Qasigiannguit

Qasigiannguit sits on the eastern shore of Disko Bay, a town of around a thousand people founded in 1734, and the museum in its old colonial buildings holds material from Qajaa, a site a short distance away where the permafrost preserved organic material, wood, bone and skin, from four thousand years of occupation across the Saqqaq, Dorset and Thule cultures. Few Arctic sites preserve that range of material and it is among the most important in Greenland.

What you actually see

• The Qajaa material - organic finds preserved by permafrost across four thousand years.
• The town museum - the collection in the old colonial buildings.
• The 1734 founding - one of the older colonial settlements in Greenland.
• The Disko Bay setting - the town on the eastern shore with icebergs offshore.

When to go

June to September is the season. Sea ice closes the bay in winter. Connections are by boat and helicopter and both are weather dependent.

Honest expectations

The Qajaa site itself is not developed for visitors; the material is in the museum. Connections are limited and weather dependent. Facilities are modest.

Nearby

Aasiaat is south, and Ilulissat is north.