6 of the 7 Continents For The Budget Traveler: Finally A Direct Flight To Greenland!

I heard a saying once on a frequent traveler forum, "When you have been everywhere in the world, there's always Greenland!". In late 2025 I hadn't been everywhere in the world, but I had traveled to all 7 continents, and guesstimate my country count was in the mid 70s, Denmark already being one of them. I had to go to New York City for a wedding, I initially planned on going back to my hometown just for a few days for the festivities, but that turned into making New York the jump off point of an entire month off traveling to and from Europe and South America, and when I say Europe, I'm of course speaking of Greenland.

It was already on my radar, but constantly the flights and flight pattern were not reasonable for me, spending around $4,000 to fly to Iceland first or Denmark then back to Greenland was not feasible time or money wise. I even considered just doing one of the cruises there, I'm not a huge cruise fan as the exposure is pretty limited, but the prices were okay, and it least I could see a bit. But then in 2025 for the first time in my travel life, United Airlines, which happens to be my airline began offering nonstop flights to Nuuk from Newark. A flight of only roughly 3.5 hours. Now it wasn't quite a budget traveler price, sitting around $1,200 any day you chose (also limited), but it was a steal compared to the prior option, and time wise 3.5 hours sounded better than 35 hours.

I was finally ready to visit this country (or a small part of it as we will discuss). In September I left the USA to visit this Arctic community, here's my go to tips and advice for visiting Greenland!

Timing is everything if you are on a money or time budget. While it was exciting to have the flight, it wasn't a daily flight, the options for a short trip were to go one day, or to go 5 days (minimum). I opted for 5. Saturday to Wednesday. This didn't seem like enough to see anything other than Nuuk, and flight prices in the country are still pretty high, so I decided Nuuk was better than nothing. Luckily it did not disappoint.

View from the air
I usually like the aisle seat on the plane, because I don't like to wake up the guy next to me when I need to use the bathroom, but try to get a window seat if you can. My plane was damn near empty so I had my own row and the views coming into Nuuk were outstanding! The runway direction can of course change based on winds, but when I flew it was the 3 o'clock, right side of the plane, for the epic views landing in Greenland.

Nuuk Skyline
The airport is cool, but don't waist too much time when you land, taxis are limited and you could be waiting awhile if you don't catch the first group.
I had originally planned on not doing much the first day as the flight would arrive around 6pm. But two things played into my favor, one only about 10 people were on the plane, customs was a breeze. Two, I had forgotten from my prior Arctic experience the convenience of eternal daylight in the summer, this was September so not quite summer, but close enough. By the time I checked into my hotel, the sky was still shining bright and I took advantage to walk the small city and get a lay of the land.
I first visited Old Nuuk, and of course had to take "The Greenland Photo".
Afterwards I walked into the downtown area, after some exploring I grabbed a beer and Musk Ox burger for dinner 1.
Nuuk is a very small city, I wasn't expecting a Vegas Night Club, but was happy to find a chill little Tapas type place and enjoy a glass of cold wine on the cold roof deck before calling it a night.
Hotels I decided early on I wanted to stay in a historic or classical building rather a modern hotel. I found the Seamen's Home, Hotel Soma. The historic building used to host fisherman and dock workers, it probably still does, but now also is open to tourists, with a few more amenities.
Greenland is not cheap! I paid somewhere around $150 or so a night for a single bed with no bathroom at the hotel. I was super happy with my experience, I had a little sink to brush my teeth and the common area showers and toilets were always clean with hot water, but make no mistake, Greenland is not cheap.
Day two it was time for some nature and hiking, I decided to do the Lille Malene trail, not too easy, not too hard, perfect for a little exercise, great views of nature and the city, and not too hard where you need to be rescued by the Nuuk Mountain Rescue Squad.
Physically the hike wasn't hard, but it definitely got a lot colder minutes into the trail as I ascended.
Afterwards I visited the Nuuk Art Museum, and history Museum, both are very small, but nice to visit.
Day 3 started off in the gym, I was traveling all month, and tend to visit gyms in other countries when its longer trips, besides the work out aspect, it's an exposure to the culture a lot of tourists don't usually see. FitnessGL was a solid spot to start the day, they don't mess around here, the dumbbells go over 150lbs!

Water Taxi arriving for the cruise!
After that and some walking around the town I did a harbor cruise. Always a great time, we saw some icebergs, waterfalls, and a little bit of wildlife.
Each night I stayed up till sundown or even got out of bed in the middle of the night to see if I could see the Northern lights, but not every trip can be perfect, I didn't catch them... This time...
Credit card was accepted EVERYWHERE.... EXCEPT the bus, and I did ride it a few times, you need exact change... I can't quite remember how I got the Danish Krones, but other than the bus I didn't use them for anything else.
My last full day I had knocked off all the major tourist things, Nuuk is small, honestly in speed mode the whole city can be done in a day, but I had a full free day and decided to take advantage rather than relax at the hotel.
People were not at all rude, but it's definitely a bit of a closed off culture. This also is the Arctic, so a lot of the times I talked to people we were outside and freezing, who really wants to talk then?
I went back to the gym, afterwards I did a "Coffee Crawl", I visited three cafes throughout the city and chatted up with whatever locals wanted to chat. I walked the piers extensively, I revisited Old Nuuk, in particular the beautiful hill over looking the city, I went to the mall, had a beer or two, and for dinner I found best and most memorable meal. Its pretty much a cafeteria for the dock workers, they definitely did not speak English that day, but myself, locals, and fellow travelers all swear that Igaffik is delicious, definitley give it a try! I stayed up late again for the Northern Lights one last time, failed... But it was a special day even though in the grand scheme of things I didn't do much!

Greenlandic Pizza!

Gourmet food in the cafeteria!

Flight times dictated the last day, I had time for a delicious breakfast at Hotel Soma, but beyond that it was time to head to the airport, and say goodbye to this beautiful country.

Not my plane, but it looked cool

Land wise Nuuk is less than 1% of this giant country, but population wise over a third of the residents live in Nuuk. So it was a good peak into the country. But of course I would love to see more, from mountainous glaciers to musk oxen in the wild. I'd love to cruise the Ilulissat Icefjord, visit the Thule Air Base, kayak the channels, sleep in an igloo, or camp at night while of course seeing the Northern Lights... But travel isn't eternal, I had to get back to work, and travel definitely isn't perfect. But being able to set foot back into the Arctic, and being able to taste a little bit of this giant country, is as close to perfect as I could ask for. When you look at a map of the world, it's pretty hard to miss this giant Island, I am glad to say now when I see it on the map, I know I visited and loved this tiny little dot on it.