Qaqortoq

Qaqortoq, Greenland

Brightly painted wooden houses of Qaqortoq rising above the fjord in the golden light of the southern Greenland evening.

A small, working town on the southern coast of Greenland, where Norse ruins, Inuit history and fjord farming sit within easy reach of each other.

The place

Qaqortoq sits on the shore of the Qaqortoq Fjord in southern Greenland, beside the Labrador Sea, and serves as the capital of the Kujalleq municipality. Most people use its Greenlandic name, though older maps and some Danish sources use Julianehåb. With a population of about 3,000, it is the largest settlement on the southern coast and draws much of its life from the surrounding fjords and farms. The town is compact enough to walk end to end in an afternoon, with brightly painted houses climbing the slopes above the harbour and a central square that forms the heart of the place. Its position gives it a surprisingly mild character for a town so far north. Coastal air keeps winters far milder than the same latitude inland would suggest, and summers stay cool rather than cold, so a few sheltered gardens and small groves of trees manage to survive here, which is rare in Greenland. The town sits about 16 metres above sea level, so the harbour and the hillside homes are never far apart. Sheep, cattle and reindeer farms line the fjords nearby, and the town acts as their supply centre. Fish processing, tanning and administration keep most people in work. It is a working town first, and its lived-in, friendly character tends to surprise visitors who arrive expecting a museum village.

Its story

People have lived around Qaqortoq for thousands of years. The earliest traces date from the Saqqaq culture, roughly 4,300 years ago, although sites from that period are sparse here compared with other parts of Greenland. Small chipped stone drills and carving knives are among the clearest evidence. Later, the Dorset people settled the area and left low rectangular dwellings built from peat, whose outlines can still be picked out across the wider landscape. The Thule culture, ancestors of the Inuit, arrived in the southern part of the island around the twelfth century and lived largely by hunting and fishing, leaving few large buildings behind. The Norse arrived in the late tenth century, and their settlement is the best-documented chapter of the early story. Their farms and churches lay in the fjords, and the most prominent Norse ruins in Greenland lie about 19 km northeast at Hvalsey, reached by boat or on foot. Trade between the Norse and the Thule was thin for a long time, although the southern Norse later supplied ivory to northern Europe. Their presence lasted nearly five hundred years and ended around the mid-fifteenth century. The last written record of Norse life here is a wedding held in a church at Hvalseyjarfjord in 1408. The modern town grew from a trading post founded in 1775 by Anders Olsen for the General Trading Company, which the Danish named Julianehåb. That name reflects the colonial period, and the Greenlandic name came back into everyday use later on.

What to see

Culture

Qaqortoq is a small town where most people know one another, and daily life moves at a steady, unhurried pace. Greenlandic is the first language for most residents, and Danish is widely spoken alongside it, so a greeting in either language is welcome. Hunting, fishing and the sealskin trade are part of everyday working life, and conversations about them are normal rather than sensitive. Many residents are direct and not inclined to small talk with strangers, which visitors from larger cities sometimes mistake for coolness. Asking a local about their work usually brings a warm and open answer. Respect for the sea and for animals matters here, so buy sealskin goods knowingly and ask about where the skins came from. When photographing people at work on the harbour, ask first, and keep your voice down in residential streets late at night.

What to wear

Traditional dress in southern Greenland is built around skins and furs. Sealskin was the core material for clothing, boots and gloves, and garments were often finished with coloured trim and careful stitching. The sealskin trade shaped the local economy for generations, and the Great Greenland Furhouse, the only tannery in Greenland, still processes skins in the town today, so the material is part of working life rather than only a heritage craft. Sealskin is worn now, but many people in Qaqortoq dress in practical clothing: waterproof jackets, wool layers and sturdy boots suited to wind and wet ground. Knitwear is common for everyday wear. For a visitor, layers are the sensible approach. Summer days can feel mild in sunshine but turn cold on the water, and rain can arrive quickly off the sea. Bring a waterproof shell, a warm mid-layer and gloves even in July. Walking boots with good grip suit the rocky paths and wet grass around the fjords. Formal dress is not expected in town, but a hat and a warm jacket will carry you through most weather.

What to eat

Plan it

Best time. June to August bring the mildest weather and the longest days, though summers are cool rather than warm. Winters are cold and snowy but milder than inland at this latitude, and the shoulder months bring unsettled weather. Plan for wind and rain whatever the season.

How long. 2–3

Getting there. Fly from Narsarsuaq or Narsaq to Qaqortoq Airport, about 5 km north of town, or take a regular boat from Narsarsuaq to the ferry stop in Qaqortoq.

Budget. mid

Tips

Etiquette

Nearby

Sources