This post contains product affiliate links. These are mainly on items/hotels/tours that I personally endorse & love. I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase, but at no extra cost to you.
Did you know that Greenland is the largest island in the world? Here are some other fun facts about Greenland before planning your visit here!
Tucked away towards the North Pole and almost forgotten about, Greenland might not be the first place you think of for your summer holiday, but it has this raw natural beauty found nowhere else in the world.
It has valleys, mountains, crystal clear water, cute coloured houses, and icebergs wherever you look. Literally, there are icebergs absolutely everywhere.
There’s an old traveller’s saying that goes along the lines of “when you’ve seen the world there’s always Greenland.” But why wait?
Here are 9 fun facts about Greenland that’ll make you want to visit the country right now. There really aren’t many places as beautiful as this one.
Planning a trip to Greenland? Then bookmark my guides on the best places to visit in Greenland, on what the food is like and my top tips for Greenland too. I’ve also written individual destination guides to Nuuk, Igaliku, Narsaq, Qaqortoq and Uunartoq.
Facts About Greenland
Fact 1
Nuuk, the capital, is the largest city in the country with a paltry 16,000 people. That’s the same size as Maltby in the UK.
Fact 2
Greenland has the lowest amount of air pollution of anywhere in the world giving it the purest air. Breathe it in deep; it doesn’t get any better than this.
Fact 3
Scientists have estimated that Greenland’s ice sheet are aged around 110,000 years old. That’s pretty old!
Fact 4
The sun really doesn’t set at all from May 25th until July 25th. If you’re brave enough you can even go sunbathing in the midnight sun. I think this is my favourite fact about Greenland!
Fact 5
Despite the name Greenland, 85% of the country is covered in ice and snow. The bits that are green are very green though.
Fact 6
There are only about 63kms of paved roads in the whole country. If you want to travel you do if mainly by boat or helicopter.
Fact 7
Technically, Greenland is the world’s largest island (for those of you about to say “nah mate, Australia is” – Australia is classified as a continent, not an island).
Fact 8
Those brightly coloured houses you see everywhere used to mean something. Commercial houses were red; hospitals were yellow; police stations were black; the telephone company was green and fish factories were blue. I bet you didn’t know this fact about Greenland, did you?
Fact 9
The clearer the iceberg, the less oxygen it has in it. Crystal clear icebergs (they’re the ones you’ve got to watch out for when sailing) have zero oxygen in them. They actually use the ice from these icebergs to make a beer in Narsaq in southern Greenland.
And if you want to see what Greenland’s really like then make sure you watch our Greenland series on YouTube!
Did you know any of these facts about Greenland? Do you have any of your own you want to add? Make sure you let me know in the comment box below!
Like this blog post? Then make sure you Pin it!
Does Greenland have it’s own currency? Are there people living at the top of Greenland who are not part of the north pole, I heard there are natives on the north pole and the northern boarders of Greenland. When is Greenland going to exploit it’s mass reserves of oil?
Greenland uses the same currency as Denmark, the Danish Krone (DKK). There were talks about introducing their own currency but Greenlandics voted against it. I’m sure there are a few people/tribes living in the north of Greenland, but the majority are in the west and south of the island, with a couple of big communities over on the east too. But no one is in the middle of Greenland at all. And I didn’t even know Greenland had any oil, so I have no idea about that one! But I know they’re incredible proud people and proud of their country, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t exploit these reserves at all.
Epic blog post! So excited to finally learn a little more about Greenland! Thanks for the amazing video and information. I truly hope I’m able to visit one day. I think there’s something incredible about a people who live on the edge of the world and make do with what they have.
Thank you Tamara! Greenland is such a fascinating country – I could wax lyrical about it all day long! Hopefully you’ll get to see it for yourself one day!