In July 2025 my husband and I went to Greenland on the Holland America Line (hollandamerica.com/en/us).
It’s the largest island in the world but has a population of only 57,000 people: 90% are Inuit and at around 7%, the biggest minority is Danes. About one-third reside in the capital, Nuuk, the rest in towns, mostly along the southwest coast.
While Greenland is still semiautonomous, the country controls its own vast mineral resources, including rare earth elements, though it has banned new oil and gas exploration.
The temperature was pleasant at around 44 degrees F: We were comfortable in medium-weight jackets.
Our first land approach, heralded by many icebergs, was Qaqortoq, a town of 3,000 with rolling hills and charming fields of wildflowers lining the roads.
Unfortunately, our next two stops, Nanortalik and Paamiut, both small villages, were cancelled due to rough seas and high winds. There was little rain; the problem was primarily that the tender taking us ashore could not safely land. But we did get to see the Godthaab fjord, which was magnificent.
Nuuk
Our next excursion to Nuuk provided a nice mixture of impressions. The waterfront was somewhat gritty with lots of shipping machinery, boats, and workers going about their business. The main street that led to the center of town was busy with traffic — some drivers patient with the influx of tourists and others not so much. Then various paths went through gentle hills covered with very green grass and colorful houses perched on the tops and sides. In the distance were great blocks of drab apartment buildings. With so much space, why live in cramped quarters? However, heating and snow removal are much more efficient this way. There was a nice town square with statuary and commercial streets with service shops, a ceramics showroom, and supermarket. Besides spotting a few T-shirts, we saw little that was meant for tourists.
With short summers and long harsh winters, Greenland probably will not succumb to mass tourism. But with downhill skiing on a 12,000-foot peak as well as in smaller ski centers, cross-country skiing, mountain climbing, hiking, polar dipping (in the summer), iceberg spotting, river fishing for Arctic char and deep-sea fishing for cod and halibut, the future looks promising.
Kitty Chen Dean
New York, NY