Greenland - tips - independent travel or cruise

[drcam]

Dear Friends,

I'm planning on visiting Greenland in the next coming Northern Hemisphere summer.
I know that HX Expeditions is doing a no solo supplement cruise for about $1000 a day (which runs for 13-16 days).
Alternatively, I could organise my own accommodation, flights and transports, including going possibly on the public ferry, Arctic Umiaq line.
Please drop me a line if you have any experience regarding this.
I am still aiming toward the latter, simply because it gives me more autonomy in choosing the sights I want to see. Whether it saves any money is probably a secondary concern only.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Dear Friends,

I'm planning on visiting Greenland in the next coming Northern Hemisphere summer.
I know that HX Expeditions is doing a no solo supplement cruise for about $1000 a day (which runs for 13-16 days).
Alternatively, I could organise my own accommodation, flights and transports, including going possibly on the public ferry, Arctic Umiaq line.
Please drop me a line if you have any experience regarding this.
I am still aiming toward the latter, simply because it gives me more autonomy in choosing the sights I want to see. Whether it saves any money is probably a secondary concern only.

My doctor just came back from greenland!

Don’t know how much if this is accurate (or useful) but they joined a tour which was land-based… so hiking and walks and that sort of stuff. They said the only way to get around, really, is by boat, so the tour organised all that for them. This is included accommodation and importantly, quite a few meals.

Apparently most (all?) food has to be privately imported, so it’s eye-watering expensive (coming from my doctor that says something!). Not much fresh food, and the stuff imported comes mostly from Spain.

So they did to the land thing, but organised rather than completely independent.

Now, all of this was communicated during my consultation, so I didn’t have any time to probe or ask questions!

 

[RooFlyer]

I can refer you to my TR so you can see some of the towns and sights in western Greenland. I reckon DIY using the ferries would be a good way to go if you are up to the rigours of doing so, but you will miss a lot you'd see from the water cruising - I guess the ferries are just point to point. Ilulissat is 'adventure tourism central' so you could get any sort of land, sea or air tour from there. There's a hotel there too!

And yes, per @MEL_Traveller fresh food is expensive and we were asked not to buy any as it would deprive locals of scarce supply. Went to a few cafes and they were OK price and selection-wise.

If you are taking a cruise, I'd recommend that its one that goes north to the sea ice - that's unique.

 

[CaptJCool]

Or a JAL flight Tokyo to LHR

 

[drcam]

It seems that most of the package land tours seem to emphasise Ilulissat. Is Ilullissat really such a big difference compared to Nuuk? I would like to visit both, but is Nuuk so ugly it isn't worth the bother at all?

 

[RooFlyer]

I haven’t been to Nuuk, but Ilulissat is iceberg and adventure tourism central. The glacier there is one of the most productive around so there are heaps of large and small burgs out into the sea.

Navigating through the iceberg field approaching the town was a very different and great experience

Nuuk being the largest town and capital I imagine might lose some of its charm. But it does now house the main international airport.

 

[jbda2017]

You can fly to Nuuk now with both Air Greenland and United in the summer. Air Greenland operates a pretty good West Greenland network up and down the coast, obviously w a bit of flexibility built in using Dash 8-1s and helicopters. I think you could feasibly do it all by yourself but unsure how much $ you save by the end. I’d place a high priority on getting to Illulisat. The ice fjord is unbelievable and lives up to the hype. Nuuk is charming but much more industrial. I wasn’t super taken by it. There’s also flights high up to Thule and to the E coast too like Tasillaq. Both very cool. Anywhere in Disko Bay is well worth it. Unlikely to see much wildlife on the west coast but geology, walks are great. Cool history too.