Luxury West Greenland & Baffin Island

Day 1: Kangerlussuaq

Embark your ship in Kangerlussuaq, a unique entry point into the Arctic. Kangerlussuaq is a settlement in the west of Greenland and a picturesque waterway that stretches 100 miles.

Day 2: Sisimiut

The colourful local houses and a towering granite peak characterize the town of Sisimiut. Human settlements in the Sisimiut area date back to 4,500 years ago. The first to inhabit the area was the Saqqaq culture, followed by the Dorset tradition and finally by the Thule people, ancestors of the modern Inuit. Be sure to wander the historic area: here you can pass under an arch formed bowhead whale bones.

Day 3: Qikiqtarjuaq (Nunavut) and Kivitoo

Qikiqtarjuak (formerly known as Broughton Island) is considered the iceberg capital of the world. As icebergs travel down the Davis Strait, they're naturally trapped here. These waters are sometimes home to narwhals, beluga and right whales, and ring and harp seals.

Day 4: Arctic Bay, Isabella Bay (Niginganiq)

Isabella Bay is an important summer and autumn feeding area for a large population of bowhead whales.

Day 5: Sam Ford Fjord

Sailing by Sam Ford Fjord offers a majestic view: stacked side by side, the dozens of soaring granite cliffs create of one of the most isolated places on the planet.

Day 6: Icy Arm Fjord, Feachem Bay, Buchan Gulf, Nunavut

Today, you will navigate the striking fjords of Baffin Island, the fifth largest island in the world and the largest in Canada. In this land of glacial lakes, you will be surprised to find an abundance of vibrant wildflowers such as yellow arctic poppies and purple saxifrage across the landscape. You will have a chance to go on wildlife excursions by zodiac, hike the tundra and visit Inuit settlements to learn about the local history.

Day 7: Beatrice Point, Coburg Island

The impressive seabird cliffs of Coburg Island are a designated National Wildlife Area. Thirty thousand pairs of black-legged kittiwakes and 160,000 pairs of thick-billed murres populate the rocky ledges on this island which is almost completely covered by an ice cap.

Day 8: Pim Island and Alexander Bay

Day 9: Geomagnetic North Pole and Hans Island

The Geomagnetic North Pole moves over time due to magnetic changes in the Earth's core: in 2001, it was determined by a survey to lie in northern Canada. It differs from the Geographic North Pole, which is fixed and marks the tip of the axis the planet rotates around.

Hans Island is the smallest of three islands located in Kennedy Channel: an uninhabited, barren rock in the Arctic. The island has probably been part of Inuit hunting grounds since the 14th century.

Day 10: Hans Island and Humboldt Glacier

Humboldt Glacier is the widest tidewater glacier in the Northern Hemisphere. Its spectacular 100 km wide calving front is the longest in Greenland.

Day 11: Etah and Siorapaluk

Etah is an abandoned settlement in northern Greenland. Discovery expeditions to the North Pole used to depart from here; this is also the landing site of the last migration of the Inuit from the Canadian Arctic.

Siorapaluk (or Hiurapaluk) is a settlement in northern Greenland, located at only 1362 km from the North Pole. One of the world's northernmost inhabited settlements and the northernmost one to be inhabited by natives, its population is of 68 people. Many of the inhabitants speak the Inuktun language of the Polar Inuit as well as the Kalaallisut dialect of Greenlandic and are direct descendants of the last migration of Inuit from Canada in the 20th century.

Day 12: Cape York and Savissivik

Cape York, in northern Baffin Bay, was the one of many places visited in 1894 by Admiral Robert Peary during his second expedition to the Arctic.

Savissivik is a settlement in northern Greenland located on Meteorite Island, off the northern shores of Melville Bay. Savissivik had 66 inhabitants in 2010, in the Greenlandic language, its name means 'Place of Meteoric Iron' or 'Knives', referring to the fragments found in the area dating to about 10,000 years ago.

Day 13: Kullorsuaq

The settlement of Kullorsuaq in northwestern Greenland was founded in 1928 and became a trading station and grew in size after World War II when hunters from small villages moved into the larger settlements. It is the northernmost settlement in the Upernavik Archipelago, located at the southern end of Melville Bay, itself part of Baffin Bay. Today, Kullorsuaq maintains a stable population but it remains one of the most traditional hunting and fishing villages in Greenland. The name of the settlement derives from a prominent pinnacle-shaped mountain in the centre of the island.

Day 14: Nuliarfik

Nuliarfik is located off the North-West coast of Greenland to the North of Upernivik Island and is home to the village of Karat.

Day 15: Ilulissat

Sail into Disko Bay to explore the UNESCO site of Ilulissat Icefjord: meaning "iceberg" in Greenlandic, this is a gateway to another world and home of  the Sermeq Kujalleq Glacier, one of the most active and fastest moving in the world calving more than thirty-five square kilometres of ice each year. The glacier has been the object of scientific attention for 250 years. In the traditional colourful town, founded in 1741, the sled dogs outnumber the people, while hiking trails offer magnificent vistas of the bergs as they approach the bay.

Day 16: Kangerlussuaq

Kangerlussuaq means 'the big fjord' and it refers to Sondre Stromfjord, one of the longest in the world with 168 kilometres of striking scenery that will tower above the ship as we sail up it. Here, there are fantastic opportunities for hiking and wildlife spotting.

Day 17: Disembarkation in Kangerlussuaq

You will disembark the ship and transfer to the airport to meet your charter flight home.

NOTE: This itinerary is for guidance only as each voyage will vary depending on ice and weather conditions, and opportunities to see wildlife. Flexibility is key and all part of the adventure of an expeditionary cruise.