Escorted Tours in Greenland
6 escorted tours in Greenland, from £6,640 per person, each with a day-by-day itinerary.
See the toursGreenland is 85% ice. There are no roads between settlements and the few towns that exist sit on fjord shorelines dwarfed by the sheets of ice behind them. Which is why every escorted trip here is an expedition cruise — and why the decision isn't whether to go, but which coast you want, how deep into the Arctic you fancy, and whether Vikings or icebergs rate higher on your list.
The group-tour reality in Greenland
Six departures in this hub, all expedition cruises, all small-ship (100 to 200 passengers), all firmly in the £5,000+ bracket. Nothing in the catalogue is cheap, nothing involves a hotel-based tour of the land itself, and that's not an accident. The practical realities of a 2.1 million square kilometre island with 56,000 people and no road network mean that if you want to see Greenland in any depth, you do it from a ship with a Zodiac fleet.
The six options divide along four useful axes: coast (west or east), length (7 to 14 days), whether Iceland is included (five of six are either side), and whether the trip is a straight-up Greenland focus or a wider Arctic sampler. The pricing within the hub is relatively consistent — the differences are time, geography and the specific wildlife or landscape payoff.
Choosing between the six
Our quick decision tree:
- Short on time, want the signature Greenland icebergs? The 7-day Disko Bay & Ilulissat trip. Disko Bay is where the Jakobshavn Glacier calves — the single most productive iceberg factory on earth — and Ilulissat is a UNESCO site for exactly that reason. Shortest route to the famous photos.
- Want the whole west coast with Iceland bookends? The 12-day Greenland Explorer. Reykjavik to Kangerlussuaq, Disko Bay, Uummannaq, the Inuit settlements of the far north-west. Our most-balanced itinerary.
- Prefer the greener, more alpine south? The 14-day South Greenland Expedition. Hiking in Qooroq fjord, warm (relatively) summer light, Viking ruins at Hvalsey.
- Want the real wilderness — the east coast? The 12-day Complete East Greenland. The east is less travelled, more dramatic, and the Scoresby Sund fjord system is the largest on earth.
- Pan-Arctic bucket list, not Greenland in isolation? The 13-day Four Arctic Islands (Svalbard, Jan Mayen, Greenland). The pan-Arctic trip of its generation; polar bears, walruses, the lot.
- Vikings and the Norse story? The 14-day Greenland to Newfoundland. Follow the sagas from Erik the Red's farm in south-west Greenland to L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland — the only confirmed Norse site in North America. Our quietly favourite.
Our favourite: that last one, the Vikings trip. The combination of ice and history, the way you cross the Davis Strait on the same route the Norse did a thousand years ago, and the ending at L'Anse aux Meadows — a verifiably Viking turf house on the Canadian coast — gives the whole trip a narrative shape most expedition cruises don't attempt.
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Why Greenland earns the expedition format
The usual complaint about expedition cruises — "I don't want to be stuck on a boat for a week" — doesn't quite apply here. Greenland cruises are high-activity: two Zodiac landings a day, hikes above the Arctic Circle, kayaking in brash ice, visits to Inuit communities that are the full population of a village. The ship is a base camp, not a floating hotel.
Independent travel is possible — Air Greenland flies between a handful of west coast towns — but costs more than the cruise, offers less, and takes much longer. If you want to see Greenland, this format is simply the format.
Who it suits — and who it doesn't
Keen amateur naturalists, polar enthusiasts, repeat small-ship cruisers, well-travelled couples willing to spend serious money on a bucket-list trip. The group dynamic skews older — fifties plus, often retired, often on their second or third expedition cruise. Solo travellers do well; the ship is intimate enough that you'll know everyone by day two.
Skip Greenland if:
- You want warmth, cities, culture or towns. Nuuk, the capital, has 18,000 people. The rest of the trip is nature on a scale that makes small talk difficult.
- You're on a budget. These trips start high and climb from there. Expedition cruises don't do bargain-bucket.
- You can't take 10+ days. Greenland from the UK is a long trip even on the shortest itinerary.
