What I packed for a trip to Greenland in June

As I’ve already introduced you to my trip to Ilulissat and Kangerlussuaq in a previous post (and narrated one of my trip’s highlights: evening sea kayaking amongst the icebergs), there are a few technical topics I’d like to cover. For one: what on earth do you pack for a trip to Greenland in June? Secondly, does Greenland actually have warm weather? Here you have it: packing tips from a girl who managed a ten day trip to Greenland via Copenhagen with just a backpack.

Is summer a thing in Greenland?

Well, to start with, here’s what my trip looked like in terms of timing:

• May 30 – train to Geneva, flight to Copenhagen

• May 31 – flight from Copenhagen to Kangerlussuaq

• June 1 – flight from Kangerlussuaq to Ilulissat

• June 7 – flight from Ilulissat to Kangerlussuaq

• June 8 – flight from Kangerlussuaq to Copenhagen

• June 9 – flight from Copenhagen to Geneva, train to Bern where I stayed the night in the youth hostel (not the finest example of one)

• June 10 – train from Bern to my new house in Meiringen, where in a rare case of advance planning all my belongings were moved in and waiting

I’m not sure if the weather was typical for early June in Greenland, but I was never uncomfortably hot nor cold. I wore my light ski jacket every day in Ilulissat, but I probably could’ve got by with just a jumper a lot of the time. When researching my trip beforehand, I read advice from others that layering is key. I’d agree: pack enough layers and a waterproof and you’re sorted. You should definitely be prepared for colder weather (especially if you’re going on evening boat rides), but you don’t want to be stuck with a really heavy jacket and ski trousers on a good day either.

 

My decision to pack light for Greenland

Now, I don’t necessarily recommend you follow my lead and pack tremendously light. It’s just the way I like to travel. I love being able to explore a new place with everything I need on my back. I like checking out of a room and knowing I don’t need to find a locker for my bag, because it’s light enough to keep with me.

There were also some disadvantages of travelling light in Greenland:

1. I didn’t really have any room to acquire and store souvenirs in my bag. Sorry guys, no whale tooth tupilaks for you this time.

2. I flew from/to Copenhagen, spending a day here on either side of my trip. This complicated my wardrobe: while I was wearing winter clothes in Ilulissat, it was shorts weather in Copenhagen. As expected, navigating the city centre with a less-than-attractive hiking outfit and a ski jacket in tow wasn’t ideal. I had prepared myself for any questions with a “I’ve been in Greenland, I’m not as stupid as you think”, but of course this didn’t happen. I’m guilty of overthinking things.

A rundown of what I packed for Greenland:

Most of the time I wore…

• Purple Salomon ski jacket (which wasn’t too bulky or thick), with the following things stuffed in pockets:

  • Passport

  • Phone plus charger

  • Green knitted hat and thick woollen gloves with furry lining (e.g. not built for adventure sports in the slightest)

  • Quattro small artist blank notepad and a pen

• Ankle-height Salomon hiking boots (bulky, so I wore these when travelling)

• Colombia black hiking trousers

  • Black cotton leggings (I wore these most the time under my hiking trousers)

• Grey zip-up fleece jacket

On my back was…

• North Face Borealis backpack

  • Nikon D3300 camera with 18-55 lens and 55-300 lens plus battery charger

  • Small Nikon Wireless Adapter for uploading photos from camera to phone

  • European adapter plug

  • Clear plastic airport liquids bag, containing…

    • A few makeup supplies: MaxFactor mascara, L’Oréal Touche Magique concealer, the rose-coloured Vaseline, Bobbi Brown powder and blush compacts (these two non-liquids mostly resided in my coat pockets)

    • Travel-size toothpaste, toothbrush, small pot of moisturiser, suncream, insect repellent roll-on, deodrant, mini shampoo and conditioner, shower gel

    • Sleep eye mask and earplugs

    • Nike running leggings

    • 5 x cotton t-shirts, mostly long-sleeved

    • 1 x Zara thin navy blue knitted top

    • 4 x thick hiking socks and 2 x thinner trainer socks

    • Enough underwear for 5 days (thank you, apartments with washing machines)

    • Kindle + charger

    • Spare phone (I keep my previous phone lying around, so decided I might as well pack it)

    • Blue thin Patagonia rain jacket (which spent most of the trip folded and stuffed under the elastic bungee cord on the front of my backpack)

Things I didn’t really need:

• My airport liquids bag was definitely pushing its luck in terms of size. I know this might seem ridiculous for the standard traveller (who would’ve just checked in a bag), but by nature I am a bit ridiculous. So, when repacking throughout the trip, I thought I should have…

  • Decanted some of my suncream into a tiny pot. While I used it fairly often, there was no way I needed the whole tube.

  • Packed a mini deodorant instead of a full-sized one in a glass container.

• My navy thin knitted top. It creased too easily in my bag, wasn’t a layer I needed for hiking, and looked too dark worn alone with black leggings. If you’re travelling around Greenland like I did, doing a lot of hiking and outdoorsy stuff, you probably don’t need to bring anything other than hiking clothes with you. The only time I felt underdressed was when passing through Copenhagen, but I’d probably feel like that on a good day.

Things I needed:

• Although I worried it would be excessive, I found it useful to have two pairs of shoes (one pair ankle height, the other more trainer-ish and flexible).

• I bought a merino wool Buff before my evening kayaking to keep my ears/neck warm, both when on the water and while hiking. It did an ideal job (much better than my knitted – read: ventilated – wool hat), so would definitely recommend packing one.

• My zoom lens. It’s heavy and bulky, but I was glad I had it when hiking and spying on wildlife.