[4-day, 3-night trip to Ilulissat + seeing the northern lights for the first time + magnificent, unforgettable icefjord scenery + temperatures dropping as low as -19°C]
After finishing the Polar Circle Marathon, I visited Ilulissat, Greenland's third-largest city, renowned as the "Capital of Icebergs."
#Day 1@2025/10/27 (Mon): City tour in the morning, followed by a hike through the Sermermiut Valley in the afternoon—a UNESCO World Heritage site—plus an iceberg run along the wooden boardwalk.
#Day 2 @ 10/28/2025 (Tue): In the morning, took a 2.5-hour boat tour at Ilulissat Icefjord, which is also a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site. In the evening, joined a local northern lights tour and saw the long-awaited aurora for the first time in the dark wilderness free of light pollution.
#Day 3 @2025/10/29 (Wed): In the morning, we arranged for the Polar Circle Marathon champion to lead us on a 5K short run around downtown Ilulissat, with 9 of us in total. In the afternoon, we set out on our own to explore the Orange Route, one of the three main trails in Ilulissat—a mountain trail route that also offers up-close views of the icebergs.
At night, you could also capture the aurora in darker spots near the hotel. However, with the wind chill making it feel like -17°C, any exposed skin on our hands and faces was freezing—a unique kind of memory to document. Ilulissat sits at latitude 69° N, where polar night lasts from late November to mid-January. Right now, the daytime sun stays close to the horizon; on Day 2, sunrise was at 9:30 and sunset at 16:45, leaving just 7 hours and 15 minutes of daylight.
#Day4 Temperatures were between -13 and -9°C, with wind chill making it feel like -19°C—the coldest temperature experienced, far colder than a freezer. Taking just a few photos barehanded would make your hands freeze to an unbearable degree.
