Greenland Travel guide

NORTH GREENLAND

North Greenland is the land of the midnight sun and dogsleds. A cornucopia of arctic experiences with giant icebergs, some of the world's fastest glaciers and Ilulissat Ice Fjord, honoured with a place on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites. The sun is in the sky for all hours of the day throughout the summer, and the sea and fjords invite you for some fantastic sailing with plenty of seals and whales to see. In the winter, dogsleds whizz over hedge and ditch through the white landscape. The dogsled is still an important means of transport, especially in the far north when hunters go out on the ice and fish for halibut in the sea's lush larder.

Area
Area-wise, the North Greenland municipality of Qaasuitsoq is world's largest municipality, with its 660,000 km2.

Climate
The entire 2670 km long country has an arctic climate, but there are significant differences in weather and rainfall. In the northern regions the rainfall is sparse, less than 250 mm per year. The temperature can often be minus 30 degrees in North Greenland. It doesn't feel as cold, because the air is very dry.

Natural phenomena
Northern Lights, midnight sun/polar night, icebergs, fjord ice, ice sheet, glacier ice, arctic desert, foehn winds.

Wildlife
All over Greenland there are baleen and toothed whales, seals, arctic foxes, hares and birds - eiders, loons, peregrine falcons and auks. King eiders live mainly in the north, as do cormorants and thick-billed murres. Reindeer, arctic wolves and polar bears also live in the north and on rare occasions, walruses can be spotted on drift ice in shallow waters.