Qeqertarsuaq, Godhavn cruise port guide

About Qeqertarsuaq, Godhavn

Qeqertarsuaq (historically Godhavn) is a small port town of about 793 inhabitants on the south coast of Disko Island in western Greenland's Disko Bay. Founded in 1773 as a whaling station, it now hosts a campus of the University of Copenhagen (Arctic Station) and serves as an expedition cruise stop en route to the ice fjords near Ilulissat.

The Lyngmark Glacier (Lyngmarksbræen), reachable in a few hours' walk from town, offers sweeping views across Disko Bay toward the spectacular icebergs drifting from the Ilulissat Icefjord 100 km distant. Disko Island's flat-topped basalt mountains—many capped with perpetual snow—are distinctive in a country otherwise defined by fjords and granite. The Arctic Station, one of the Arctic's oldest research facilities, sometimes welcomes visitors during stops. Hunting and fishing remain core activities, and dogsleds are rented in winter.