BEYOND THE MAP
ICELAND & GREENLAND
There is a specific category of place that most people will only ever read about: too remote, too expensive, too far from anything resembling a convenient flight path. The Ilulissat Icefjord is one of them. This journey covers both Iceland and Greenland by private charter, moving between two landscapes that share a latitude and almost nothing else. Iceland is volcanic and restless. Greenland is ancient and still. This is the kind of trip that recalibrates what you think the world looks like.
Note that everything you see here is an example of what your trip could look like. Your adventure will be tailored specifically to you.
WHEN TO GO
DURATION
JUL - SEP
11 NIGHTS
LANGUAGE
ICELANDIC, DANISH
CURRENCY
KRÓNA, KRONE
ESTIMATED COST
$18,900
per person, excl. int'l flights
(based on two adults sharing)
Why this adventure
The Ilulissat Icefjord produces more icebergs than any glacier in the Northern Hemisphere outside Greenland's own ice sheet. Standing on its shore, watching ice the size of buildings calve and drift toward Disko Bay, produces a feeling that the standard vocabulary of travel writing doesn't quite cover. This journey is designed for travelers who have been everywhere that's easy to reach and want to know what comes after that. The private charter between Iceland and Greenland is not a luxury add-on. It's the only way to reach the parts of Greenland that make the trip worth taking. Everything else, the lodges, the guides, the pacing, is built around making the most of access that most people never have.
Journey flow
The journey opens in Iceland before the private charter west crosses the open North Atlantic, watching lava fields give way to open ocean and then to Greenland's ice-studded coast. Ilulissat announces itself through the window before landing: a small town of brightly painted houses at the edge of the most productive glacier in the Northern Hemisphere. Days here are structured around the icefjord, boat excursions into Disko Bay, hiking trails along the fjord's edge, and the Arctic summer light that refuses to go dark. The return through Iceland closes the circuit.
Take it farther
A helicopter flight over the Greenland ice cap provides the aerial perspective that boat tours and hiking trails can't: the sheer scale of 1.7 million square kilometers of ice becomes comprehensible from the air in a way it never does from the ground. Additional days in Greenland unlock the wider Disko Bay fjord system and communities further north where the relationship between landscape and human life is even more elemental. For those who want to cover the icefjord by water, expedition boat charters into its inner reaches get considerably closer to the ice than the standard tours.
Adventure highlights
ARCTIC SUMMER LIGHT
In July and August, the sun sets in Ilulissat for approximately two hours. The quality of light that results, low and golden and lasting, over a bay full of icebergs, produces a visual experience that cannot be scheduled or replicated elsewhere. Bring more memory cards than you think you need.
GREENLANDIC COMMUNITY LIFE
Ilulissat has about 4,500 residents, most of whom have a relationship with the ice and the sea that stretches back further than the town itself. Time with local guides who have grown up navigating the icefjord's shifting terrain produces a different understanding of the place than any boat tour alone.
ILULISSAT ICEFJORD
The calving front of Sermeq Kujalleq glacier visible from shore, producing more icebergs than any glacier in the Northern Hemisphere outside Greenland's ice sheet. Boat excursions into Disko Bay put you among icebergs the size of buildings that have been drifting here from the glacier for decades. The scale registers slowly and stays.
PRIVATE CHARTER CROSSING
Three hours over the open North Atlantic between two of the world's most dramatic landscapes. The crossing itself, watching the terrain transform through the window, is not a logistics step but a chapter of the journey. The access it provides to parts of Greenland unreachable by commercial routes is the whole point.
How it unfolds
DAYS 1-2
ICELAND
The Retreat at Blue Lagoon provides the opening, positioned appropriately close to Keflavík for the charter departure. The Blue Lagoon's geothermal water and Michelin-starred dining serve as the calibration point before the terrain becomes considerably more demanding. The Reykjanes Peninsula's volcanic landscape, still actively forming, sets the geological tone for what follows.
DAY 3
THE CROSSING
The private charter west takes roughly three hours. The transition from Iceland's green-and-black coastline to Greenland's ice-studded fjords happens gradually through the window, and most passengers describe the crossing as its own experience rather than a logistics gap.
DAYS 4-9
ILULISSAT & THE ICEFJORD
Hotel Arctic sits directly on the UNESCO Ilulissat Icefjord, with the calving front of Sermeq Kujalleq glacier visible from the property. Six nights here is enough time to cover the icefjord's hiking trails, the boat excursions into Disko Bay among icebergs that dwarf the vessel, and time in the town itself, where the relationship between the community and the ice is not a tourist attraction but a way of life that has been developing for centuries.
DAYS 10-11
RETURN THROUGH ICELAND
The charter east returns to Iceland for a closing night before international departure, which provides the kind of decompression that a trip this remote tends to require. The contrast between the geothermal warmth of Iceland and the Arctic stillness of Greenland is more apparent on the return than it was on departure.
Where you could stay
HOTEL ICEFJORD
An intimate wilderness retreat overlooking UNESCO-listed ice fjords, combining rustic elegance with direct access to Greenland’s most spectacular scenery.
HOTEL ARCTIC
A hotel built directly on the edge of the Ilulissat Icefjord, with five aluminum "igloo" cabins connected to the main building by a boardwalk, each one looking straight across the water at drifting icebergs. Interiors run modern and warm, circular motifs in the furnishings nodding to the Greenlandic flag, and the restaurant leans hard into local ingredients, musk ox, reindeer, and whatever's freshest from the harbor that day. It's one of very few hotels anywhere positioned this close to a UNESCO World Heritage glacier.
THE RETREAT AT BLUE LAGOON
A 60-suite hotel with a subterranean spa carved into the lava, Michelin-starred dining at Moss restaurant, and a private lagoon sourced from the same mineral-rich geothermal waters as the Blue Lagoon itself. The underground spa reaches deep under the 800-year-old lava flow, with walls of exposed lava merging with Scandinavian design and a strictly phone-free policy. Twenty minutes from Keflavík airport, which makes it the logical first or last night of any Iceland itinerary. One caveat worth knowing: the Reykjanes Peninsula has experienced significant volcanic activity since late 2023 and the Blue Lagoon has had periods of closure as a result. Current operational status should be confirmed at time of booking.
Ready to start planning?
All Peregrine trips include:
Every trip we design starts from scratch, built around how you travel and what you're actually after. No fixed routes, no shared departures, no compromises. If something on this page resonated, that's a good place to start a conversation.
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A dedicated travel designer to custom-build your trip
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A network of on-the-ground guides and local experts
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Accommodations chosen for style, not star-rating
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Private transfers throughout your destination
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Around-the-clock support while traveling
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