We board Air Greenland’s red plane in Copenhagen and fly to Nuuk in Greenland. It is a trip of 4½ hours. Ahead of us are five exciting days around New Year’s in Ilulissat, but there is still one more flight to get there.

After a short stop-over in Nuuk to change planes, we continue towards Ilulissat. After crossing the amazing Ilulissat Icefjord, we land at Ilulissat Airport. You will be picked up by Hotel Arctic’s bus and taken to the cozy hotel by the waterfront in Ilulissat.

After check-in, the guide organizes an information meeting, telling you about the town, the area, and possible excursions. There may be changes to the order of the excursion. Daylight hours are limited, as is the availability of tours boats, so we may have to split the group into smaller parties on some days, and while some people go sailing, others will go dog sledding. The staff at World of Greenland are experts at logistics like this so that no one will be missing out.

Guided town walk

Ilulissat is Greenland’s third-largest town and is considered one of the four main towns, along with Nuuk, Qaqortoq, and Sisimiut. People have lived in the area surrounding Ilulissat for 4,500 years. Still, the town itself was established as a village in 1727, and, in 1741, the Icelandic merchant Jacob Severin established a trading post called Jacobshavn (Jacob’s Harbour). Later on, the town changed its name to Jakobshavn (now with a ‘k’). You will see many buildings that are linked to this time. For example, Knud Rasmussen, the world-famous polar explorer, grew up in Ilulissat in the building that now houses the historical museum. You can look forward to an exciting tour and get lots of information that you can use in the coming days.

You will have a tasty welcome dinner at the hotel’s very good restaurant (drinks not included).

There are many things to do in llulissat on your own – the guide will have told you about this at the information meeting yesterday. If you have purchased the excursion package, on days 2 and 3, you will either go on a hike to Sermermiut on one day and go out on a dog sled ride on the other.

Hiking to the former Inuit settlement of Sermermiut by the Ice Fjord (optional)

You will hike to the former settlement of Sermermiut, which has been inhabited for thousands of years because of its amazing location at the Ice Fjord. Although the view here is incredible, it was not the scenery that brought the Inuit here. There are excellent hunting opportunities in the area since the Ice Fjord provides food for fish and seals, which has created a basis for human settlements for millennia.

1 ½-hour dog sled ride (optional)

Today, you can look forward to a 1 ½-hour dog sled ride. The dog sled is one of the most famous Greenlandic icons and a thousand-year-old tradition for the Inuit. Not many vehicles have survived such a long period without changes in appearance and technology: a pack of happy dogs in harnesses tied to a simply constructed wooden sled. The experience cannot be explained – it must be tried.

This trip usually takes place in flat terrain on a plain near Ilulissat. Apart from the sled driver, you are two participants on each sled, so if you have booked the excursion on your own, you may share a sled with another person. However, all dogs are different, so if you are out with family and friends, we can not guarantee that you will be riding together on the entire trip as some dogs are fast, and others are not. This trip is recommended for those with neck or back problems or if you are immobile. Participants must be 12 years and older.

There is still plenty of time to go out and experience on your own. You can also enjoy the fireplace next to the hotel lobby, relax in your room, or at the many other vantage points scattered around the hotel and the hotel grounds.

As we wrote in the introduction to this trip, some of our former guests wished that the trip was a little longer so there was time for relaxation. So that’s what this day is for as tonight is New Year’s Eve!

However, you will visit with the sled dogs if you have bought the excursion package.

Meet the Sled Dogs (optional)
However, if you have bought the excursion package, you will get to meet some sled dogs today. You get to visit the sled dogs at their home, and you can see, feel, and especially hear them when they are fed.

The dog’s owner will also demonstrate how the sled, the straps, and the whip work, and he will tell us about the life of these amazing dogs.

Gala dinner at Hotel Arctic

The New Year is now only a few hours away, and tonight you are going to a gala dinner at Hotel Arctic. The hotel offers a five-course dinner, where, as mentioned, there is a break at 9 pm because all of Greenland goes outside to celebrate the Danish New Year and sends up fireworks in honor of friends and family in Denmark. Then we go back to our tables and, at midnight, we will go out into the snow again and celebrate Greenland’s new year. Then we go in and get a glass of bubble water, and then you can judge for yourself how long you keep going.

Disko Bay is Greenland’s most sought-after tourist destination. This is especially due to Ilulissat Ice Fjord, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Sailing to the lce Fjord (part of the excursion package)

You start your year with what will probably become one of the highlights of your life, a sailing trip to the mouth of the lce Fjord. Here, you get to sail among the huge icebergs stranded here. The ice has created a sandbank throughout millennia, on which the huge icebergs now run aground. At some point, the ice melts less, there will be a swell or the ice is pushed forward by more ice from the fjord, and then the large icebergs can finally move further out into the deeper Disko Bay and from there to the Baffin Bay.

You could also consider going on a snowmobile excursion.

Snowmobile tour with 1 or 2 people on the snowmobile (optional excursion)

This tour takes you into the hinterland of Ilulissat to experience the Arctic winter landscape up close. First, you’ll drive up through a gorge on a narrow track that cuts through the mountains behind Ilulissat. You’ll get a fantastic view of Ilulissat and Disko Bay from the top. Then, you continue over frozen lakes and the rugged mountain landscape as a group. You’ll stop at the best viewpoints for photos and hot drinks. You can purchase the tour so that another person can accompany you on the snowmobile, or you can go solo on a snowmobile.

If you have bought the excursion package, you will look for the northern lights at night.

Northern Lights Safari (optional)

When the sky is clear on winter nights, you can see the most beautiful northern lights over Ilulissat. Aurora Borealis is, without a doubt, the night sky’s most spectacular phenomenon. We will drive away from the lights of the town and go to where there is total darkness, apart from the stars and northern lights. The guide will tell us all about the causes of the phenomenon. You will also get tips and tricks to make the best pictures of the colored lights as they cross the night sky.

Today, we head back towards Denmark. With one of Air Greenland’s Dash 8’s, you leave Ilulissat Airport for Nuuk and then fly to Copenhagen, where you will arrive in the evening.