Nanortalik (population around 1,300) sits on a small island in the archipelago at the southern tip of Greenland, surrounded by some of the most dramatic granite peaks in the Arctic. The name means "place of polar bears" in Greenlandic, though bears are rarely seen this far south today.
The town is quiet in the way that remote Arctic settlements always are — the helicopter is the only public transport in or out, and the population has been declining for years as younger residents move to larger towns. What remains is a well-maintained community with colourful houses, kept gardens, and an outdoor museum that preserves the buildings of the Royal Greenland Trade Department. Kayaking in the sheltered fjords is the main draw for visitors, and hunters returning in traditional kayaks with their catch are still a common sight year-round.
In May and June the arrival of migrating hooded seals animates the whole community: many residents move temporarily to traditional hunting grounds in the skerries (the small rocky islands scattered through the archipelago), living in tents and huts while hunting the seals. Greenland’s largest woodland — a modest stand of trees by most standards, but remarkable this far north — is six hours on foot from the nearby settlement of Tasiusaq.