Explore to inspire, a PONANT podcast
PONANT's cruises
Two very different destinations on a single island!
While its wildlife is on the shy side, Greenland is a destination you will love for its landscapes, which are among the most beautiful in the world, and the tremendous hospitality of its people. But how do you choose between the east and west coasts? Here are some tips from our expert and expedition leader, Vadim Heuacker, who has long adored the icy, rocky landscapes, the culture, tradition and legends of the island.
A world of glittering ice
Greenland’s east coast: an icy kingdom
Wild, steep, icy… The east coast of Greenland has long remained inaccessible. Its magical landscapes continue to fascinate explorers in search of polar thrills.
Scoresby Sound: the world’s largest fjord
On Greenland’s east coast, ice rules over all in a kingdom of vertiginous and majestic fjords. The first of these is Scoresby Sound, the largest fjords network in the world, located north of the Blosseville Coast. This was one of French Arctic explorer Jean-Baptiste Charcot’s favourite lands. Standing on either side are imposing mountains and immense glaciers.
Further and higher… Northeast Greenland National Park
Northeast Greenland National Park is the largest in the world. Beyond Jameson Land, one of the largest expanses of tundra on Greenland’s east coast, you’ll find yourself in the High Arctic, up close to the Greenland ice sheet, the largest mass of ice on Earth after the Antarctic ice sheet.
On the east coast of Greenland, nature is more untamed than on the west coast. The mountain peaks are more prominent, the cliffs are vertiginous and the shores, bordered by pack ice for most of the year, are subject to powerful polar currents. It is therefore very sparsely inhabited and visited.
Greenland’s west coast: the land of ice giants
Parades of majestic icebergs, monumental glaciers, archipelagos of ice… On Greenland’s west coast, the gentle relief and climate protected by the Gulf Stream are ideal for contemplating some of Greenland’s most fascinating landscapes.
Disko Bay: a UNESCO treasure
Disko Bay is one place you mustn’t miss on Greenland’s west coast. This natural wonder is home to the largest icebergs in the northern hemisphere, which emerge out of the frozen UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the Ilulissat Icefjord. These cathedrals of drifting ice are “calved” by (or broken off from) some of the fastest and most active glaciers in the world, such as the Eqi Glacier which was so dear to explorer Paul-Émile Victor. The weather and climate station he installed in 1948 is still in use today.
Savissivik and the High Arctic
If you keep heading to the far north, you can explore Vadim’s favourite place, Savissivik. This iceberg cemetery – the largest of its kind in Greenland – is an absolutely sublime sight to behold.
If the weather permits it, do try to get to the “high ground” of north-west Greenland. You can follow in the footsteps of the great explorers and take on a breathtaking journey through the pack ice and icebergs, as well as getting some great opportunities to observe fascinating endemic wildlife such as the very rare bowhead whale or the little auk colonies.
Being lucky enough to see bowhead whales is always a great moment! This near-legendary species came close to extinction, but it is making a comeback, particularly in the northern part of Baffin Bay, off the west coast of Greenland. And if you’re an avid birdwatcher, the Qaanaaq region is home to the world’s biggest colony of little auks. This funny little black and white (and rather chubby) seabird is truly endemic to the High Arctic.
Life with the Inuit
Go east to visit Greenland’s most isolated villages
Because it is trapped in pack ice for most of the year, the east coast of Greenland is inaccessible and virtually uninhabited, providing a home for just two Inuit communities.
Tasiilaq: the largest Inuit community in eastern Greenland
Are the 2,000 souls who live in Tasiilaq cut off from the world? Far from it! Inuit and Europeans on the eastern coastline have crossed paths in Ammassalik Bay, at the edge of the Arctic Circle ,for a great many years, as they share a mutual interest. It was in Tasiilaq that the young ethnographer Paul-Émile Victor spent a year living with the Inuit in the mid-1930s. The inhabitants of Tasiilaq are always keen to share their culture with a great sense of warmth, tinged with a hint of curiosity. You can meet them in the small museum set up in the town’s old church for a drumming and traditional singing demonstration, or even for a game of football on the pack ice!
Ittoqqortoormiit: the most northerly village on Greenland’s east coast
Ittoqqortoormiit is a village far beyond the Arctic Circle’s border with just a few hundred inhabitants. Here, you can step outside of time and immerse yourself in the heart of Inuit culture. It offers a rare opportunity to share in mushers’ ancestral way of life by learning to dog sled on the ice packs. Much more than a tradition, for the Inuit it remains an essential means of travel, particularly for hunting and survival in these high latitudes.
Of course there is a language barrier, but usually everyone overcomes it very quickly. These special moments where we get to encounter different people with a touching sense of openness are born out of a deep desire to enrich each other’s lives.
West Greenland: go with an open heart
Sheltered from polar ocean currents and ice-free in summer, Greenland’s west coast is much more densely populated. It is the country’s historical, cultural and economic heart.
A sense of improvised hospitality
From the capital, Nuuk (which stretches along the Davis Strait), via Narsaq in the south and Ilulissat, Upernavik or the Qanaaq Region in the north, you can set off to meet the Inuit and experience Greenlandic hospitality
This is very much the spirit of an authentic kaffemik, a social festive gathering usually organised at the drop of a hat for family and friends, neighbours, colleagues or just folk who are passing through.
Kullorsuaq and the guardians of the Pole
Thanks to Nicolas Dubreuil, a French explorer with a passion for Greenland, PONANT has forged lasting and invaluable links with the small community of Kullorsuaq, located in the Upernavik archipelago, over the last ten years. Its inhabitants are committed to sharing their traditional way of life with travellers. Bivouacking on the pack ice in early spring, guided by these men with their precise ancestral gestures, perfectly adapted to this extreme environment, is an intense and exclusive human experience.
Greenland’s fauna is rich but fierce. Still hunted, it tends to shy away from the coasts and their communities. In both east and west, you’ll have to favour the High Arctic if you hope to see any. Seals and polar bears often prefer to stay at a distance, although they can be spotted from time to time as you head towards the more northerly shores, particularly to the east.
Photo credits: ©PONANT/Julien Fabro; ©Studio PONANT/Olivier Blaud/VioletteVauchelle/Morgane Monneret/Nathalie Michel; ©PONANT/Photo Ambassador Ian Dawson; ©PONANT/Natascha Klein; ©PONANT/Marvin Kuhr
PONANT takes you there
Explore the many faces of Greenland
