Kangerlussuaq is a small settlement in western Greenland, about 50 km north of the Arctic Circle. Translating to Big Fjord in Greenlandic, it is situated at the innermost point of a deep fjord by the same name. It is known for its airport, which is Greenland’s major international transport hub (not just for tourists, but also cargo). This airport is the only one in the world with a stuffed muskox on display.
Kangerlussuaq a fairly young town, founded in 1941 when it was opened at a US Air Force Base during WWII. The Americans stayed there until 1992, and many of their old barracks have been converted into hostels, restaurants, and other local establishments. You can find lots of interesting wreckage such as crashed planes and abandoned comms buildings outside of town. There is a museum that exhibits the local history too.
Nowadays, Kangerlussuaq is known for its easy access to the Greenland Ice Sheet, via a 25 km dirt road — the longest road in Greenland! It has more than 300 days of clear sky a year, making it one of the best places to see the northern lights (which are visible between October and April). I’ll be posting more on these in another post 🙂
My visit started with a fascinating a tour of the town, as well as the surrounding area. I was originally going to include both in this post, but as I started writing more and more, I realized I actually had a lot to say/a lot of photos about the town itself, so I split the surrounding area into a separate post here.
I hope you enjoy reading about this interesting town — it’s unlike anywhere else I’ve ever visited!
For starters, I have to talk about the bus. It looked and felt like a standard tour bus on the inside, but the exterior was heavily modified to suit Greenland’s extreme winter conditions. You might recall my Super Jeep adventure in Iceland — this modified bus is nearly same idea and was also modified in Iceland. The most noticeable feature is its MASSIVE wheels that can be inflated or deflated depending on the snow conditions. Basically, deflating tires helps the vehicle “float” on deep snow.
The town only has approximately 540 residents, most of whom are employed by the airport and local tour companies. Many of them live in apartments near the airport, some in houses a few streets over.
It only takes a few minutes to drive around town (it’s literally a few streets around the airport), but it is well worth exploring. My journey started at the West end of the town, from the Old Camp hostel. About 5 km away from “downtown”, we were nestled in a tiny suburb. A few houses and a satellite dish dotted the side of the road on the way to town. There also seemed to be some sort of summer bus storage here too.
On the outskirts are giant fuel tanks. There are about 445 of these throughout Greenland. Because it is difficult to transport fuel there in the winter, these tanks are filled in the autumn and are meant to last until summer. Interestingly, I was told that Greenland has some of the cheapest petrol in the world, so people often leave their vehicles running for extended periods of time.
On the way into town (from the West) is an outcrop on the side of the road. Years ago, famous Greenlandic artist Alibak Johansen painted it with a typical scene in the area: a family bundling up for a dog sled ride. It is still quite popular for locals to get around that way (at least, outside of town). The dogs were kept near the hostel I was staying at; I could hear them all day and night from my room. More about this in another post 🙂
Pretty much the first thing you see when entering “downtown” from the West is the Police Station. They have one police car. I saw more officers in the airport than at the station/around town.
A little further in, there is a grocery store, a post office (with a lot of steps and a cool truck), a few souvenir shops (including a mini Canada Goose outpost), and a ~controversial~ hot dog stall. The hot dog place is obviously only open in the summer months. The other spots had random opening hours — for example, some stores close for the day at 1pm, and some don’t open until noon. I wanted to send some postcards, but every store was out of stamps. I had to wait until the last day of my trip to visit the post office for stamps, because they were always closed every time I tried to visit. Be prepared for shops to be closed even when they are supposed to be open.
I know I’ll be getting a bunch of questions about the truck. Its wheels were replaced with tank tracks for driving on particularly rough roads. They’re also useful for driving up and down mountains because of the really good grip. I was doing a little bit of research on these — they are not quite as effective as Super Jeep mods, but they are a lot more affordable and easy to install (it’s more or less the same idea as a regular tire replacement). Most people just use tires (and add spikes when it is icey out).
Access to the airport, as well as the airport hotel and the cafeteria are also found on this side. The caf has some great Danish pastries like Napoleonshatte aka Napoleon’s Hats. These are shortbread cookies shaped like a triangular hat. They are filled with marzipan and the bottom of the pastry is covered in dark chocolate. They are serious addictive. But I digress!
Northeast of the airport is the apartment complex I already posted about. You can also find these cute bus shelters there. The public bus comes around every hour or half hour. I never needed to take it personally, so I’m not sure what the route is. The driver was really friendly though and always smiled and waved any time I walked past. Actually, pretty much every driver there smiled and waved!
There’s a little alley near the bus stops that leads to the airport. This is where you can find the famous directional signpost — one of the best known and most photographed landmarks in all of Greenland. It was set up by Scandinavian Airlines in 1954 to celebrate their new polar route between Copenhagen and Los Angeles over Greenland. It was the world’s first scheduled air service over the Arctic. Kangerlussuaq was supposed to be a huge international flight hub, but it seems that history went another route. The sign features distances between Kangerlussuaq and the most popular travel destinations in the world, as well as the North Pole.
Behind the airport, to the East, is Greenland’s longest road, which leads to the Greenland Ice Sheet. The road is nondescript, especially in the winter. I did not get a good photo of the road itself, since we drove on it, not beside it.
South of the airport, you get some great views of the town.
This side has a lot more going on too: an elementary school, a middle/high school, a sports center, and a youth center. The Danish Army has a building here for the arctic branch of their military. There’s a hotel that doubles as a radio station, there are a couple of science centres, and there is the Polar Bear Inn. This place triples as a pizza-Thai-grillhouse. It’s the only place I know of where you can get muskox pizza and muskox curry at the same time. There’s also a karaoke bar nearby. It’s a happening place!
Towards Southeast, you can find another road leading out of town. This road leads to Lake Ferguson, or Tasersuatsiaq. This is the freshwater source for Kangerlussuaq and it is where you can find Roklubben Restaurant, where our tour group ate dinner every night. The road crosses the Watson River, a glacial river that cuts through the fjord, connecting the Greenland Ice Sheet to the ocean.
However, we are staying in town for now. Continuing on the airport loop, there’s a small subdivision backing onto the fjord, with a church, a bowling alley, and a conference centre. Like many arctic towns, the homes and buildings are painted different colours. Within this neighbourhood is the Kangerlussuaq Museum that I mentioned earlier in this post. Our group visited it after hours for a presentation about the Northern Lights and a Greenlandic Coffee (which deserves its own post!).
The “main road” continues further out to the end of the runway, ending where the town keeps their sled dogs.
Throughout the town and neighbourhoods are large shipping containers. Because it is so expensive to bring typical construction material to Greenland, many of these containers have been repurposed into storage, workshops, and other useful things.
I think one of my absolute favourite things about Kangerlussuaq is the wildlife. It’s fairly common to see wild reindeer living their best lives in the brush around town. I often saw them eating and walking next to the main roads, even near the hostel and next to the airport. Apparently, musk oxen occasionally venture into town too. I saw many different kinds of birds like northern wheatears and snow buntings. They liked to pick at the snow around the hostel.
Overall, if you find yourself in Kangerlussuaq, I recommend taking a few hours to explore the town. It has an interesting history and lots of quirky things to see! Now, it’s time to explore the surrounding area — more of that in my next post here.