

Do you live in an igloo?
Published: 12/06/2020
Reading time: 2 minutes
The short answer is no, people in Greenland do not live in igloos. Though sometimes you can see igloos in Greenland. Some weeks ago, there was an igloo building event in Nuuk, so at the moment you can experience igloos in town.
However it all makes sense, as the word igloo originates from the Greenlandic word for house “illu”, which is pronounced more or less the same way. The igloo built with snow was used by the inuit people in Northern Greenland in the old days… but now they are mainly built for fun.


Do people even live in Greenland?
This summer when I was traveling from Iceland to the Faroe Islands I was chatting to the man sitting next to me on the plane. Of course we were talking about where we were going and where we came from. I told him that I am living in Greenland. He was very surprised – and told me, that he had never thought about, that people actually live in Greenland and just imagined it as a deserted place of eternal winter.
Greenland is huge compared to how many people live here and the distances between places are just as huge, there are however towns and villages along the coast, mainly along the west coast. As I already revealed we don’t live in igloos, but especially the capital Nuuk, has quite a lot of different buildings. The typical picture of houses in Greenland is a lot of small colourful houses, but Nuuk is growing very fast and new buildings are popping up all the time. Apart from the colourful houses you will therefore also find many tall, modern apartment buildings. Many of the buildings have balconies and here you often see the mix of modern and traditional lifestyle, as it is quite normal to see dried fish, meat, reindeer antlers, and other things.



*I did unfortunately not participate in building the igloos in Nuuk, although I have participated in building and slept in an igloo in Northern Norway and I will present the proof beneath 🙂


Read more travel blogs from Barbara Vang
-
5.00(12)New tour!
Private Combined Boat & Kayaking tour by the Icefjord | Ilulissat
Tour startsIlulissatDuration3 hoursFrom 1870 DKKSee more -
5.00(1)New tour!
Ride Snowmobile & Dog Sled and visit UNESCO Heritage Site | Ilulissat
Tour startsIlulissatDuration4 hoursFrom 3100 DKKSee more -
5.00(1)
Ice Cap Adventure | East Greenland
Tour startsTasiilaqDuration8 hoursFrom 3400 DKKSee more -
5.00(1)
Afternoon Ilulissat Icefjord sailing | Ilulissat | Disko Bay
Tour startsIlulissatDuration2 hoursFrom 770 DKKSee more -
4.00(1)Accommodation & tours included!
Highlights of the Arctic winter in 5 days | Ilulissat | Disko Bay
Tour startsIlulissatDuration5 daysFrom 11700 DKKSee more -
5.00(1)
Boat Transfer between Kulusuk and Tasiilaq | East Greenland
Tour startsKulusuk TasiilaqDuration1 hourFrom 2000 DKKSee more -
5.00(2)
Oqaatsut Kayaking Day | Ilulissat | Disko Bay
Tour startsIlulissatDuration10 hoursFrom 2680 DKKSee more -
4.50(8)
Whale Safari | Ilulissat | Disko Bay
Tour startsIlulissatDuration3 hoursFrom 1400 DKKSee more -
Boat tour Uummannaq 360°| North Greenland
Tour startsUummannaqDuration2 hoursFrom 1600 DKKSee more -
New Tour!
Disko Island Kayak Exploration | Qeqertarsuaq | Disko Bay
Tour startsQeqertarsuaqDuration3 hoursFrom 1350 DKKSee more -
5.00(1)Pay by the Hour
Pay by the Hour Private Charter | Ilulissat | Disko Bay
Tour startsIlulissatDuration2 hoursFrom 4000 DKKSee more -
3 Day Glacier Adventure | Kangerlussuaq
Tour startsKangerlussuaqDuration3 daysFrom 7995 DKKSee more -
Snowmobile Adventure | Uummannaq | North Greenland
Tour startsUummannaqDuration4 hoursFrom 6000 DKKSee more -
5.00(6)
Camp on the Greenland ice sheet | Kangerlussuaq | West Greenland
Tour startsKangerlussuaqDuration2 daysFrom 3595 DKKSee more -
1 To 6 Passengers Included
Sea Fishing | Private tour | Ilulissat | Disko Bay
Tour startsIlulissatDuration4 hoursFrom 8700 DKKSee more -
5.00(1)
Morning Icefjord Snowshoe Hike | Ilulissat | Disko Bay
Tour startsIlulissatDuration4 hoursFrom 850 DKKSee more -
Fishing Tour | Ilulissat | Disko Bay
Tour startsIlulissatDuration2.5 hoursFrom 985 DKKSee more -
A 2-Day Arctic Luxury Escape at Eqi Glacier | West Greenland
Tour startsIlulissatDuration2 daysFrom 8900 DKKSee more -
New tour
Dog sledding tour to the UFO cabin | Sisimiut
Tour startsSisimiutDuration4 hoursFrom 2100 DKKSee more -
5.00(31)
Boat Trip among the Icebergs | Ilulissat | Disko Bay
Tour startsIlulissatDuration2.5 hoursFrom 895 DKKSee more