Paamiut

At Paamiut, ships remain moored or anchored while passengers travel ashore by tender.

Paamiut is small, and the harbour is very close to downtown. Walk from the pier to the town's main areas in only a few minutes.

As in other West Greenland towns, the sea off Paamiut does not freeze in winter. Fishing is the main occupation for Paamiut's 2,000 inhabitants and those in the single settlement of Arsuk. The sea's importance, along with its many white-tailed eagles, is reflected in Greenland's maritime education being based entirely in Paamiut.

The Paamiut area holds Greenland's largest white-tailed eagle population. Open-sea wildlife watching may also reveal minke, fin, killer and humpback whales. Paamiut itself has a distinctive wooden church dating from 1909, and the town museum occupies buildings that had been a carpenter's workshop and a salt house in the previous century.

Take care around mosquitoes, common in June and July, and black flies, which take over in August. Wear mosquito nets over your head: the town can be swamped by these persistent, aggressive flies that will not stay off faces.

Greenland has no roads joining its towns, so transport is by ship or plane. The occasionally extreme Arctic climate demands high safety standards, which the country's transport companies fully meet. For short journeys outside towns, residents use their own boats, dogsleds or snowmobiles.

Greenland souvenirs are distinctive handmade artworks unavailable anywhere else. Greenlandic artists shape each piece, balancing tradition and custom with their own skills and ideas. Works vary widely in form and reflect each artist's particular creative vision, while visitors have ample opportunity to find exactly what they want.

Credit cards work at many hotels, restaurants and shops, but carry a small amount of Danish kroner to Greenland because some ATMs may be out of service at weekends.

Greenlandic, or kalaallitut, literally means the Greenlanders' language, and visitors will find it completely incomprehensible when it is spoken.

Danish is more or less the second language, while English is used less.

Take a laptop for internet and e-mail. Most major hotels have established hotspots for access, while internet cafés operate in several larger towns and several tourist offices allow web-mail checks when needed.

Greenland's mobile-phone system is GSM 900/1800.

In major towns, supermarkets usually trade weekdays from 10:00 – 17:30, on Fridays until 18:00, and Saturdays from 09:00 – 13:00. Many towns also have corner shops and grocers with longer hours, including Sunday opening.