Day 1 Fly Reykjavik to Ilulissat (Saturday)

Midday flight from Reykjavik Domestic Airport to Ilulissat. Meet & greet by an local guide and transfer to the hotel for check-in. After a welcome information meeting we do a guided city walk.

Accommodation

Hotel Icefiord

Meals Included

none

Day 2 Ilulissat - surrounded by Icebergs

Ilulissat is the third largest town municipality in Greenland with more than 5000 inhabitants. About 4500 people lives in the town Ilulissat, and 500 people lives in the four remaining small settlements: Ilimanaq, Oqaatsut, Qeqertaq and Saqqaq.

300 kilometres north of the Polar Circle, Ilulissat lies beautifully situated close to one of the worlds largest glaciers – Kangia. The glacier produces about 20 million tons of ice each day, all floating into the Ilulissat Icefiord and the Disko Bay. All this ice gives at good basis for fishing for Halibut which is the main occupation in Ilulissat. Due to the unique ice and landscape, the area of Kangia and the Icefiord has been a UNESCO world heritage site since 2004.

You have one day at the start of the tour and two full days at the end of the tour in Ilulissat to join some of the many optional excursions, which allows you freedom to chose what you want to see and do. You can visit the Eqi Glacier, enjoy helicopter flights over the Icecap and visit remote settlements where fishing and hunting still continues as it has for centuries.

Optional excursions during stay in Ilulissat (see Trip Notes for details):
• The Icebergs of Sermermiut
• Hunter's Settlement - Rodebay
• Midnight Cruise to the Ice Fiord
• By Helicopter to the Ice Cap (operation depend on weather and helicopter capacity)
• Hunter's Settlement - Ilimanaq
• Eqip - The Calving Glacier
• Feeding the huskies
• Whale Safari

Accommodation

Hotel Icefiord

Meals Included

Breakfasts1

Day 3 Boat across the Disko Bay to Uummannaq

Transfer to the harbour. By boat across the Disko Bay to Uummannaq. Transfer to the hotel for check-in.

If there is time left in the day, take a stroll round the town's coloured houses in the very undulating terrain. Your walk could end at the summit above the town, by the mobile masts. Here you have a fantastic near 360 degree panoramic view of the icecaps in the fjords. It is also the best place to experience the midnight sun in the summer or the northern lights in the winter.

Accommodation

Hotel Uummannaq

Meals Included

Breakfasts1, Dinners1

Day 4 City tour and hiking in Uummannaq

City tour and hiking in Uummannaq. The town lies on an island which covers 12 square km, and is dominated by the 1.175 m high heart-shaped mountain, after which the town is named. Uummannaq is what you call the “real” Greenland: A majestic and harsh landscape with tall mountains, rare vegetation, many glaciers and icebergs and a population to whom fishing and hunting by dog sledge or boat is a natural part of daily life.

Although Uummannaq is one of the largest towns in Greenland, the number of inhabitants does only amount to 2800. Approximately half of them live in one of the seven surrounding settlements. Depending on the season you can visit the locals by boat or dog sledge. This experience is traditionally referred to as kaffemik: a social gathering which takes place around a cup of coffee.

Accommodation

Hotel Uummannaq

Meals Included

Breakfasts1, Dinners1

Day 5 & 6 Exploring the Uummannaq area - boat trips and hiking

If you are keen to stretch your legs, a day's hike can be to the 'Blue Lake'. The lake is beautifully located in the distinctive Uummannaq mountain, a fair distance from the town. The reward when you reach the lake is the amazing sight almost vertically up towards the Uummannaq mountain's summit, the enormous stone circle formations and the stunning view west and north over the Uummannaq fjord's blue waters.

The next day is a good time to set sail and take a closer look at the area from the sea. A day's sailing trip will first stop at the place of the famous Qilakitsoq mummies, then move on to take in several of the large glaciers, one of the remarkable bird mountains, which is around 1000 metres high, the geologically interesting area of the 'Aria desert', and Saattut, one of the larger settlements in the area. There is a good chance of whale spotting on this trip, which operates in the summer months.

Accommodation

Hotel Uummannaq

Meals Included

Breakfasts2, Dinners2

Day 7 Flight back to Ilulissat

As you fly back to Ilulissat, you will enjoy the view down to Uummannaq fjord: Here are large mountains that reach up to 1,200 - 1,400 metres in height, a number of almost vertical slopes of several hundred metres, which in some places plunge straight into the sea, heaps of ice from 11 glaciers, whales, both active and deserted settlements and much more.

Accommodation

Hotel Icefiord

Meals Included

Breakfasts1

Day 8 & 9 Ilulissat - optional activities

These final two days are for optional activities and one of the most popular activity is a helicopter flight over the Greenland Ice Cap. Book early if you wish to do this. Other options include boat tour to Icefjord in Ilulissat.

Accommodation

Hotel Icefiord

Meals Included

Breakfasts2

Day 10 Depart with flight to Reykjavik (Monday)

You are transferred to the airport in the mid morning for flight from Ilulissat to Reykjavik Domestic Airport where the tour ends.

Meals Included

Breakfasts1