Kulusuk Villlage, East Greenland |
There are two distinct parts to Greenland - the east coast and the west coast.
The west coast is the more developed part of the island and most of the population live here, mostly around Nuuk, the capital city. Most of the flights to Greenland flying to the west coast are either from Copenhagen or from Canada. Many fly into Nuuk from where there numerous flights linking the towns elsewhere on the west coast, with a few crossing the Greenland ice cap to reach the airstrips on the East coast. Others fly into the town of Kangerlussuaq, a converted military base at the top of the Kangerlussuaq fjord.
If you want to get to the east coast (referred to by the Greenlanders, presumably on the west coast, as the "Back Side") you can either fly to the west coast, and then fly back to the east, or you can fly to Iceland before flying across the Denmark Strait to reach little airports like Kulusuk or Scoresbysund.
I've been to both coasts in the last few years.
Air Greenland helicopter service |
For my west coast visit, I flew from Europe to Ottawa then picked up a charter flight to Kangerlussuaq (another US-provided airfield), before joining an expedition cruise ship travelling up the west coast. For independent travellers there is also a scheduled ferry service, operated by the Umiaq Line, that runs up and down the coast between Ilulissat and Narsaq.
There are links to images from my first visit to Greenland, to the east side on this blog post.
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