Rarely has a destination received so much free publicity as Greenland. With the global attention it has garnered, now might be a good time to button up your overcoat and plan a trip to check out its glaciers, fjords, bays and colorful little towns.
I’ve been to Greenland twice, first in 2018 and again in August 2025. My trips have offered the chance to see multiple views of the world’s largest island.
On the first trip, part of a 21-day cruise from Denmark to New York, three little girls rushed up to welcome my husband, Keith, and me to Qaqortoq (Kah-Kor-took), population 3,055. It’s the largest town in southern Greenland. The girls hugged each other and beamed as I took their photo.
Young girls greeted travel writer Millie Ball in Qaqortoq in Southern Greenland.
Not too far away, in Greenland’s southernmost island town of Nanortalik, a choir in a small church invited us to a concert. They sang “Amazing Grace,” “Nearer My God to Thee” and other hymns in Greenlandic. Some of us hummed along with the singers who live in this town with 1,072 residents.
Greenland is often confused with Iceland. An autonomous territory of Denmark with its own prime minister, Greenland is 21 times larger than Iceland, three times the size of Texas, and 80% covered with ice. The total population is 57,000.
Iceland’s population is almost 400,000, about the size of Colorado. Only 11% is covered with ice.
The island countries are 185 miles apart at their closest point. Numerous stories say early Norse settlers wanted to appeal to others by naming the immense icy island Greenland, an early marketing ploy. Others say Greenland had some warmer times. Nobody really knows.
Colorful houses in Nanortalik, Greenland, hug the stony hills.
Adventurous travelers mainly come for the scenery.
My second trip to Greenland was totally different from the first because of a smaller ship and a different itinerary.
Most Greenlanders call their country Kalaallit Nunaat (kah-LAH-fleet noo NAAT) “Land of the People.”
On our 2018 trip, the Zuiderdam glided past stark, stunning fjords and sounds, even icebergs, but stopped only in two places where people lived — not big towns, but still home. Our ship’s capacity was about 2,800, with passengers and crew. We were a friendly invasion.
A zodiac departs from a cruise ship off the coast of Greenland.
Clusters of cottages in small towns or sometimes scattered ones in smaller places all seemed to be painted blue, red, green, orange or purple, trimmed in white. In Qaqortoq there apparently are enough shoppers to sustain what we called a mini-Costco. If the Guinness Book of World Records has a category for the longest street sign, there could be a competitor near the store: Tassuunnaqquunnerit Tamaasa. How to pronounce it? No clue.
Nanortalik (Nan-our-talik) has a more rugged look after centuries of stormy weather on its island, and the need for a sense of balance when walking over stones and hills. The colorful houses aren’t quite as bright, but locals were glad to see us eight years ago.
Roads typically don’t connect towns in Greenland. Even the capital city of Nuuk (Nuke) was not reachable by road. An airport finally opened last year, and United now offers twice-weekly flights from Newark to Nuuk in summer.
Our 2025 cruise was aboard the World Voyager, a “purpose-built yacht” by Atlas Ocean Voyages. Fewer than 200 passengers sail on their expedition cruises, where experiences are the main lure. Experiences include free rides in a Zodiac to the middle of a fjord in Greenland, then hiking around it.
A hillside in Greenland with homes
Unfortunately, I have health issues, so hiking in a fjord and walking tours weren’t on my list.
But World Voyager may be my favorite big “yacht.” We boarded in Reykjavik, Iceland, spending our first night in an airport hotel after checking out the exorbitant prices of those downtown. We felt right at home aboard the Voyager as soon as we recovered from the $175 taxi fare from our airport hotel. Another guest said they were charged $345. Ask. Everything is expensive in both Iceland and Greenland.
But aboard the World Voyager, almost everything is included, even wine at dinner and daily rides in Zodiacs for those who want to do that. When the water was calm, the captain welcomed passengers to an open bridge. We watched icebergs from our balcony and the pleasant top-floor dome, with a semi-circular wall of windows and deck.
Cruise guests take the arctic plunge in frigid waters off the coast of Greenland.
With superb room crew and food servers, we could eat wherever we wanted each day in the dining room. Most fellow passengers were well-traveled, but instead of bragging about their trips to Antarctica (most we met had been), there was pleasure in exchanging impressions.
There were lectures and entertainment, often by cruise director Greg Scott Jones, who grew up in New Orleans.
Those of us who didn’t take a Zodiac into Eternity Fjord found a spot on deck to admire its glacier, floating icebergs and steep basalt peaks. After fjord hikers returned, I think everyone aboard leaned over balconies to cheer fellow passengers doing Arctic polar plunges — jumping or diving into the icy water. Brrrrr!
One cloudy morning, Keith opened the sliding glass door to our balcony and said, “It’s kind of warm outside. For Greenland.” It was 45.
We missed a few scheduled stops because of weather and other conditions. Basically, the only tours we saw offered for a fee were walking tours of a town or a food-oriented “Taste of Greenland.” I would happily have paid for a bus tour of the capital city of Nuuk. We left the ship in the Zodiacs only twice, in the capital city of Nuuk and to disembark.
Holland America’s Zuiderdam sails around Prins Christian Sund, Greenland.
There was a free bus to downtown, and we walked to a multi-story building that sold gifts and coffee. Midway, we saw three people with a display of something. “What are you selling?” I asked the woman. “Oh, nothing,” she said in English. “We’re giving out Bible verses.” I spotted the word Jehovah on the brochure. “Jehovah’s Witness?” I asked. She smiled and said, “Yes.”
After breakfast on our last day, I wobbled onto a Zodiac, holding outstretched hands. We all boarded buses for a tundra safari tour of massive stone formations and centuries-old native flora above the Arctic Circle. The airport at Kangerlussuaq shares a runway with a former U.S. Air Force base.
Even as the world pays more attention to Greenland, it still feels profoundly untouched.
Millie Ball was travel editor of The Times-Picayune. The Atlas cruise of Greenland starts in Reykjavik, Iceland, on Aug. 20, 2026. Brochure prices start at $8,200 per person, but there usually are “special” offers.
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