Kangerlussuaq

Kangerlussuaq sits at the head of a long fjord inland from the west coast, a former American air base that was Greenland's main international airport, because its position far from the coast gives it more reliable weather than anywhere else, until the rebuilt Nuuk Airport opened in November 2024 and took over as the hub. The population fell from 564 to 399 between 2024 and 2025. A gravel road of about thirty kilometres runs from the settlement to the edge of the inland ice, the only road in Greenland that reaches the ice cap.

History

The settlement and airport began as a U.S. air base founded on 7 October 1941 at the east end of the fjord under Colonel Bernt Balchen, and the base became a Greenlandic settlement in 1992, when the last U.S. Air Force personnel left. From the mid-1950s transatlantic civilian flights stopped here to refuel, and in 1956 Scandinavian Airlines flew a polar route from Copenhagen via Søndre Strømfjord to Winnipeg and Los Angeles, building a hotel that is still in use; the airport remained Greenland's main transport hub until the rebuilt Nuuk Airport opened in November 2024 (Wikipedia, Kangerlussuaq).

The landscape

• The ice cap road - about thirty kilometres of gravel to the edge of the inland ice.
• The airport - the former air base that was the country's hub until Nuuk's new runway opened in 2024.
• The musk oxen - the herds on the tundra around the settlement.
• The stable weather - the inland position that keeps the strip open.

When to go

June to September for hiking and ice cap trips. Winter for aurora, with very cold clear nights. The airport operates year round.

Before you go

The settlement itself is an airport town with little charm and limited facilities. Ice cap tours are expensive for what is a short drive. It lost its role as the main airport to Nuuk in November 2024, so check which flights still come here before building a trip around it.

Nearby

Sisimiut is west at the end of the Arctic Circle Trail, and Maniitsoq is south.

Key facts