"Ayornamut - Saagar's Greenland pages " a Greenland Travel Page by Saagar

... Why Greenland???

Greenland is a fascinating place with very dramatic landscapes and an interesting history of settlement and population. Greenland's Inuit culture is intriguing - there is much to learn also for the casual visitor. Arctic survival is fetching and charming in the summer months, and tough going during the winter.

The Arctic nature is uniqe in its own right. Due to its relative accessibility it is also easy to witness Arctic animal and plant life here. The remoteness of the place, however, is tangible and for some perhaps a bit scary the moment they hear the plane roaring overhead and dimming in the horizon on its return to Copenhagen, leaving you with the silt-laden glacial rivers, heather, reindeers and musk oxen... And then quiet...

Arctic light, the nature and the culture have a magic draw on many people, and some come back again and again. However, for perhaps most - Greenland will remain a once in a lifetime experience.

The internet pages of Greenland Tourist are very good, thorough and detailed, and will give you most of the information you will need.

People come to Greenland to :
- See the landscapes and scenery
- Observe the Arctic ecology
- Study the history and culture of Inuit and Nordic settlement and later Danish colonialism
- Visiting the remnants of the Nordic settlement period
- Hiking, fishing, kayaking
- Adventure tourism including participation in activities of the Inuit, such as dog sledding, hunting, halibut ice fishing etc.
- Extreme outdoor activities including ice cap crossing, skiing, expedition kayaking etc.

Generally speaking, Greenland is mainly for those interested in some level of outdoor activities. For others it may be very interesting to come on a visit to see the glacier landscapes from helicopter or cruise boats and stay in some of the snug hotels in Greenland's cities for a week or so.
For the first category, it can be done quite cheaply if you just first overcome the cost of flying here. Travelling cheaply in Greenland also means slowly, but it can definitely be done successfully.

My impression is that there are really three categories travellers to Greenland: 1) the package tourists who come by cruise ship/Arctic research vessels and dedicated group tours by plane, and 2) those who come in small independent groups or as individuals. 3) If I may say so, there are also those odd travellers who came just because they had the ticket and just try to hang around for a while without much of a plan, and some on a cross-Atlantic sailing trip who land for resupply and a stretch of the legs.

In the case of the middle category, independent, but dedicated and purposeful travellers, the services rendered by local tourist offices and travel agents are indispensible. Tthe more casual independent visitors on a shoestring will find it hard to explore Greenland without getting some assistance from a travel agent or some kind of commercial tourist service, too.

The best way of visiting Greenland in my opinion, is to nail down a few realistic geographic and thematic goals, and then stick to that area and explore the neigbourhood. That will limit internal travel cost and time - perhaps wasted - in local transit. Greenland is a vast place and for the intrepid traveler it's probably worth coming back another time, choosing another geographical section to visit. But if you insist on hopping around, that's definitely possible, too, but perhaps at the loss of seeing the details of Greenland. Greenland - in my opinion again - is a place that should be visited slowly....