaches a depth of up to 700 metres.

Paamiut, in southwestern Greenland, traces its origins to 1500 BC and grew into a significant trading hub in the 18th century, with seal fur and soapstone carving among its key exports. Today the colourfully painted houses set against Arctic scenery offer a vivid welcome, and the surrounding waters bring minke, fin, and humpback whales during the summer months.

Hvalsey is part of Kujataa, a UNESCO World Heritage Arctic farming complex inscribed in 2017. The well-preserved ruins of a Norse church and farmstead at the northeastern end of Hvalseyfjord include living quarters, a hall, livestock pens, a storage building, and a warehouse. The last documented event of the Norse in Greenland was a wedding held in this church in September 1408. Qaqortoq, the largest town in southern Greenland, rises steeply above a fjord system with panoramic views of mountains, icebergs, and the open sea. Founded in 1774, it has been inhabited since prehistoric times and is known for the Stone and Man outdoor sculpture project, over 20 sculptures carved directly into the town’s rocks by Nordic and Greenlandic artists.

Connecting the Labrador Sea with the Irminger Sea, Prince Christian Sound stretches 100 kilometres and narrows at times to just 500 metres, its soaring mountains and rock-strewn cliffs creating a landscape seemingly untouched by time. Named after Prince, later King, Christian VII of Denmark, the sound is one of the most dramatic fjord passages in Greenland, framed by icebergs floating serenely through Arctic waters. It is one of the highlights of any voyage through this part of the world.