Europe
Greenland
vital statistics
- Nuuk
- 67,000
- Danish
- Danish krone
Oh, it’s just an island covered in ice some people will tell you. Do not – we repeat, do not – believe them. Its national park alone, the largest in the world, is the nearly as big as France and Spain combined. It covers 18,000 kilometres of coastline, parts of the ice cap and the world’s northernmost area of land. Inuit cultures have lived here for thousands of years (and they’re the only people who now have regular access to the park) and polar bears, seals and other Arctic animals still do.
Head to the north of the country to experience the land of the midnight sun. Here, it’s possible to go dog sledding and explore giant icebergs calved from one of the world’s fastest flowing glaciers.
Nuuk might be Greenland’s capital but it still has the vibe of a far smaller destination (it’s home to only 17,000 people or so). It’s the kind of place where you can go whale watching, explore street art and try out backcountry skiing during the day, but chill out with the northern lights and taste Nordic flavours at restaurants like Sarfalik in the evening.
But for an adventure that looks hard to beat, experienced scuba divers can swim the frigid depths exploring shipwrecks and icebergs and meeting the strange creatures that call these very cold waters home.