Nanortalik Cruise Port

Nanortalik, Greenland

Nanortalik is a small town on an island of the same name in the south of Greenland that whilst only having around 1,200 inhabitants, that still makes it one of the biggest settlements in the country.

As is the case for every port in Greenland, the main attraction of any visit to the port is to experience been in one of the remotest places on earth, but the town also offers a fascinating open air museum where part of the town is kept in a traditional manner allowing visits to get an insight into the history, culture and way of life of the native Greenlanders.

The town is the southernmost in the country to house over a 1000 people and that makes it a popular option for cruise ship as it has some of the calmest weather and it is one of the easiest ports for ships to reach.

It is also relatively close to Prince Christian Sound, with many itineraries taking in both as part of their visit to the island.

Roughly translating as either ‘The Place of Polar Bears’ or ‘Place Where Polar Bears Go’, Nanortalik retains a rugged and remote feel and whilst you may now be unlikely to see a bear, especially during the summer when cruise ships visit, it doesn’t take too much to imagen those majestic creatures walking over the rough rocks around the town.

Cruises To Nanortalik

Our Visit

We were lucky enough to visit the port in August 2023 onboard the Celebrity Summit cruise ship, where we were on a transatlantic itinerary that started from Reykjavik and ended in Boston, USA.

In what was an incredible 2 weeks at sea that was helped by unusually sunny weather, our visit to Nanortalik saw our only day of the getaway with constant heavy rain.

In a place such as Nanortalik, where you are outside for the whole day with few options to get out of the weather, we were glad to have packed full wet weather clothing and with us wrapped up from the elements, we still had a great day ashore.

You must tender from your ship to the small harbour and the conditions did slow that that process, once we set foot onshore, we were set for a great day.

To start with, some local dogs excitingly welcomed us off the tender boat which set us up for the friendliness of all the local we got to interact with.

We would walk from the harbour, follow the main road and into the open air museum, we were welcomed by some rather soggy locals who explained how the attraction worked.

Basically, you walk around a part of the town where much of it has been left as it has been in the past and some of the buildings are now a museum.

The rules of the area are that if a building has an open door, you are free to go into it, if the door is shut, it’s out of bounds.

After exploring the many buildings and having got a great insight into local history and culture, we continued along the main road that loops around the town, the far side of town where we visited its historic cemetery.

There are incredible views from there, but we were soon on the move once again as we walked past the towns football stadium and back into the ‘centre’ to visit the local shops.

After that, we waited for the next tender back to the ship before enjoying lunch with the incredible views of Nanortalik where one of the interesting aspects of your visit ar ethe huge icebergs that are just metres from its shoreline and are next to where you drop anchor.

Nanortalik Cruise Guide

In this guide, we bring you all that you need to know about visiting the port of Nanortalik in Greenland which is based on our own experience of visiting there as well as the research we did before going.

Type of Cruises Available

When it comes to visiting the port there are free main options, roundtrips from North America, round trips from Europe and repositioning trips between the 2.

The ports with the most options for sailing from Europe are New York, Boston and Montreal, whilst the ports with the most sailing from Europe are Reykjavik, Southampton and Rotterdam.

For those wanting to visit the port directly with the UK without the need for flying, there are a range of itineraries setting sail from either Southampton or Dover that head to Greenland and back, with most also calling into Icelandic cruise ports.

Nanortalik Cruise Port Location

Cruise ships visiting the town drop anchor is the sheltered bay to the south of the town and in the east of the island it sits on.

It is around a 10-minute tender boat ride into the towns harbour, which is just to the east of the town’s main street and around a 15–20-minute walk from the open air museum.

Whilst anchored, you are surrounded by mountains and icebergs, and you have a great view over the town itself.

Nanortalik Attractions

As already mentioned, the main attraction of somewhere like Nanortalik, for me at least, is the chance to experience somewhere that so few ever do and gain an insight into a completely different culture.

It is also the chance to take in the incredible scenery and just enjoy spending time somewhere as remote as this part of Greenland.

If you are wanting somewhere with lots of big attractions, plenty of shops, cafes and restaurants and plenty of tourist sights, Nanortalik and Greenland is not the place for you to visit.

Sadly, there were some people of our boat who seemingly had no idea of just what visiting somewhere like Nanortalik entails and after spending some time ashore in summer clothes, they headed back to the ship, cold and wet and complaining that there is nothing to do there and no shops to buy gifts.

One attraction it does have is the open-air museum, that was free to visit for us but sometimes comes at a small cost if your ship hasn’t prepaid for you.

This features houses, buildings and a church that you are free to explore, with some left as they were in during different time periods of the town’s history, and some turned into a museum.

The outdoor museum also features a lookout flagpole, some former military remains and a small harbour.

In the main centre of the town, there is a supermarket, a small tourist information room, a couple of other shops but most things in those are imported from the Danish mainland.

Next to the harbour where we tendered into, a few locals set up some stalls with local crafts to buy, but sadly by the time we got back to them, they had given up with the weather been as wet as it was.

There is an historic cemetery at the far end of time, plenty of hiking routes and a chance to climb the hills of the more mountainous northern part of town.

Nanortalik Shorex

There are a few options for those who want to make the most of their time in the town, with the most basic option often been a guide walking tour of the town.

More adventurous options include the chance to visit the nearby Tasermiut fjord onboard a small boat or you can enjoy a cruise through the numerous icebergs that are found all around the town.

Best Time To Visit Nanortalik

The cruising season is short and as we found out at first hand, even if you visit in the midst of summer, the weather can be cold and wet.

With that in mind, anytime between May and September is a good time to visit as that is when cruise ships are there but to give you the best chance of calm seas and dry weather, we would recommend visiting in July and August and hoping for the best.

Transport

The good news is that everything is in easy reach of the tender boat drop off area, as there is no public transportation in the town.

On our visit, some enterprising locals did offer car rides around the town, which maybe a good option if the weather is poor.

Nanortalik Cruises From UK

If you want to visit Nanortalik directly from the United Kingdom, you can!

There are a few lines that offer round trip itineraries that call into port as part of Icelandic and Greenland journeys.

Nanortalik Cruises From Southampton

For the widest range of itineraries, ships and lines offering itineraries to Nanortalik, it is the port of Southampton that you should look at first although Dover can also offer a number of options