Greenland, land of the icebergs - and a place we wanted to visit. We
telephoned for brochures and found that the packages did not correspond with
the places we wanted to go in the limited time that we had (one week). We
choose to go to the capital Nuuk, Ilulissat and Kangerlussuaq. We went to
Arctic Experience to check tailor-made holidays.
The cost of such a trip with Arctic Experience was approximately £2,510 per
person, to include return flights, London Copenhagen, plus
Copenhagen-Kangerlusuaq-Nuuk-Ilullissat-Kangerlussuaq-Copenhagen. This also
included the cost of the all hotels, including the overnight stays in
Copenhagen (you have to overnight out and back in Copenhagen).
We thought this rather expensive for one week's holiday and set out to see if
we could do in any cheaper ourselves. Although time consuming, it was not
difficult to do. It is also enjoyable doing it yourself and forms part of
the holiday preparations.
We went on the internet to check out flights, hotels and tours. The www.visitgreenland.com
website was excellent for sorting out hotels and tours. It was also helpful
for general information on Greenland. The hotels and tourist board can be
contacted either by email or phone.
We discussed the number of days we wished to stay in each of the three
places.Once we confirmed hotel availability and made provisional bookings,
we checked the Air Greenland site for flights.
The website is very clear and easy to understand. Once you have decided where
and when you want to fly to. There is a step by step guide to booking
flights, from Copenhagen to all airports in Greenland as well as internal
flights within Greenland.
We choose to book the flights by telephone with Air Greenland in Copenhagen to
ensure instant confirmation of the booking. There was a £90 charge for this,
however there is no charge for internet bookings.
One important and perhaps surprising aspect of booking the flights by phone
was that Air Greenland did not accept a credit card payment. We had to
arrange a bank transfer for the full amount to Air Greenland. Correspondence
to get the bank details etc was done by e-mail. All major credit cards are
accepted if you book online.
So now we had booked the three hotels and we had booked all the flights.
Flight tickets were no changes and no refunds. You can pay a higher fare if
you are uncertain of your itinery. Booking London-Copenhagen was not a
problem but you need to fly out to Copenhagen the night before as the flight
to Greenland leaves in the morning.
The total amount for the flights for both of us cost just over £2,200
including booking/bank fees.
What we booked, what we did
NUUK
The population of Nuuk is approximately 15,000, the whole population of
Greenland is only about 56,000. We did the city tour of Nuuk on the day of
our arrival. This had been pre planned again by e-mail to the Nuuk Tourist
Office. This takes about three hours. Our guide was informative and able to
answer all our questions. We also spent time exploring the town on our own.
Being a small place this is easy to do.
We could have gone whale watching whilst in Nuuk but there was no guarantee
that we would have seen any whales whilst we were there.
We stayed in the Hotel Hans Edege, the main hotel in town - rather plain from
the outside, however the room was very comfortable and breakfast was
included in the price of £135 (Danish Kroner 1,485) for a twin room per
night.
ILULISSAT
This is the main tourist place, where people come to see the icebergs in
Disko Bay. On our flight from Nuuk we flew over Disko Bay in a Dash 7,
50-seater plane. You get a superb view of the icebergs in the bay and you
really feel that you have arrived on an adventure. You can take an expensive
helicopter ride over the icebergs but we felt that this was sufficient. The
thrill of suddenly seeing the start of the icebergs was pure joy as we
headed northwards.
We did two tours whilst in Ilulissat. Our main aim was to see the sun above
the horizon on Midsummers Eve. There was a midnight iceberg tour which did
this. So keen were we to have this confirmed on this particular day that we
spent time in touch with the Ilullist Tourist Office by e-mail and fax to
ensure that we were booked on the fishing boat that takes out into the
frozen depths in Disko Bay.
Although it was a cloudy night you could still see everything clearly through
the low sea mist, whilst travelling around the icebergs and the sun was just
visible through the clouds as midnight came and went. This is a must tour.
It is cold so take warm clothing. Sailing through the icebergs on a dusky
evening (it does not get much darker) was beautiful and serene. Stopping for
a hot drink in the middle of the fjord you could hear the sounds of the
canyon making it eerie and atmospheric.
Our second tour was by boat to a nearby settlement, where we had lunch with
the Mayor in his home. An intriguing look inside a Greenlandic house. The
Mayor took us around his small community which included a village type shop
and a Post Office. Through our guide we learnt how the people in the small
communities live and work.
We chose to stay at the Hotel Arctic, in one of their igloos. Touristy, true,
but you might not come back to Greenland again. These are made of aluminium
and although a novelty at first, we would stay in the hotel if we ever
returned. The hot water in the igloos was rather erratic and the mosquitos
nearby were a nuisance.
Living space is confined, but a great experience. Breakfast again was included
in the price of £145 per igloo, per night. The igloos had a great view
across Disko Bay overlooking the icebergs. The other main hotel was the
Hotel Hvide Falk, which was in the town centre. The Hotel Arctic is about a
20 minute walk from town, although a half hourly complementary bus service
runs during the day.
The Hotel Artic will pick you up in their bus from the airport for the short
ride to the hotel.
Contact details:
Hotel: info@hotel-artic.gl
and to book reservations@hotel-artic.gl
Tourist Board: info@ilulissattravel.gl
What we booked, what we did plus what we saved
KANGERLUSSUAQ
We spent our final two nights in Kangerlussuaq, which is an old US army base.
The buildings look like barracks as well and it is a bit like an old style
western (as in cowboy) shanty town. There is not much here apart from the
international airport and the Hotel Kangerlussuaq is part of the airport
complex.
The room was comfortable and breakfast was in the airport cafeteria by means
of a complimentary ticket collected from the reception. The only other
option for accommodation is a hostel in the town which is about a 20 minute
walk from the airport.
The town is not particularly attractive. The buildings are prefabricated
oblong blocks which look like very large shipping containers with windows
and doors cut into them. Even the church was a functional block with a spire
stuck on it. Once inside however, the owners of the bars and restaurants
have made an effort to make them look welcoming to guests.
We did two tours whilst in Kangerlussuaq, which we had booked on an earlier
stop at the airport (all flights come into Kangerlussuaq at the moment as it
is the only runway currently big enough to take international planes). The
first trip was to see the musk ox. Unfortunately they did not make much of
an effort to put in an appearance on this day. We eventually saw one on our
return to the hotel.
The second trip was to the icecap. This was much more impressive, and we saw
lots of musk oxen as well. We spent about an hour on the ice cap -
apparently its 600 km to cross from west to east Greenland. We also saw more
wildlife on this trip. There was no need to do the musk ox trip.
The hotel in Kangerlussuaq was £113 for a twin per night. There is a tourist
office on the airport complex where you have time to book tours when you
return to Kangerlussuaq.
Information: kangbook@glv.gl
or www.glv.gl
SUMMARY
All in all this trip cost us some £3,716. By doing it ourselves thus saving
£1,304,.which of course became spending money. With a bit of effort it can
be done and you can see the enormous mark up that the operators rake in. And
Greenland is a wonderful place.
