It is one of the most barren and inhospitable places to live on the planet. Yet the Arctic landscape of Greenland attracts thousands of visitors yearly who marvel at the astounding beauty of icebergs, glaciers and a vast ice cap.
The Kangia fjord, a UNESCO World Heritage Site outside this western Greenland town, offers one of the most dramatic views of the forces of nature in motion. Enormous blocks of ice break off with a thunderous roar from the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier and into the fjord before beginning their silent 40-kilometer (25-mile) voyage out to the Arctic Sea.
Tourists wrapped in blankets watch the spectacle from cutters, zigzagging between the massive ice blocks, while others swoop down over the glacier in helicopters.
"I have never seen anything like this. The glacier is fantastic," said Javier Gonzales Garcia, 42, of Barcelona, Spain. "These are mountains like we have in Spain but they are of ice and disappear in the ocean. I will tell my grandchildren about this when I get old."
Some 30,000 tourists visit the world's largest island every year, with the bulk going to Ilulissat, which means "icebergs" in Greenlandic, which is spoken by the indigenous Inuits.
More than 80 percent of visitors come from Denmark, which Greenland is part of as a semiautonomous territory. Other Scandinavians, Germans, French and Britons also find their way here - although it is considered an extreme destination for them, too.
"Greenland is attracting people who want to try something different, really different," said Hans Peter Poulsen of the Greenland Tourism and Business Council. "There is no mass tourism here."
Traveling to and within Greenland is expensive because of its size and remote location. The island stretches 2,670 kilometers (1,655 miles) from south to north, and is four times larger than France. The vast ice cap covers 85 percent of the island.
There are no roads connecting towns and settlements, so transportation is by plane, helicopter and dogsled, or by boat during the ice-free summer.
"The infrastructure is a huge problem and a giant challenge," Poulsen said.
Dogsled rides are offered in Sisimiut or Ilulissat, Greenland's third-largest town, where the 4,400 residents are outnumbered by more than 6,000 sled dogs.
Daring visitors paddle in kayaks between icebergs or camp in tents in the Arctic wilderness. Others hike the 3,200-meter-thick (10,560-foot-thick) ice cap, or join a photo safari, hoping to snap shots of musk oxen and reindeer on land, or whales and seals at sea.
Don't expect to cross paths with any polar bears, though. Most Greenlanders have never seen one, as the animals seldom venture into populated areas from their habitat in the more inaccessible northern parts.
In coastal towns, tourists can board a cutter or fishing boat for a late-night cruise among the icebergs. They steer you so close you can break off a small chunk of ice, frozen for 100,000 years, and slip it into your drink in the midnight sun.
Visitors can get a taste of the local culture in Kulusuk, a village of 230 people on the thinly populated, wind-swept east coast, where locals perform Inuit drum dances. The village has no paved streets, but there is a modern hotel next to a small airfield.
"The tourists who come here are typically Europeans and Americans on a round trip to the Nordic countries," said Patrick M. Abrahamsen of the Hotel Kulusuk. They come via Reykjavik, the capital of neighboring Iceland, "to get a quick feel of Greenland."
Tourists are not the only ones interested in Greenland. Scientists too, are eyeing it - but with worry. Many scientists believe the thinning of the ice cap that covers the world's largest island is the result of global warming, with dire implications for various aspects of life here, from fishing to local hunters' dogsledding on the ice-covered fjords and inlets.
In Qassiarsuk, a hamlet near Narsarsuaq, southern Greenland, is a replica of what has been called the first Christian church built in North America, to which Greenland geographically belongs.
The Viking Eric the Red - whose son Leif Ericson is believed to have landed in North America 500 years before Columbus - built the tiny 3-meter (10-foot) wooden church with a grass roof next to his home.
Ilulissat, too, has more to offer than calving glaciers and icebergs.
At the mouth of the Kangia fjord is the archaeological site of Sermermiut, where the earliest human settlement on the island was established 4,400 years ago.
