📍 Nuuk guide

What to do in Nuuk: sights, hikes, boat trips and local food

Nuuk is Greenland’s capital and the place most visitors land first. This guide covers the free sights in the old town, the museums, the best short hikes, the fjord and the tours worth paying for, with a one- and two-day plan.

🏛️ Old town on foot⛰️ Hikes from town🛥️ Fjord trips

⚡ Short answer

Walk the Colonial Harbour, visit the Greenland National Museum, and take a boat into Nuuk Fjord. With a second day, hike Quassussuaq for the view over the city, and book a kaffemik or a food tasting to meet locals.

• Free 🏘️ Colonial Harbour
• Must see 🏛️ National Museum
• Best paid tour 🛥️ Fjord boat, 2 h
• Best view ⛰️ Quassussuaq hike

See the fjord boat trip 🎫

Nuuk has about 20,000 people, a cathedral smaller than many village churches, and a mountain across the water that you see from nearly every street. The old town around the harbour takes an hour to walk. Past it are apartment blocks painted red, yellow and blue, a cultural centre shaped like a wave, two museums, and hiking trails that start where the last houses end. What most visitors remember is the fjord, which you can only explore by boat. This guide covers what to see, what is free, which tours are worth the money, and how to fit it into one or two days.

Nuuk in brief

In short: Nuuk is the capital of Greenland and home to about a third of the country’s people. The Danish-Norwegian missionary Hans Egede founded it in 1728 as Godthåb. Today it has the government, the university, the National Museum and Greenland’s international airport.

Nuuk means “headland” in Greenlandic, and the town sits on one, at the mouth of a fjord system that runs more than 100 km inland towards the ice sheet. For two centuries it was a small trading and mission station. Most of what you see now went up after the 1950s, when Denmark moved people from small settlements into towns, which is why concrete apartment blocks stand next to 18th-century wooden houses.

The city has three parts you will hear about. The centre and the old town are by the water, with the shops, the cultural centre and the museums. Nuussuaq and Quassussuup Tungaa are residential areas further up the peninsula. Qinngorput is the newest district, across the bay to the east, with modern housing and the start of several trails. The airport lies between the centre and Qinngorput. Greenlandic (Kalaallisut) is the first language, Danish is widely spoken, and most people who work with visitors speak good English.

The old town and Colonial Harbour

In short: the Colonial Harbour (Kolonihavnen) is Nuuk’s oldest quarter: coloured wooden houses, Hans Egede’s House, Nuuk Cathedral, the Hans Egede statue on the hill and the Mother of the Sea sculpture on the shore. Everything is free to see from outside, and the walk takes about an hour.

Start at the cathedral, walk down past Hans Egede’s House to the water, and follow the shore to the Mother of the Sea and the museum. The path is short but steep in places and icy in winter, so wear shoes with grip. Pick a tide table on your phone before you go: at high tide only the head of the sculpture shows above the water.

To hear the stories behind the buildings, join the walking tour with the National Museum (2 hours, from €241, museum entry included). It starts outside the Katuaq Cultural Centre, and a local guide connects the old town to Inuit history, the colonial period and the Greenland of today. Other options are on our Nuuk city tours page.

Museums and the Katuaq Cultural Centre

In short: the Greenland National Museum shows the Qilakitsoq mummies and more than 4,000 years of Arctic history. The Nuuk Art Museum has Greenlandic and Nordic art. Katuaq, the wave-shaped cultural centre, has a cinema, concerts and a café.

Greenland National Museum

If you visit one museum in Greenland, make it this one. Its best-known exhibit is the Qilakitsoq mummies: six women and two children buried around 500 years ago in the north of the country and preserved by the cold and dry air, still in their sealskin and bird-skin clothing. The rest of the museum follows the peoples who settled Greenland, from the first Arctic cultures through the Norse farmers to the Inuit, with kayaks, umiaks (the larger women’s boats), hunting tools, clothing and, upstairs, Greenlandic art. Allow at least an hour. Our National Museum guide has opening hours and tips.

