Sailing Among Northern Lights: Nuuk & Ilulissat, Greenland

Ilulissat Ice Fjord

Ilulissat Ice Fjord

UNESCO World Heritage glacier fjord producing colossal icebergs—Greenland's most iconic natural spectacle.
Among the most dramatic natural wonders on Earth, the Ilulissat Ice Fjord was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2004. The fjord is the outlet of Sermeq Kujalleq, one of the world's fastest-moving and most productive glaciers, which calves enormous icebergs that become stranded on a shallow sandbar before eventually drifting into Disko Bay. The scale is overwhelming—individual icebergs tower tens of metres above the waterline. Boat tours weave among these frozen giants, while the hiking trail to Sermermiut allows close-up views from land. At low winter sun, the light sculpts the ice into extraordinary shades of blue and white.