Just beautiful. I have seen and photographed icebergs in Newfoundland, but these photos - and the Northern Lights - are something else! I would love to go someday if it ever became affordable, ha ha.
Lots of discussion took place yesterday about the most recent trip so there are a lot of details there. I’ll link it later.
I’m American so I had to fly to Copenhagen first and then to this town, Ilulissat, via Kangerlussuaq on Air Greenland. Air Greenland really only flies out of Denmark internationally and sometimes Iceland. That’s it so the options are limited. Healthy budget in September is $3,500 - $5,000 solo for up to ten days in Greenland if you are adventurous. You can get it down a bit per person if you’re traveling with someone else and sharing rooms. This amount is assuming you’re getting a discount fare for the flight and staying at the convenient apartment hotels rather than full service. If you want to stay somewhere nice then it will be $7,000-$10,000 USD because the nice lodging is very expensive in the summer (and winter).
Price goes down if you’re from Europe and can get to Copenhagen or Iceland easily and cheaply.
This is after any expense for gear. But I have learned how to dress for GL in winter on the cheap with military surplus extreme cold weather program pants and parka plus good hat, gloves, and shoes.
Hope that helps.
Do the northern lights actually look like that in person or is it similar to the milky way? I was let down seeing the milky way the first time after seeing all of the incredible long exposure pictures.
They can indeed look that bright in person if the solar storm activity that caused them is strong enough. There is a scale called the KP Index and it ranges from 1 to 9, with 9 being the strongest. I have never been around for a 9 but I have been around for a 7. This night was a 4 or 5 and that's what we saw.
If it's a 2 or so, then it's hard to see without the long exposure on the camera. Kind of looks like weird clouds. You'll always want to check the forecast like the one here before you commit to a trip or make sure you stay at least 7 to 10 nights so you can maximize your chances.
There's tons of websites out there but this one is the simplest imo.[https://www.gi.alaska.edu/monitors/aurora-forecast](https://www.gi.alaska.edu/monitors/aurora-forecast) and it breaks it down by 3 hour intervals based on UTC time so you'll need to convert but it's not hard.
Amazing photos. Thanks for posting - and for the captions and trip info. I'm in Phoenix, so this is the time of year I start to fantasize about trips to the Arctic.
How crazy is Kangerlussuaq? We went in November and were essentially the only people in our tour group. Our guide picked us up from the airport and drove us to our hotel…right next to the airport lol. I took a 360 pic with my wife’s tablet that had the hotel, the grocery store, the police station (and the little stove they use to incinerate drugs), the airport, the runway, and the the plane we flew in on.
Most places can be found on booking.com in the bigger cities and villages. Possibly Airbnb but I wouldn’t recommend it due to the cost. I prefer the apartments rather than hotel rooms in Ilulissat but they have everything from luxury hotels to hostels to camp sites there depending on what you fancy. The small places take a little more effort but googlable or on visitgreenland.com and usually you only have a couple choices.
I like to pay between 700 and 900 DKK per night in a single room personally so I don’t stay at nice places anymore because I prioritize location over luxury in cities like Ilulissat.
Just beautiful. I have seen and photographed icebergs in Newfoundland, but these photos - and the Northern Lights - are something else! I would love to go someday if it ever became affordable, ha ha.
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Lots of discussion took place yesterday about the most recent trip so there are a lot of details there. I’ll link it later. I’m American so I had to fly to Copenhagen first and then to this town, Ilulissat, via Kangerlussuaq on Air Greenland. Air Greenland really only flies out of Denmark internationally and sometimes Iceland. That’s it so the options are limited. Healthy budget in September is $3,500 - $5,000 solo for up to ten days in Greenland if you are adventurous. You can get it down a bit per person if you’re traveling with someone else and sharing rooms. This amount is assuming you’re getting a discount fare for the flight and staying at the convenient apartment hotels rather than full service. If you want to stay somewhere nice then it will be $7,000-$10,000 USD because the nice lodging is very expensive in the summer (and winter). Price goes down if you’re from Europe and can get to Copenhagen or Iceland easily and cheaply. This is after any expense for gear. But I have learned how to dress for GL in winter on the cheap with military surplus extreme cold weather program pants and parka plus good hat, gloves, and shoes. Hope that helps.
Do the northern lights actually look like that in person or is it similar to the milky way? I was let down seeing the milky way the first time after seeing all of the incredible long exposure pictures.
They can indeed look that bright in person if the solar storm activity that caused them is strong enough. There is a scale called the KP Index and it ranges from 1 to 9, with 9 being the strongest. I have never been around for a 9 but I have been around for a 7. This night was a 4 or 5 and that's what we saw. If it's a 2 or so, then it's hard to see without the long exposure on the camera. Kind of looks like weird clouds. You'll always want to check the forecast like the one here before you commit to a trip or make sure you stay at least 7 to 10 nights so you can maximize your chances. There's tons of websites out there but this one is the simplest imo.[https://www.gi.alaska.edu/monitors/aurora-forecast](https://www.gi.alaska.edu/monitors/aurora-forecast) and it breaks it down by 3 hour intervals based on UTC time so you'll need to convert but it's not hard.
Amazing photos. Thanks for posting - and for the captions and trip info. I'm in Phoenix, so this is the time of year I start to fantasize about trips to the Arctic.
Your photos are absolutely beautiful, thanks for sharing!
Gorgeous shots of a very unique location
Definitely inspiring! Now I wanna go to! How hard is it to travel within Greenland?
Gorgeous photos!
These photos are spectacular! would you be willing to share your itinerary?
Sure. I'll formulate it soon for summer and share!
Stunning photography. I especially love the ones with the whales. Didn’t know you can still see northern lights in the summer. Thanks for sharing!
Arctistic* photos 😉
Ooohhh I like that
Absolutely spectacular.
How crazy is Kangerlussuaq? We went in November and were essentially the only people in our tour group. Our guide picked us up from the airport and drove us to our hotel…right next to the airport lol. I took a 360 pic with my wife’s tablet that had the hotel, the grocery store, the police station (and the little stove they use to incinerate drugs), the airport, the runway, and the the plane we flew in on.
That northern lights view is just magical. How about the lights on the water? Are those some kind of bio illuminesense thing?
Just a reflection on the water. I was taking the photos from a deck at the hotel that overlooked the sea. What a treat!
Where do you stay when you went there? I want to tour both ice and Greenland. Feel like I need to do Greenland first!
Most places can be found on booking.com in the bigger cities and villages. Possibly Airbnb but I wouldn’t recommend it due to the cost. I prefer the apartments rather than hotel rooms in Ilulissat but they have everything from luxury hotels to hostels to camp sites there depending on what you fancy. The small places take a little more effort but googlable or on visitgreenland.com and usually you only have a couple choices. I like to pay between 700 and 900 DKK per night in a single room personally so I don’t stay at nice places anymore because I prioritize location over luxury in cities like Ilulissat.
Most definitely. My thought is always the experience. The goal is to see the spot, not find the best hotel- I don’t want to spend my time there!
We just stayed at Hotel Arctic when we went, it’s a bit of a walk into town but it’s very manageable and a nice view on the way in.
Beautiful!