Nuuk Art Museum

A small museum a short walk from the centre, built around a private collection of paintings, drawings and sculpture by Greenlandic artists and by Danish and Nordic painters who worked in Greenland. It is a good stop on a cold or rainy afternoon and rarely crowded.

Katuaq Cultural Centre

Katuaq is the building with the curved, wave-like wooden front in the middle of town, inspired by the northern lights. Inside are a cinema showing Greenlandic and international films, a concert hall, an exhibition space and a café. Check the programme when you arrive: a Greenlandic band, a choir or a drum dance performance is one of the easiest ways to hear the language and music. Several walking tours start outside its main entrance.

Free things to do in Nuuk

Tours in Greenland are expensive, but much of Nuuk costs nothing. Walk the old town and the shore path to the Mother of the Sea. Climb to the Hans Egede statue for the view. Walk up through the city to see Myggedalen, the row of colourful houses on the rocks above the water that ends up in most photos of Nuuk. On clear evenings from September to April, walk away from the street lights towards the shore and look north for the northern lights. And in summer, take the bus to Qinngorput and follow the trails out of town for an hour; within minutes you are among lakes, rock and berries with no one around.

Budget tip: the guided running tour (€66, 65 minutes, hotel pickup) is the cheapest guided way to see the city. If you can run 5 km at an easy pace, it covers the old town, viewpoints and a lot of local stories in an hour.

Nuuk tours compared

In short: 16 tours in and around Nuuk can be booked online, from a €66 guided run to an €857 private fishing trip. Filter by how much time you have or by type, and sort by price.

For a short stay, the two tours we would book first are the 2-hour fjord boat trip and the walking tour with the National Museum. They cover the two halves of Nuuk, the water and the town, for around €750 together per person in a small group. For all of Greenland’s tours, including the Paamiut boat trip, see our Greenland tours and tickets overview.

Nuuk Fjord by boat

In short: a boat trip is the best thing to do in Nuuk. The fjord starts at the edge of town, and in two hours you pass Sermitsiaq, small islands, waterfalls and seasonal icebergs. Humpback whales feed here mostly in summer and autumn.

From town you see only the mouth of the fjord. Out on the water it opens into long arms between mountains, and the city disappears behind the first headland within minutes. All three boat trips from Nuuk use closed, heated boats and leave from the Tide Water Steps in the harbour or pick you up at your hotel. The 2-hour sightseeing tour (from €506) is the simplest. The 3.5-hour cruise with a Greenlandic picnic (from €702) goes further and serves local food on board. The Arctic fishing trip (from €857) stops at fishing grounds for cod, redfish and Arctic char, with rods and bait provided.

Boats run all year when ice and wind allow, but summer has the most departures. Book your boat trip for early in your stay, so a day lost to the weather can move to the next. Our Nuuk Fjord boat tours page compares the three trips in detail, and whale watching in Nuuk covers the best months.

Hiking around Nuuk

In short: the classic short hike is Quassussuaq (Lille Malene), about 440 m, with a view over the whole city and fjord. Ukkusissat (Store Malene), about 770 m, is longer and steeper. Both start from the edge of town. Hike from June to September; outside summer, go with a guide.

Nuuk is surrounded by bare rock, lakes and low tundra, and you can walk out of the city on foot. Quassussuaq, which locals still call by its Danish name Lille Malene, rises behind the newer districts. The path is marked with cairns and paint, steep near the top, and takes two to three hours there and back. From the summit you see Nuuk spread over its peninsula, the airport, the fjord and Sermitsiaq across the water. Ukkusissat, or Store Malene, is the higher peak beside it, a half-day hike over rougher ground for people with hiking experience.

The weather on the mountains changes fast, there is no phone signal in some valleys, and snow can lie on the upper slopes into June. Take water, a windproof layer and a map or offline map app, and tell someone where you are going. For company and local knowledge, the trail run with a local guide (from €120) goes into the same hills from the Qinngorput trailhead at a pace matched to your group, and works for fast hikers as well as runners. Our hiking in Nuuk page has routes and trailheads.

