From Igaliku to Qaqortoq – In the Footsteps of the Norse in Beautiful South Greenland
Explore the beautiful landscapes of South Greenland as you follow in the footsteps of the Norse settlers on this classic trekking route from the sheep farming village of Igaliku to the ‘big city’ of Qaqortoq. Here, you can really feel the presence of the ancient Vikings as you pass some of the best-preserved remains from the Norse era, not least the famous Hvalsey Church Ruin.
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From Igaliku to Qaqortoq – In the Footsteps of the Norse in Beautiful South Greenland
The trekking route between Qaqortoq and Igaliku is one of South Greenland’s absolute highlights. Here, you literally walk in the footsteps of the Norse settlers and pass several of the best-preserved Norse ruins while hiking through a unique mountain landscape with varied terrain and fantastic views of the fjords.
In my description here on this page, I walk the route from Igaliku to Qaqortoq. A detailed description of the route in the opposite direction can be found in my book Turen går til Grønlands smukkeste vandreruter (in Danish only).
The small village of Igaliku, which is the starting point for my trek, is picturesquely situated on a green mountain slope down to a turquoise blue fjord with the striking Illerfissalik mountain in the background. Many of the houses and the church are built of the distinctive reddish-brown sandstone from the area. The few permanent residents of the village mainly make their living from sheep farming, but in the summer the population multiplies as tourists and holidaymakers flock to the area.
The end destination of my hike is Qaqortoq, which, with its 3,000 inhabitants, is the largest town in South Greenland. It is a charming, bustling and modern town, but also an architectural gem with historic houses set against a picturesque backdrop.
Day 1: Igaliku -> Qalilimmiut Saqqaata Tasia (lake)
14 km
On a sunny June morning, I checked out of the settlement hotel in Igaliku. I had optimised my backpack with food supplies for at least five days, a tent, sleeping bag, sleeping mat, Trangia stove and, of course, my Garmin inReach, first aid kit, hiking maps and compass. I bought most of the supplies in Narsarsuaq before arriving in Igaliku, but you can also buy the essentials at the local Pilersuisoq grocery store, which is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
I followed the gravel road out of the village, past the cemetery and the sign pointing towards ‘Waterfalls’, after which the red markings led me south. I jumped over a small stream and followed it upstream. After about 1 km, I passed some beautiful rock formations consisting of the distinctive brown-red sandstone from which many of Igaliku’s houses were built.
I continued on slightly uphill terrain away from the fjord until I reached open grassland and finally hit the tractor track, which I followed further southwest. On this stretch, I got truly breathtaking views of the cultural landscape with grazing sheep and green meadows sloping down towards Eriksfjord. On my left, I could see the peak of Nuuluk (823 m), which I climbed a couple of years ago.
After about 3 km on the rocky tractor track, I reached a ‘crossroads’ where a wooden sign pointed towards “Qaqortoq” (straight ahead) and “Waterfalls” (to the right). Don’t cheat yourself out of a detour to the waterfalls.
So I followed the red markings along a large river, and after just 300 metres I saw the first waterfall, with many more to come. They are truly impressive! The river has cut deep into the cliffs, and the water falls dramatically through the gorge. You mustn’t be afraid of heights when you walk close to the ravines. It’s a steep drop.
After a late lunch, I was back on the tractor track, following the sign towards Qaqortoq. Shortly afterwards, I crossed a small river by jumping from stone to stone. After about 500 metres, the tractor track disappeared, and I continued along a clear path in a south-easterly direction, with first a small lake and then a somewhat larger lake on my right.
The sun was beating down from a cloudless sky, and I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Everything was fine, except for those annoying little flies that were constantly buzzing around my head and getting into my ears – well, that’s how it felt. I was a little annoyed that I hadn’t brought my mosquito net, but fortunately it was only for short periods that the insects were such a nuisance.
At the southern end of the second lake, I crossed a river. Here I had to take off my boots to wade across, the water reaching my shins. Then I walked uphill through a pass until I reached the large lake with the very long name: Qalilimmiut Saqqaata Tasia. It means something like ‘the lake at the foreland of the Qalilik people’.
I followed the lake for 4 km along its northern shore. Footpaths and cairns showed the way. When I reached the south-western end of the large lake, I noticed a nice campsite marked by a large cairn, and I decided to pitch my tent there.
