Greenland itineraries: 1 week, 2 weeks and 3 weeks

Greenland has no road or rail links between towns, so an itinerary is really a list of flights and boat legs with weather slack built in. The table below matches the number of days you have to the hubs the parent country guide recommends, and to the season that makes each one work.

Fly into Nuuk, the capital and main airport, direct from Copenhagen or Reykjavík, and in summer from Newark. Two nights is enough for the National Museum of Greenland, the colonial harbour and a fjord boat if the day is calm. Then fly north to Ilulissat and give it four nights: the Icefjord Centre, the Sermermiut trail, a midnight boat among the icebergs in June and July, and whales in summer.

The last night back in Nuuk is not wasted time. Internal flights in Greenland cancel or shift for fog, wind and ice, and a buffer night in the town you fly home from is the cheapest insurance on the trip. Book the Ilulissat legs weeks ahead in high season.

Kangerlussuaq sits at the end of a road that reaches the Greenland ice sheet, and it is the classic base for musk oxen, northern lights in winter and a tundra that feels nothing like the coast. Two nights there fits between Nuuk and Ilulissat.

Check the connection before you build the trip around it. Routes shifted after Nuuk's airport expanded, and not every Kangerlussuaq leg that existed a few years ago still runs. If the flight does not line up, drop Kangerlussuaq rather than adding a third internal hop.

Two weeks lets you add South Greenland, where Norse ruins, sheep farms and hot springs sit among fjords, and where villages connect by boat rather than by road. Fly Nuuk → Ilulissat → Nuuk, then south to Narsarsuaq or Qaqortoq, and give the south five nights with one flexible day for a boat that may not sail.

Qaqortoq has a new airport (2026 — check), which may change which southern gateway you use. Keep the final two nights in Nuuk so a delayed southern boat or flight does not cost you the international leg.

Three weeks is enough to cross to the east coast, where Tasiilaq sits under mountains and fjords and July–August is the only realistic window. Add two or three nights in Sisimiut on the way, at the end of the Arctic Circle Trail and a winter sports base in March and April.

At this length the itinerary stops being a route and becomes a sequence of weather windows. Plan the fixed flights first, then fill the gaps with day trips once you arrive, and accept that one or two legs will move.

Pack for cold water and changeable wind even in July, and treat every transfer as weather-dependent. Prices are high: a 2026 estimate of 1,200–2,500 DKK per person per day covers a mid-range room, meals and one activity, with flights on top. Cards work almost everywhere; see the money page for tipping and cash.

Entry follows Danish rules for most visitors, but check your own passport's requirements before booking. If you are still choosing a season, the best-time page explains what each month actually gives you.