Not a day hike: the Arctic Circle Trail is a 160 km trek from Kangerlussuaq to Sisimiut, far north of Nuuk, and takes eight to ten days. Read our Arctic Circle Trail page before you plan it.

Food, kaffemik and the local market

In short: try musk ox, reindeer, Arctic char, halibut and shrimp. See what hunters and fishermen sell at Kalaaliaraq, the local market. Book a kaffemik to sit at a Greenlandic family’s table.

Greenlandic food comes from the sea and the land around it: fish, shrimp, seal, whale, reindeer, musk ox and seabirds, with berries and herbs from the tundra in late summer. In Nuuk you find it in hotel restaurants, in cafés and at Kalaaliaraq, a small market near the harbour where local hunters and fishermen sell their catch. Even if you buy nothing, a look at the counter shows what people here eat. Supermarkets such as Brugseni and Pisiffik sell local smoked fish and dried meat as well as imported food, at prices well above Europe’s because nearly everything arrives by ship or plane. More on our Greenlandic food page.

A kaffemik is how Greenlanders celebrate birthdays and family events: the house is open, guests come and go through the day, and there is coffee, cake and conversation. The Old Town Walk & Kaffemik (2 hours, from €535) combines a walk through the Colonial Harbour with an hour at a local host’s table, and the Full City Tour with Kaffemik (4 hours, from €736) adds the National Museum and viewpoints by car. Read more in our kaffemik guide.

For a guided tasting, the Greenlandic Food Tasting and Storytelling (2 hours, from €767) serves reindeer or lamb, smoked seafood and traditional bread at Café Nuan, while the host explains hunting, fishing and how food is stored for winter. The walk with Greenlandic craft beer and Arctic sliders (from €268, adults only) is a lighter evening option.

Daylight and seasons in Nuuk

In short: Nuuk gets about 21 hours of daylight in June and about 5 in December. Summer is for boats and hiking; winter is for museums, food and the northern lights. Tap a month to see the sun’s path and what to do.

Nuuk lies just south of the Arctic Circle, so it has neither true midnight sun nor polar night. In June the sun dips below the horizon for a few hours and the sky never gets fully dark. In December it rises around late morning and sets in early afternoon. Temperatures are milder than many people expect for Greenland: summer days are usually between 5 and 10 °C, and winter days often sit a few degrees below zero, though wind makes it feel colder. Greenland’s National Day on 21 June, the longest day of the year, is celebrated with flags, music and kaffemik across town. Month by month details are on our best time to visit page, and northern lights in Nuuk covers the winter months.

One or two days in Nuuk

In short: with one day, walk the old town and museum in the morning and take a fjord boat in the afternoon. With two, add a hike or a scenic drive and a kaffemik or food tasting.

If you prefer not to walk much, swap the morning walk for the City Highlights by Car tour, which covers the main sights from a heated car and ends with a tasting. With a third day, take the longer picnic cruise or the fishing trip. Cruise passengers with only a few hours ashore should pick one 2-hour tour; see Nuuk for cruise passengers.

Getting to and around Nuuk

In short: fly into Nuuk Airport, about 10 minutes by taxi or bus from the centre. Walk the centre, and use the city buses or a taxi to reach the residential districts and Qinngorput.

Nuuk’s airport takes international jets, with direct flights from Copenhagen and Reykjavik and seasonal routes from North America, and Air Greenland’s domestic flights to other towns. There are no roads out of Nuuk, so you won’t need a car. The city buses run between the centre, Nuussuaq, Qinngorput and the airport; Bus 1, for example, takes about 17 minutes from the centre to the Qinngorput trailhead and runs every 20 minutes. Taxis are easy to find and to book by phone. Many tours include hotel pickup, which saves the transfer question entirely. Our getting to Nuuk page lists routes, and what to wear in Greenland covers clothing by season.

Questions about Nuuk

More Nuuk and Greenland guides