Ilulissat (in danish Jakobshavn after the founder Jakob Severin (1691-1753)), meaning "the icebergs" in Kalaallisut (Greenlandic language) is the 3rd largest city of Greenland with a population of approx. 5.000 and it is situated in the Disko bay at 69°13'N 51°06'W approx 200 km north of the artic circle. The name of the city comes from the fact that the area is surrounded by icebergs that detached from the Sermeq Kujalleq (or Icecap), 5 km large, the biggest glacier of the world after the Antartic.

Ilulissat is a city of small coloured houses.  From town it's easy to get to the Kangia fjord, which was included as part of UNESCO in 2004. In this area there are many hiking paths. The main one goes to the ruins of "Sermermiut" that was the ancient settlement almost 4000 years old. It also leads to "Holm Bakke" where, on january 13th (13 minutes before 13:00) of each year, the people of Ilulissat go to welcome back the sun after months of darkness. The sun light reach town only a week after the 13th of January.

In Ilulissat there are 2 museums. The Knud Rasmussen museum dedicated to him and his expeditions shows objects from his famous travelling to the north pole and with historical danish and inut handcrafts. The other is the art museum.

If you want to see or print the map of the city click on the following link. [ Map of Ilulissat ]

Ilulissat Icefjord

The Ilulissat Icefjord (Ilulissat Kangerlua) runs west 40 kilometres from the Jakobshavn glacier to the sea in the Disko bay.  The Ilulissat glacier is the most productive glacier in the northern hemisphere. The glacier moves approx 20-35 metres per day with a production of around 20 billion tonnes of icebergs every year. The Icebergs are often so big (up to a kilometer) that they sometimes get stuck on the bottom of the icefjord for years, until they break. 

When the icebergs get to the end of the fjord the initially travel north with ocean currents before turning south and running into the Atlantic Ocean. Larger icebergs do not melt until they reach 40°-45°N (south of the United Kingdom and level with New York City).