The waterfalls at Igaliku.
About the hike
Distance: 65 km (73 km with detour)
Duration: 5 days
Highest point: approx. 420 m
Lowest point: 0 m
●○○○○ Easy route along marked paths, tracks or gravel roads.
●●○○○ Moderately easy route along marked paths that may lack markings in places.
●●●○○ Moderately difficult route along paths that are only marked in places and in some stretches disappear completely.
●●●●○ Difficult route in unmarked mountain terrain where orientation can be difficult.
●●●●● Very difficult route in unmarked and desolate mountain terrain where orientation is often difficult.
Click for more info on difficulty level.
The route is around 65 km long and can be walked in 4-6 days. You need to bring your own food, tent and other gear, but you can get drinking water from rivers, streams and lakes. There’s no mobile phone coverage, and you rarely meet other people, so packing the right safety gear is essential for a good and safe trip.
If, like me, you take a detour to the former norse settlement of Sissarlutoq, the route is extended by approx. 8 km.
The route is marked with red markings, but on some stretches the markings are missing or very sporadic, and you must instead orientate yourself by following trodden paths and cairns to avoid going the wrong way. Along the way, the terrain can be quite rugged and the ground uneven and demanding.
It is important to have good hiking maps (both paper and digital on your phone). I used two of the old but still very good maps from Greenland Tourism: Narsaq and Qaqortoq.
How to get there
When the new airport opens in 2026, Qaqortoq will become the main gateway to South Greenland with direct flights from Copenhagen, Reykjavik, Nuuk and other Greenlandic towns. You can also sail there on the coastal ship Sarfaq Ittuk, while Disko Line’s small ferries connect the towns and settlements of South Greenland with each other.
You can get to Igaliku by sailing to the landing site Itilleq from Qaqortoq or other nearby towns on one of the almost daily departures. From here, the approximately 4 km long gravel road, Kongevejen, leads to the village itself – you can walk the route or arrange a lift. Sailing and accommodation can be booked via diskoline.gl and blueiceexplorer.gl.
Day 2: Qalilimmiut Saqqaata Tasia -> Sissarlutoq -> Lake 405
18 km
I woke up to another warm and sunny day. And already in the early morning hours, there were lots of flies and now mosquitoes too!🦟 A bit of a nuisance, but otherwise everything was beautiful. I ate breakfast INSIDE the tent. Later, however, the mosquitoes disappeared and the flies became a little less frequent.
Today’s first destination is Sissarlutoq, which is known for its well-preserved ruins from the Norse era. On slightly uphill terrain, I headed southwest for about 1 km, then turned southeast and walked about 1 km towards Lake 304. I kept going southeast through a beautiful, open valley landscape, and I spotted several sea eagles circling above me. There were also quite a few sheep grazing.
I was more or less able to follow trodden paths towards Sissarlutoq – the paths ran along the north side of a river. After a total of about 8 km of walking, I arrived at Sissarlutoq. I placed my backpack by a crumbling wooden bridge over the river and then set off to explore this old Norse settlement. It is located with a beautiful view of the turquoise blue Igaliku Fjord, so it is easy to understand why the Norse chose this location. The ancient Vikings (Norse settlers) lived here and elsewhere in South Greenland from around 1000 to 1400.
Sissarlutoq is not as well known as Hvalsey Church Ruins and some of the other Norse settlements, but the ruins are numerous and well preserved. I could quickly point out the stone foundations of 7-8 houses, while archaeologists have located a total of 44 ruins, including longhouses, stables, stone walls, a church and a warehouse.
Many of the house walls were built from roughly cut stones without the use of mortar, while others were constructed using a combination of stones and peat. I was quite taken with one of the houses, which has a well-preserved entrance passage in the south wall. The site was designated a protected area in 1937 and is part of the Kujataa UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Walking around this ancient Norse settlement was a really cool experience. And idyllic. Sheep were grazing on the green meadows, small sparrows were singing on the ruins, and the river was rushing through steep gorges. I didn’t meet any people, but I was joined by a polar fox, who gave me a curious look.
To get from Sissarlutoq and back to the hiking trail, I followed the same route as when I came, along the north side of the river for about 5 km before turning south.
