Celebrate the new year in Sisimiut – The land of northern lights and winter

Flights Copenhagen-Kangerlussuaq-Sisimiut. Welcome meeting, sightseeing, and Qiviut

Your trip starts in the morning in Copenhagen, from where you fly with Air Greenland to Kangerlussuaq. From here, you will continue on a smaller plane for a domestic flight to Sisimiut.

Sisimiut is Greenland’s second largest town with just under 5,500 inhabitants (6,500 if you count the dogs). Sisimiut is an incredibly active town. The annual skiing race, Arctic Circle Race, is a point in case. You will find many opportunities for entertaining yourself in Sisimiut’s hinterland. You can look forward to 4-5 days of fun in this town!

Welcome meeting

After arriving in Sisimiut. You will be taken to the hotel, get your room and then meet for a briefing on the coming days in town.

Sightseeing and Qiviut

Now it’s time to go on a tour of the town by bus. This beautiful town lies in quite a hilly terrain among high mountains. The town has grown a lot since colonial times and, today, it is one of the fastest growing towns in Greenland. You will find many educational institutions, a large port, headquarters for Greenland’s largest trading company, beautiful museums in the old colonial quarter – and then we also find some good lookouts so you can take lots of good pictures.

Along the way, we also visit the store Qiviut, which was the first store in the world to specialize in yarn and products from musk oxen. The wool from the musk oxen is one of the warmest kinds of wool in the world – and it is so soft.

Sisimiut on your own or half-day winter adventure and winter safari (optional)

On your second day in Sisimiut, you can experience more things. There is always something to do here, but if you have bought the excursion package, it is now time to start on the exciting excursions. As we mentioned in the intro, it may well be that you do not get the experiences in the exact order that we describe them here, but you will get through the program.

Half-day Winter Adventure; hiking and campfire and food in the hills (optional)

Community and bonfire is the goal of our little expedition in the mountains. As we always do in Greenland, we start by taking stock of the snow situation, while we greet the sunrise. Depending on the amount of snow, we choose the best hiking route to the campfire site.

After an hour’s walk from the hotel, we are greeted with the scent of a bonfire and mulled wine. We can now sit around the fire and talk about yesterday’s events, hear about Greenlandic traditions and local tales, while the food sits over the fire. While we are waiting for the food, there may be others who would like to hike up the mountain to see a little more or ride down the snow-covered hills.

After dinner, we head for the town again along a part of the famous Arctic Circle Race route. On the trip, we bring our sled dog with us, because he loves mountain walks, company, and treats.

Winter safari (optional)

The winter safari is a trip into the amazing mountain landscape on our “monster trailer.” It is a huge sled that is being pulled by a snowmobile. On the trip, you get several stops, so there is ample opportunity to take pictures and enjoy nature.

Nature is right outside your door, and you will very quickly get a sense of the difference between civilization and the wild nature. You sit on the big sled and experience Sisimiut’s hinterland. The tour’s route goes through the winter playground and, on the way back, we stop on a plateau so you can enjoy the view of Sisimiut and the Davis Strait. As you are being pulled on a sled, nothing is required of you (other than holding onto the sled), so everyone can go on this tour.

On your own or possibly winter hiking and snowmobiling (optional)

It’s the last day of the year, and it should be enjoyed to the max. There are many exciting walks that you can take in Sisimiut and the near hinterland. If you have bought the excursion package, there are two exciting things on the program.

Winter Hiking (optional)

Are we going hiking again, you may think? Of course, there are some similarities with the trip you were on yesterday, but where the adventure tour was all about bonfires and community, the Winter Hiking Trip focuses on snowshoeing. Waking in snowshoes is for big and small alike, and it requires no experience, as there is a guide that will help teach you about the use of snowshoes and rods.

We walk towards the city’s waterworks, which is right at the end of the famous Arctic Circle Trail. We cross the path and move along the mountainside towards Lake Nilliasup, which is one of the two lakes that provide drinking water for the whole town. The lake is frozen so we can cross it in a southern direction and continue across a moraine, shaped by the enormous power of ancient melting glaciers.

