Kangerlussuaq

Gateway to the ice cap

Country

Groenland

Regions

Ouest du Groenland

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À vivre

As the local saying goes, you'll never be without a friend in Kangerlussuaq, since you're bound to run into a familiar face in this gateway to Greenland. All day long, travellers arrive in Kangerlussuaq to head out across the country or on to the rest of the world. If you want to be among the truly lucky ones, you'll trade this busy transit hall for a spot in the hills where the loudest sound is your own thoughts.

Kangerlussuaq was founded in 1941, when it opened as a United States Air Force base. The Americans stayed until 1992. Look past its curious military beginnings and its unusually warm summer temperature, and you'll find that the only town in Greenland's interior is a real rough diamond. An unshakeably close-knit community and a wild, remote hinterland await, ready to put your adventurous spirit to the test.

It's hard to believe that just a few decades ago, the ice sheet was out of reach for most people. Kangerlussuaq offers easy access to the Greenland ice sheet via a 25 km dirt track. The giant glacier covering 80% of Greenland is now a relatively accessible wonder for travellers wanting to see one of the natural marvels of the world.

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The first people to set foot in Greenland arrived from the North American continent via Canada around 4,000 to 5,000 years ago, when the sea froze over in the Thule Strait in northern Greenland. No fewer than six different Inuit cultures immigrated in successive waves. Greenland's population today descends from the most recent immigration, the Thule culture, which arrived around the 9th ...

La faune sauvage du Groenland

The ice pack teems with life

Despite the dominant ice cap, Greenland's wildlife has access to a far vaster domain than humans do. Fjords are no obstacle for land mammals, birds follow their own routes through the skies above fjords, sea, and mountains, and marine animals are bound by a global ecosystem without borders. Polar bears, musk oxen, caribou, Arctic foxes, hares, eagles, ptarmigans, lemmings, and the rare Arctic ...

La baie de Disko et le fjord glacé d'Ilulissat

A must-see.

The Ilulissat Icefjord, at the heart of Disko Bay, covers an area equivalent to 66,000 football pitches: 6 km wide and around 55 km long, and it keeps growing as the glaciers retreat due to climate change. There's no need to downplay the fact that this gallery of enormous ice sculptures puts on an impressive show. But just as most of an iceberg lurks beneath the water, invisible to the ...

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