Greenland / Iceland advice for 2 weeks in March | Iceland - Lonely Planet Forum

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Tue, 25 Aug 2015 10:56:45 +0000

I posted this thread in Greenland Forum but think of posting it in Iceland forum too mainly to understand if this make any sense to travel to Iceland in March for just a week to catch some good landscape / winter scenery / something special that Iceland can provide in March. I will be coming here after spending a week in Greenland, so want to know if I can see something different than what I see in Greenland during that time. Natural vistas / scenery are more attractive to me than history / architecture.

Original Post in Greenland Forum
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I need help with your suggestion on spending 2 weeks of March in and around Greenland / Iceland.

I want to make it simple and keep Greenland my major part of trip and I want perfect white winter scape around, Glacier / Iceberg views, some dog sled and ofcourse praying for some amazing Northern Lights. 9th March is new moon and want to start around 10th March from Copenhagen to Ilulissat and returning from there on 18th March.

What I understand more I travel in Greenland more I will incur travel cost and only explore few other towns if in March, some places can give me a different landscape than ilulissat provides me. I am thinking of taking a stopover flight of Air Greenland from Copenhagen which has a layover of 22/24 hrs in Kangerlussuaq, which I hope means I can change my flight and get my luggage out of airport between. This means I can get 2 nights (and some part of days) in Kangerlussuaq too without adding air fare. So out of my 7 nights, 2 will be in Kangerlussuaq and 5 will be in ilulissat.

The major objectives of the trip
1. Hoping to see NL
2. Go for some Dog Sledding
3. Watching Ice Berg / Glacier
4. Photographing winter landscape of Arctic

The areas where I need your thoughts and input are:

I have 2 weeks time, I think considering cost of travel and variation of landscape may be 1 week in Greenland is good, am I thinking wrong? Should I spend more time in Greenland? If so where and what different things I can expect in other towns than the 2 I am visiting?
The remaining 1 week where I can spend? I saw Air Iceland connects from ilulissat to Reykjavic, should I spend few days in Iceland? If so, what to do in Iceland in just 1 week and that too in March Middle/End? Will it be different than what I am doing and seeing in Greenland? If you recommend Iceland to be included without spending a lot in unnecessary air travel from Greenland to Copenhagen, please suggest few places considering I don't want to see what I have seen in Greenland, I mean same / similar landscape.
If Iceland doesn't make sense as mentioned in point 2, I am open to explore few days in Copenhagen too, I think I should anyway keep 3 days of safety period in case weather turns bad before my return flight from Copenhagen. But 7 days if I have (Considering weather remains fine and I book my return from Copenhagen after 2 weeks, Iceland or Greenland extension doesn't workout) what else I can do considering it's March and I am in Scandinevia ?
How much is my realistic chance of catching NL in this 2 weeks time? I know it needs clear sky, triggering of NL, very low to zero light pollution and most importantly my luck which can't be predicted but in 2 weeks what I can do / how I can plan to maximize my chance?

ONLINE

Tue, 25 Aug 2015 14:52:54 +0000

Have you checked airline ticket prices? Trips to/from Greenland tend to be exorbitantly expensive ... even the short jump to Iceland.
To answer your specific question - it would be difficult to find a greater contrast than that between Greenland and Iceland. Apart from the temperatures, Greenland is far more akin to Norway than Iceland, all jagged peaks and narrow fjords. Iceland, despite being mountainous, is more rounded, except perhaps the Westfjord/Eastfjord regions.
March is of course a bit of a gamble, it's still winter at these latitudes and you can get caught in pretty big storms. Still, at least the sun is coming back (you'd be here just before the equinox ). Catching the aurora is always going to be a question of weather, you can be lucky or not. If you are willing to pay for a domestic flight in Iceland (not nearly as expensive as flights to Greenland!) you could fly to wherever the weather is forecast to be clear- Iceland is big enough for the weather rarely being the same everywhere.

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Wed, 26 Aug 2015 01:11:54 +0000

Leifur thanks for the pointers and those are very helpful. Yes I saw the return airfare between Reykjavik and Kulusuk (in Eastern Greenland is around 570 EUR) which definitely higher than usual flight of similar distances from Reykjavik but considering Greenland fare and low competition of participating airlines in this sector, this may be the lower end of the usual fare that persists in this sector. I am just guessing though!

I am thinking of doing either East or West Greenland, though I want to do both but found the transit between west to east is very costly and cost around 6000 DKK and the reverse flight is 8000 DKK. If I do west, Iceland will be automatically removed. If I do East, I may spend 4/5 days in Iceland and try to see something. Considering it's March which area of Iceland should I concentrate on? I found the domestic airfare inside Iceland are reasonable at that time and do you suggest something like flying to Akureyri and going for Myvatn area or you think price will not change much (Current Return fare between Reykjavik and Akureyri is 169 EUR) and I should buy air ticket only a week before when atleast rough weather forecast be available?

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Wed, 26 Aug 2015 09:57:59 +0000

Strange as it might seem, as a local I am not really qualified to comment on which part of Iceland to visit in March - my gut reaction would be to nominate Tenerife! I think I'll defer to other tourists for an opinion.

If you decide on the East Greenland remember to factor in the helicopter trip from the airport to Tasiilaq, Kulusuk is a tiny island where I can't imagine you wanting to stay. Also note that it is a bit foggy, so flight schedules aren't as reliable as they could be. Still, it is a fantastic place to visit (though I have only been there in August).

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Sat, 27 Aug 2016 01:01:27 +0000

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