In the area, there are lots of polar foxes and snow hares, which we will try to spot and perhaps find one of their caves along the road. Depending on the amount of snow, on the mountains, we will be able to see traces of scrub strips and various soil species from glacial movements and the melting of the ice.

At the end of the moraine, we can look out towards the David Strait and the breathtaking view of the archipelago and the Polar Circle area south of Sisimiut. Here we will take a well-deserved break and get a refreshment.

There is also time to take beautiful pictures before we return home. On the return trek, we cross the mountain to another moraine and continue towards Sisimiut’s cross-country ski trails. Before returning to Hotel Sisimiut, we stop at the frozen lake, Spejdersøen (Scouts’ Lake), which is at placed the center of activities during the winter season.

New Year’s Program and Menu

New Year’s Eve is always something special and especially in Greenland, where the New Year is celebrated twice. Naturally, we start the night with the Danish Queen’s New Year’s speech and a welcome drink at 6:00 PM. At 6:30 PM, we will start dinner with a delicious starter. A glass of wine or a soft drink is served for this.

After the appetizer, we get ready to go to a hilltop. Because of the time difference, at 8:00 PM local time, it’s midnight in Denmark and other countries using Central European Time. We wear warm clothes and drive outside the town to see the whole town lit up by fireworks when the Danish New Year is celebrated. It is a tradition in Greenland that we also celebrate the New Year for our friends and family in Denmark because we think it is a pity that they cannot be home. If they cannot be here, at least they know that we are celebrating them at 8:00 PM.

At 8:30 PM, we have returned to the dinner tables once again and continue with the hotel’s New Year’s Tapas Buffet with Greenlandic specialties (with two glasses of wine or soft drinks). As if that is not enough, we will also have a delicious New Year’s dessert (with one glass of wine or a soft drink) and coffee or tea.

The new year is celebrated with the traditional wreath cake, a Danish/Norwegian specialty that is also popular in Greenland. We drink bubbles and watch the fireworks. At 1:00 PM, a small meal is served (including two beers or soft drinks). The hotel has made sure that you are not going to be thirsty tonight, but if you want to order extra, you certainly can do so. The hotel bar closes at 3:00 PM on New Year’s Eve.

On your own or possibly a sea safari and a discover tour (optional)

It may be hard to get up on January 1, but then it’s good that the hotel serves a brunch today from 9:00-11:00 PM. After this, there are still two lovely excursions for you to go on.

Sea safari (optional)

Sisimiut is the northernmost city where you can count on the harbor being ice-free all year round. It’s a great thing when you want to go sailing in December or January. The sea is a very important part of the Greenlandic culture because this is where we get most of our food.

On the sea safari, you get the chance to see Greenland from the seaside, which is always a huge experience. We sail through the archipelago outside the town and as far as possible into the fjords near Sisimiut to get an even better look at the town, the surroundings and, not least, the mountain Nasaasaaq/Kællingehætten (The Old Lady’s Hat). We try to sail close to the winter sea ice and maybe we even get to see the northern lights.

Discover tour (optional)

The Discover tour is a dog sled ride where you are allowed to experience how it feels to slide across the snow on a sled, pulled by a lot of dogs. The sled dogs are an integral part of life in Sisimiut. It is the southernmost town in Greenland, where it is allowed to keep sled dogs.

On tour, you are placed behind the sled’s owner who sits behind the dogs. We drive to the foot of the Niujarfik Mountain, and here you get a short stay. Then we return towards the town, and the dogs run on a track, which leads to a good vantage point. There will be time for some good photos, and then we head back to town.

Flights from Sisimiut to Kangerlussuaq and Copenhagen

You will start your last day with a hearty breakfast, and maybe there is time for the last walk.

At 11:00 PM, we go to the airport where you check in. This is followed by a short flight from Sisimiut to Kangerlussuaq, where you change to Air Greenland’s large Airbus which will take you back to Copenhagen. You can relax now after some beautiful, white, and colorful days in Sisimiut.