I continued southwest through a valley in slightly rising terrain and up through a pass at an altitude of about 400 metres before turning west towards Lake 427. I followed a river up towards the lake and jumped across the river just where it flows out of the lake, marked by a large cairn. It was fairly easy to jump across, but you have to orient yourself well to find the best position.
My legs and body were tired, so I looked for a suitable spot to set up my tent. I found one just northeast of Lake 405 on a flat plateau by a large cairn. The sun was still low in the sky and was warming up the tent. A cold wind was blowing down from the lake, but that was fine because it kept the insects away.
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE: KUJATAA
In 2017, five areas in South Greenland were designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites as representatives of a unique cultural landscape and Arctic agricultural history spanning 1,000 years – from the settlements of the Thule people and the Norse to today’s sheep farmers.
Kujataa represents the earliest agriculture in the Arctic and constitutes a unique subarctic cultural landscape shaped by grazing animals and scattered settlements surrounded by wilderness. Then as now, the basis of existence was maintained by a combination of animal husbandry and hunting of marine mammals.
The five sub-areas of the World Heritage Site are located around the deep fjords between Qaqortoq and Narsarsuaq and include Qassiarsuk, Igaliku and Hvalsey Church Ruins.
HVALSEY CHURCH RUIN
The Hvalsey Church ruins are Greenland’s best-preserved Norse ruins. The church is believed to have been built around 1300. All that remains are the walls, which are one and a half metres thick and built of heavy, rough stones, some of which weigh 4-5 tonnes.
The church measures 16 by 8 metres. The roof was probably made of wood and covered with turf. There are also other ruins of farms and stables that can be viewed.
The entire area is part of the Kujataa UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The site bears one of the last testimonies to the life of the Norse in Greenland. In 1408, the Icelanders Thorstein Olafsson and Sigrid Bjørnsdotter were married in Hvalsey Church, and after that there are no records or knowledge of the fate of the Norse in the area.
According to an old Inuit legend, open war broke out between the Norse and the Inuit, who launched a massive attack on the settlement at Hvalsey and burned the Norse inside. However, archaeological investigations have found no evidence of a fire, so this part is considered a later addition, but the confrontation itself may well have taken place.
Day 3: Lake 405 -> Hvalsey -> Kuusuaq River
16 km
Nine o’clock in the morning and I was ready for yet another day of hiking. A light breeze was blowing from the lake, but otherwise it was sunny and almost cloudless. I followed well-trodden paths and cairns along the eastern side of Lake 405, then the smaller Lake 402 and on towards the south-west until I reached a pass. Ahead, I could see two valleys, and it was the one to the right that I had to follow.
I descended through the valley following a river as I approached a large gorge. I walked on a clear path with the gorge on my right. It was a truly terrifying gorge that the river had carved through – raw rock and completely vertical.
After the gorge, I approached a larger river that flows into Tasiusaq Fjord. I had to cross the river, and it turned out that I could do so without getting my feet wet. The river splits into a delta with many smaller streams. I found a good location with some boulders, smaller stones and a few green patches where I could jump from point to point all the way across.
Now I was on the other side of the river and headed south towards the fjord. There were no paths, and I had to negotiate some troublesome scrub. I reached Tasiusaq Fjord, which I walked along, and soon I could see old fences and buildings from an abandoned sheep farm.
Finally! After about 12 km of walking, I stood at the first ruin in Hvalsey. The most famous of them all, the ruin of Hvalsey Church, was just 500 metres away. It was great to revisit this historic site, which I had already visited on a tourist boat a couple of years ago. But this time I was completely alone, and yes, since leaving Igaliku I hadn’t met a single person.
I spent several hours studying the ruins and reading the information boards about the area.
You are not allowed to pitch a tent in the protected site of Hvalsey, but there are decent pitches outside the fenced area. But I wanted to get a little further before setting up camp for the night. I continued west, and a clear path led to a large power mast. The high-voltage lines are buried underground here so that they do not spoil the Hvalsey site.
From here, the most challenging part of the trek began. I was unaware of this at the time, and I could have avoided it to some extent if I had climbed higher up the terrain. Instead, I followed the four power masts that can be seen along the fjord.
After the first mast, the path disappeared, and dense, tall scrub and boulders made passage difficult. I ended up in a few dead ends blocked by rock walls or steep drops and had to turn back to find a better passage. After an hour of hardship and some climbing, I finally reached the fourth mast. From there, the terrain became somewhat easier, and I reached the Kuusuuaq River safely.
