My Dad Picked Greenland for His Bucket List Trip. Here’s Everything We Did in Nuuk.

• My dad added Greenland to his bucket list when United made it a roughly 4 1/2-hour nonstop flight from Newark.
• We spent four nights in Nuuk and booked an icefjord sailing and a catch-and-eat fishing trip.
• Nuuk still feels largely untouched by mass tourism, which is part of its appeal and part of what travelers need to prepare for.

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My dad had never been to Greenland, but for years getting there from the United States meant first flying toward Iceland or Copenhagen. Then United began flying nonstop from Newark to Nuuk, turning Greenland into a trip of about 4 1/2 hours.

That changed the calculation for my dad. He wanted to see Greenland, and suddenly it was close enough for a short bucket-list trip.

It was also our first bucket-list trip with just my dad and three of his kids, no spouses, no grandkids, and no extra moving parts.

In August 2025, my dad, my older brother Chris, my 20-year-old brother David, and I flew to Nuuk for four nights. What surprised me most was how quickly it felt as though we had left our normal world behind. A few hours after leaving Newark, we were somewhere without sidewalks in many areas, surrounded by mountains, water, and a tourism industry that still feels new.

The nonstop flight made Greenland possible for us

United’s seasonal Newark-to-Nuuk route was the reason we took the trip when we did. The airline operates the route only twice a week, so our schedule was built around arriving Saturday evening and departing Wednesday morning.

The flight itself was excellent. The crew was one of the best airline crews I have experienced, and United even sends a mechanic along because Nuuk is such a remote destination.

That remoteness is also why travelers need flexibility. Fog can prevent planes from taking off or landing, and the infrastructure does not always operate the way Americans expect. Greenland is accessible now, but it has not been smoothed out for mass tourism.

Icefjord Sailing showed us the scale of Greenland

Our six-hour Icefjord Sailing tour with Nuuk Water Taxi took us deep into the fjord. The boat had a heated interior cabin, outdoor space, and a toilet, so my dad could move comfortably between the warmth inside and the views outside.

At one point, ice began surrounding the boat. Wind and water continually reshape it, and the captain had to navigate carefully as pieces shifted around us. That was when I understood the magnitude of the place. The ice was not scenery in the distance. It was moving around us.

My dad also met a 93-year-old British woman who called him a “spring chicken.” We drank whiskey served with ice from the fjord, watched waterfalls spill down the mountains, and tried an edible leaf that a crew member picked ashore.

Catching our own dinner made the second boat trip completely different

Our second trip, Qooqqut Nuan Fish and Eat, combined a boat ride, handline fishing, and a meal at a remote restaurant.

I had not gone fishing since I was five. This time I caught an Atlantic cod and even removed it from the hook myself. Our group caught cod and redfish; the deep-water redfish looked startling when they reached the surface because the pressure change made their eyes protrude.

The boat continued to Qooqqut Nuan, where the fish was prepared for us. It was tremendously fresh and delicious. Young children were also fishing on our boat, which made the experience feel less like a serious fishing charter and more like a day anyone could enjoy.

I would not declare one excursion better than the other. If you want icebergs and monumental scenery, choose the Icefjord Sailing. If you want an interactive experience and the pleasure of eating what your boat caught, choose Fish and Eat. Someone who does not fish can still watch and share the meal, but the glacier tour may be the stronger choice for them.

We explored Nuuk on foot, by car, and along the boardwalk

Away from the boats, we visited Nuuk Local Museum and Nuuk Art Museum, stopped at Ulaajuk Pottery, shopped, and explored the city. My brother and I also hiked around the hills in Nuuk, while the four of us tackled an elevated wooden boardwalk with far more stairs than I expected.

We took the boardwalk at a comfortable pace, and my dad hung with us the whole way. He used his walking poles and completed the entire route.

While my dad navigated the streets with confidence, Nuuk’s lack of sidewalks in many places is worth knowing before you arrive, especially when traveling with an older relative. The city is compact, but compact does not necessarily mean easy to walk.

Renting a car gave us the flexibility we needed

We rented through NUUK Rental, and I would do it again with my dad. We could drive to the docks for our early excursions, reach museums and restaurants without asking him to walk along roads without sidewalks, and adjust the day around everyone’s energy.

Finding the car was another matter. The keys were waiting in a lockbox, but we assumed the vehicle would be in the parking lot beside the airport. Instead, I had to walk up a large hill without clear directions or a parking-space number, clicking the key fob as I wandered around looking for a car that responded.

It was funny afterward. In the moment, it was a good introduction to traveling somewhere that has visitors but is not yet organized entirely around them.

Our meals and apartment made Nuuk feel easy

After a disastrous first night in a double-booked Airbnb, we moved into two two-bedroom units at Hotel Aurora Apartments for our remaining three nights. They were spotless and included full kitchens and washers and dryers. The view for my remote work time was unforgettable.

We ate twice at Esme Lounge and Cafe Esmeralda, where the seafood was exceptionally fresh. I would especially recommend the king crab. We also had excellent Thai food and fresh salmon sushi at Restaurant Charoen Porn, then stopped at Cafe MANNA for ice cream and cold drinks.

The Airbnb deserves its own story. The short version is that, in a remote destination with limited alternatives, I will never again wait until after dinner to inspect a rental.

Nuuk is accessible, but it has not been overprepared for visitors