In the Ilulissat hinterland, where the rocks are covered by soil and moss, more than 300 different species of plants, including crowberries, lousewort, marsh tea and Niviarsiaq - Greenland's national flower - can be found.
Every town or larger village has at least one museum.
Ilulissat has a museum for whaling and fishing, and one for explorer Knud Rasmussen, who documented Eskimo culture in the early 20th century. The permanent exhibit sits in a red wooden house in the middle of the town where he was born in 1879.
Nuuk, the capital 600 kilometers (372 miles) south of Ilulissat, houses Greenland's National Museum, displaying local history, well-preserved mummies of Inuits, kayaks and other artifacts. Sisimiut, on the Arctic Circle, has an archaeological museum dedicated to the Inuits, who arrived here from Siberia more than 4,000 years ago.
Kangerlussuaq, near Sisimiut, and Narsarsuaq are both former U.S. Air Force bases with permanent exhibits on the American presence there.
If you go:
GREENLAND: For tourism information, visit http://www.greenland.com, http://www.greenland-guide.gl or http://www.greenlandexcursions.com
WHEN TO GO: Dogsled rides take place March-early May (and north of the Arctic Circle on the west coast). May-September offers mild weather.
WHERE TO GO: Three main destinations: South (Narssaq, Qaqortoq, Narsarsuaq); West (Sisimiut, the capital Nuuk, and the main international airport, Kangerlussuaq); and North (Ilulissat, Uummannaq, Upernavik, Qaanaaq near the Thule Air Force Base). Other destination include Kulusuk and Tasiilaq, also known as Ammassalik, on the eastern coast, below the Arctic Circle.
WEATHER: Fog, storms, rain or snow can abruptly transform a sunny day or disrupt transportation. In winter, temperatures can dip to minus 45 C (minus 50 F). Despite the Arctic climate, summer temperatures between 5 C (41 F) and 15 C (59 F) feel warmer because of the dry air. Bring sunglasses, sun block and mosquito repellent.
GETTING THERE: Air Greenland flies from Denmark's capital, Copenhagen, to Kangerlussuaq and Narsarsuaq, on the island's southern tip. Air Iceland flies daily from Iceland's capital Reykjavik to Kulusuk on the east coast.
GETTING AROUND: No roads connect the towns and settlements so all transportation is by air or sea. Planes and helicopters connect Kangerlussuaq and Narsarsuaq to the rest of the island, with daily flights between Kulusuk and Nuuk. Arctic Umiaq Line sails along the coast. Most coastal boats don't operate during the winter.
LODGING: From early December to early April, Kangerlussuaq offers the all-ice Hotel Igloo Village. Other towns have comfortable hotels, youth hostels or seamens' homes. Ilulissat, Greenland's main tourist destination, has several hotels, including the Hotel Arctic, where all rooms are wi-fi.
DINING: Greenland is a paradise for meat and fish eaters, but vegetables are sparsely served and expensive because they're imported. Try reindeer, musk oxen, salmon or other seafood, or even seal and whale, including whale blubber. Polar bear is rare.
In Nuuk, the classy Nipisa restaurant serves local products in a French-cuisine style. The exclusive restaurant on the top floor of Hotel Hans Egede also has cocktail bar for a nightcap.
SHOPPING: The currency is the Danish krone; major credit cards are accepted in hotels, restaurants, cabs and souvenir shops.
When buying souvenirs made from narwhals, beluga or minke whales, walrus and polar bear, shops provide an export permit from the U.N.-affiliated Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
LANGUAGE: Greenlandic, an Eskimo tongue, and Danish are the official languages, but most young Greenlanders speak English. A few common words in Greenlandic:
Hello _ kutaa (KO'-daa)
Yes _ aap (A'-ab) or suu (SU'-u)
No _ naamik (NAA'-mek)
Thank you _ qujanaq (KO'-ya-nag)
See you _ takuss (DA'-goos)
Welcome _ tikilluarit (TEE'-kee-schloa-rid)
Goodbye _ bajj (BA-ay).