Tasiilaq

Tasiilaq lies close to the end of the world, and its beauty knows no end. The place seems made for people with a taste for adventure. You will encounter rolling valleys, icebergs in many shades, whales, stunning views and needle-sharp mountains.

Greenland’s most beautiful town, Inuit culture and hiking

In Tasiilaq, nature is the all-dominating force that sets the course of life. This means, for example, that ships only reach the town for two or three summer months, as the town is otherwise cut off from the outside world by ice. Fortunately, Air Greenland flies all year round to the beautiful town with the needle-sharp mountains. In summer, the green meadows stand in stark contrast to the thousands of icebergs you find in Sermilik Fjord.

Tasiilaq was also formerly known as Ammassalik.

Summer paradise in Tasiilaq

Summer in Tasiilaq is a study in green and white – and black, when a beautiful and impressive whale swims past in the nearby fjords. The area is a hiker’s paradise, but everyone can join in here. There are trips for all types of people. You sense this quickly when you set foot in the hilly town.

Inuit culture

The culture of East Greenland is something quite special. The area is isolated by the ice sheet, and so it is still possible to experience much of the original Inuit culture. There are still many hunters here, and there are still people who move to summer camps, as has been done for a thousand years, to build up supplies for the winter.

Tupilaks are Greenlandic figures carved from bone or soapstone. Tupilaks from East Greenland are highly prized, not only among visitors but also among Greenlanders themselves. The East Greenlanders are truly skilled with their hands. In Tasiilaq you can see this work up close when you visit the town’s workshop.

In the middle of town you will also find the shop Skæven, which is both a tourist office and a seller of the finest crafted items of bone, skin and tooth. The museum in Tasiilaq is one of the most interesting in the country.

Hiking in the Valley of Flowers

The area around Tasiilaq invites hiking at every level of difficulty. Here you can easily head out into nature and quickly get a sense of being far off the beaten track. The Valley of Flowers near Tasiilaq is a gem like few others in Greenland’s nature. The valley is ringed by mountains, while the waterfall in the middle of the valley thunders on undaunted.

Summer in the Valley of Flowers offers an impressive display of flowers, and the valley lies at the foot of some of the most beautiful mountains in the area. We so look forward to you experiencing the valley!

The Valley of Flowers is cut through by a winding river, which in several places creates beautiful waterfalls in the otherwise fairly flat area. If you want to do the walk on your own, you should start at Klubben and walk clockwise along the river. You pass the lonely cemetery and are delightfully surprised when you then turn a corner and suddenly see the waterfall in front of you, with the mountain Pyramiden in the background. It is so beautiful, so beautiful.

Boat trip or hike to Sermilik

Not far from Tasiilaq lies the beautiful Sermilik Fjord, which is to East Greenland what the Ilulissat Icefjord is to West Greenland. Here in the fjord, enormous icebergs float out from the many glaciers that calve into it. The wow factor is enormous, and you are guaranteed never to forget this fjord. It is from the settlement of Isortoq, not far from Tasiilaq and Sermilik, that people set off across the ice sheet by sledge or on skis.

You can also climb the steep, pointed mountains that surround Tasiilaq. Before you take on some of the most demanding routes, we would definitely recommend that you bring a local guide on the trip.

Local life

Tasiilaq is the main town of East Greenland and lies incredibly beautifully in a bowl surrounded by pointed mountains towering towards the sky. You are far from the rest of the world when you are in East Greenland, and you can feel it. East Greenland has its very own culture, and the language is also different from the one spoken on the west coast.

Only just over 2,000 people live in the town of Tasiilaq itself, and the town’s roads give the word hilly a new meaning. In Tasiilaq, not many roads run straight. No, it goes up and down, so sometimes you can take a rest on a bench or in the grass.

East Greenland’s mountains are younger than those in West Greenland, which is why they are also more pointed and jagged. You see this every morning when you wake up and look out of the window in Tasiilaq. Polheims Fjeld, Præstefjeldet, Pyramiden and Sømandsfjeldet are some of the peaks you can see from the town. If you feel like hiking, you can climb them all, but you should not go up Polheims Fjeld alone.

Summer life

There is often plenty going on at the harbour, as you will also experience in other towns. The harbour is well sheltered, and that is a plus in an area with so much drift ice that ships can typically only reach the area in July, August and perhaps September. In summer there is lots of life in town, especially when the area’s annual football championship takes place. On those days, the cheering roars from the football pitch can compete even with the dogs’ howling concerts.

Tasiilaq is close to Kulusuk, from where there are flights to both Nuuk and Iceland, so it is surprisingly easy to get here. Do it. You will not regret it.