Kuusuuaq is a lively river with several dramatic falls. But at its mouth in the fjord, it is possible to cross it. I was searching for a place to pitch my tent and figured I should cross the river and go further up the terrain. I could also see a path on the other side.
With a bit of luck, I managed to cross the river without getting my feet wet by jumping from rock to rock. I took the path up along the river and reached an altitude of about 200 metres, where there were several good places to pitch a tent with flat ground underfoot and a fabulous view of the Qaqortukuluup Imaa fjord.
Day 4: Kuusuaq River -> Municipal Hut
18 km
Up early – at 7 a.m. The sun was shining, but grey clouds were gathering, and the weather forecast on my Garmin InReach promised rain, rain and more rain. So I had better get going while it was still dry, even though this place, in all its beauty, was simply amazing. The view alone. And to the northeast, I could also see Killavaat (Redekammen), rising over 1,200 metres. The goal for today’s stage was a municipal hut (marked as ‘4’ on the map) on the other side of the fjord.
I headed west towards a pass at an altitude of about 330 metres. Cairns and paths led me onward, and I reached the bottom of the smaller Iterlassuaq Fjord. From here, I followed paths close to the high-voltage power line through a pass at an altitude of about 50-60 metres, after which I saw a blue building located by the next small fjord, Taartoq. The building is a transformer station that distributes electricity from an inland hydroelectric power plant to Qaqortoq and Narsaq.
To get to the highly visible blue building, I walked along paths close to the power line down towards the beach, which I followed until I reached the building. Fog and rain had set in, so it wasn’t particularly pleasant, and I couldn’t even go inside the building to seek shelter.
So I just had to keep going and headed southwest – still using the power masts as my signpost. The rain was pouring down in torrents, so my waterproofs and the cover over my rucksack were put to the test. I couldn’t really see much and just walked as fast as I could, passing some green grasslands and some fences, which were the visible traces of an abandoned sheep farm (at Qasigiannguit).
Then I left the power line and crossed over land via a small pass until I reached the coast of the large fjord, Qaqortukuluup Imaa, again. I followed the path along the water to the south and came to a red hut, which I mistakenly thought was the municipal hut. But it was a private hut, so I had to move on.
Fortunately, about 1.5 km later, I reached my final destination, the municipal hut, and I immediately got in and dried off. Still without having met a single person on the trip.
I got warm and started cooking and drying my clothes. The hut is very basic with 4-5 beds and a primitive kitchen. Water can be fetched from the nearby stream. In front of the hut is a small pebble beach where you can probably swim, if the weather permits.
Day 5: Municipal Hut -> Qaqortoq
10 km
A relatively short and easy stage was awaiting me towards the town of Qaqortoq. So I took it easy. The morning was cloudy, cool (plus 5 degrees) and with a fine drizzle in the air. The stranded icebergs in the fjord glowed in shades of turquoise – a beautiful contrast to the grey weather.
I left the hut and followed the paths along the water in a southerly direction. Despite the misty rain, the view of the fjord was still impressive, and to the east I could see the rocky island of Arpatsivik. With a little imagination, it resembles a colossal whale, and it is believed that this shape gave the Norse their name for their church. Hvalsey literally means ‘whale island’.
The walk along the coastal paths was fairly easy. I passed a couple of run-down huts, and after 5-6 km I spotted the Airport Road ahead. I continued close to the shore, and below the Airport Road I crossed a river by jumping from stone to stone, close to its mouth in the fjord.
Shortly afterwards, I reached the road itself. For the first time since Igaliku, I met people again – some construction workers who were building the road to the future airport, which is scheduled to open in 2026. In the grey and rainy weather, I followed the road the last stretch into town and walked purposefully towards Siniffik Inn, where a real bed awaited me.
Conclusion – The hiking route from Igaliku to Qaqortoq
The hiking route from Igaliku to Qaqortoq is a beautiful and varied trek through the mountainous and coastal nature of South Greenland. Along the way, you will encounter unique evidence of the Norse settlement period and experience a rare tranquillity and seclusion that only ends upon arrival in Qaqortoq.
The route is well suited to experienced hikers who are confident navigating with maps when markings are sparse. It is an obvious choice for those who want a multi-day hike in Greenland that offers great nature experiences without being too extreme.
