Nuuk

Nuuk is the capital of Greenland and home to around 19,000 people, about a third of the country's population, at the mouth of a long fjord system on the southwest coast. Smaller ships tie up at the Atlantic quay, about a kilometre from the centre, while larger ships anchor off and tender passengers to the Colonial Harbour. That old harbour is where the town began: Hans Egede's house from 1728 is the oldest building in Greenland, and the red Church of Our Saviour stands nearby. The Greenland National Museum, right at the Colonial Harbour, displays the Qilakitsoq mummies, Inuit remains around 500 years old found in the 1970s. Katuaq, the cultural centre with a wave-shaped wooden facade, is a few minutes' walk uphill. Boat trips go into the Nuuk Fjord for icebergs, humpback whales and views of Sermitsiaq, the 1,210-metre mountain behind town. Try musk ox, reindeer or suaasat, a traditional meat soup. Greenlandic and Danish are spoken, and the currency is the Danish krone.