- You get seasick and refuse medication. The North Atlantic is substantially calmer than the Southern Ocean, but it isn't a lake. Standard patches and tablets cope well.
When to go
Greenland's expedition season is tight.
- Late June to early September is the entire window. Outside those months, ice closes most anchorages and daylight becomes impossible.
- Late June and early July — midnight sun at its peak, ice retreating, flowers on the tundra. The light is otherworldly.
- Late July and August — warmest (relatively — 5-10°C), most wildlife activity, most calving on the west coast glaciers. Peak demand.
- September — northern lights returning as the nights lengthen, autumn colours briefly on the tundra, humpback whales still around. The quiet connoisseur's month.
Pick June or July for midnight sun; pick September for aurora.
What a day actually looks like
The expedition-cruise rhythm: wake with the ship anchored in a new fjord. Morning briefing, bundle into Zodiacs, land on an Inuit settlement or a wild beach for a two-hour walk among icebergs and musk ox tracks. Back on board for lunch and the mandatory nap. Afternoon Zodiac cruise through brash ice, kayaking off the ship, or a landing at a Norse ruin. Dinner, naturalist lecture, bed. Repeat for ten to fourteen days, with the knowledge that each day is weather-dependent and the captain reroutes continuously.
The honest drawbacks
- Weather calls the shots. As with Antarctica, expedition cruises in Greenland don't follow fixed itineraries. Fog, ice and wind decide where you land. Flexibility is non-negotiable; type-A travellers who want ticked boxes find it hard.
- Travel is a chunk of the trip. UK to Reykjavik is easy; Reykjavik to Kangerlussuaq (the usual Greenland embarkation airport) adds another half-day and connects via charter flights that occasionally slip.
- You see the coast, not the ice sheet. The vast interior ice cap — the thing that makes Greenland what it is — is largely out of reach unless you add a helicopter excursion. A couple of trips offer this; worth asking.
If you want to add Iceland properly
Most of the Greenland itineraries embark or disembark in Reykjavik. Three or four nights in Iceland before or after — the Golden Circle, the south coast, the Blue Lagoon — adds a thoroughly different kind of Arctic to the trip. Our tailor-made team can shape it. See the expedition cruise hub and Greenland country page.
Questions, honestly answered
Will I see polar bears?
In Greenland itself, rarely. Polar bears are far more common in Svalbard and the Russian Arctic. The pan-Arctic Four Islands cruise is where to go specifically for them. On the dedicated Greenland cruises, the wildlife stars are musk ox, Arctic fox, humpback and minke whales, white-tailed eagles, Arctic hares and the vast seabird cliffs.
What's the deal with the Inuit community visits?
Thoughtful. Modern Greenland is Inuit-majority and the visits are coordinated with the communities themselves — a kayaking demonstration, a traditional meal, sometimes a chat with elders about contemporary Greenlandic life. Not a zoo-style stop; properly done.
Is there Wi-Fi on the ships?
Patchy. Satellite internet is available on most expedition vessels and good enough for email and basic social; forget streaming or video calls. Many travellers decide this is a feature, not a bug.
What's the single most photographed thing?
Ilulissat's icebergs at midnight sun, by a distance. The Jakobshavn Glacier produces the largest icebergs in the Northern Hemisphere; the summer sun hits them from a low angle for hours; the colour runs from pale blue to burning orange over the course of a long evening. If your trip includes Ilulissat, bring a tripod.
Can I kayak if I've never done it?
Yes. The expedition kayaking programmes assume no experience, use stable sit-on-top models, and only run in sheltered water with experienced guides. It's one of the trip's most memorable experiences; try it.
Can I combine with Canada or the US east coast?
The Greenland-to-Newfoundland itinerary ends in Canada, where connections to the US east coast are easy. We often add a few days in Nova Scotia or New England on the way home. Tailor-made territory for the land portion.
Below are the current expedition departures to Greenland. If you want to shape the Iceland or Newfoundland ends of these trips, talk to a Travel Designer.
All escorted tours in Greenland
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