An adventure for the ages, launching from Edinburgh's port to Scotland's remote and scenic archipelagos. The northward trajectory continues to the rushing waterfalls and stark rock formations of the Faroe Islands, and on to the reaching fjords and whale waters of Iceland. Anticipation builds throughout, before a finale exploring Greenland's immense glacial fjords, Norse ruins, and great ice-filled bays.
23 Ports
Edinburgh (Leith), Isle of May, Fair Isle, Scotland, Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Scotland, Noss, Scotland, Tórshavn (Faroe Islands), Oyndarfjordur, Seydisfjordur, Bakkagerdi, Husavik, Djupavik, Dynjandi Waterfalls, Reykjavik, Vestmannaeyjar, Cruise Prince Christian Sound, Tassermiut Fjord, Qaqortoq (Julianehåb), Hvalsey, Sisimiut, Ilulissat, Kangerlussuaq, Evighedsfjord, Nuuk (Godthab)
4 Countries
United Kingdom, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland
Itinerary
Edinburgh (Leith), United Kingdom
Edinburgh Castle watches over the capital from a skyline of sheer drama, while the modern Scottish Parliament and August festivals confirm the city's place in the 21st century. Nearly everywhere in Edinburgh stand spectacular neoclassical buildings, with Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian pillars against a largely Presbyterian backdrop. Arthur's Seat, a mountain jutting 822 feet above its surroundings, rears up behind the spires of the Old Town.
Isle of May, United Kingdom
The Isle of May is a National Nature Reserve off mainland Scotland, managed by Scottish Natural Heritage as a breeding ground for approximately 250,000 seabirds. Over 40,000 puffin burrows have been counted as occupied, alongside kittiwakes, shags, eiders, guillemots, razorbills, Arctic Terns, and Great Black-backed Gulls. The island is also used by biologists for ringing breeding seabirds and surveying migrating passerines.
Fair Isle, Scotland, United Kingdom
Fair Isle lies mid-way between Shetland and the Orkney Islands, with a population of around 70 people and a warm welcome for visitors. The island is famous for birds, knitwear, and historic shipwrecks, including the Spanish Armada flagship El Gran Grifon. Sheep Rock, rising over 100 metres, towers above the island's cloudy turquoise waters.
Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom
Kirkwall is the capital of the Orkney Islands, home to the sandstone St. Magnus Cathedral, begun in 1137 and completed over 300 years, known as the Light of the North for its stained-glass windows. The archipelago's prehistoric heritage includes Skara Brae, Europe's best-preserved Stone Age village and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. History-rich distilleries produce peaty single malts, and the dramatic meeting of the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean defines the islands' seascapes.
Noss, Scotland, United Kingdom
The sandstone cliffs of Noss National Nature Reserve hold one of Europe's largest and most diverse seabird colonies. Gannets, puffins, guillemots, kittiwakes, razorbills, fulmars, and great skuas line the ledges that rise from the Shetland sea. Sheep and shaggy Shetland ponies graze the windblown interior, and the island's dramatic coastal scenery is among the finest in the North Atlantic.
Tórshavn (Faroe Islands), Faroe Islands
Tórshavn is one of the world's smallest capitals — a city of half-timbered houses, grass-roofed buildings, and one of the world's oldest parliaments on a peninsula overlooking the North Atlantic. The Faroe Islands' eighteen islands, shaped by volcanic basalt and Norse settlement, are among the most dramatically beautiful and least-visited landscapes in Europe.
Oyndarfjordur, Faroe Islands
Oyndarfjørður distils the Faroe Islands into one small village, with dramatic mountain scenery and ancient folklore. The famous Rinkusteinar — Rocking Stones — are massive boulders that bob mysteriously in the water, said to be pirate ships frozen by a sorceress. Isolated until 1969 when a road finally connected it, the village has preserved centuries of tradition with remarkable continuity.
Seydisfjordur, Iceland
Seyðisfjörður is a small Icelandic town at the end of a spectacular fjord in the East Fjords. Waterfalls cascade from the surrounding peaks into a bowl of colourful wooden buildings reflected in the calm harbour. The town has a creative arts community, puffin colonies on the surrounding cliffs, and the ferry connection to Europe that makes it the arrival point for most overland travellers to Iceland.
Bakkagerdi, Iceland
The remote Borgarfjordur Eystri fjord near the fishing village of Bakkagerdi is home to 10,000 pairs of breeding puffins, among the most accessible in Iceland. The fjord, surrounded by the Dyrfjoll Mountains, takes its name from the formation of Alfaborg, or Elf Rock, which locals hold to be the home of the Icelandic elf-queen. The village church's 1914 altarpiece features the work of Bakkagerdi's most famous former resident, the beloved Icelandic painter Johannes Kjarval.
Husavik, Iceland
Husavik, known as the European capital of whale watching, lies below the Husavikurfjall mountain on the shores of Iceland's oldest settlement. Humpback whales, minke whales, and blue whales are sighted in the bay, alongside white-beaked dolphins. The town's whale museum documents Iceland's relationship with the sea giants, and local restaurants serve reindeer burger and plokkfiskur.
Djupavik, Iceland
Tiny Djupavik sits in Iceland's Westfjords, dominated by an abandoned herring factory dating back to 1934 that was, when built, the largest concrete structure in Iceland. The factory shell has been repurposed as an art gallery and hotel, while a rusting ship that once served as a dormitory for workers rests near the water. The Djupavikurfoss waterfall calls visitors ashore to a small cluster of cherry-red houses beside the fjord.
Dynjandi Waterfalls, Iceland
The Dynjandi waterfall is located in the Westfjords region of Iceland and is regarded as one of the country's most impressive waterfalls. At the top, the cascading water is roughly 100 feet wide and tumbles approximately 330 feet into the fjord. Its name means the thundering one, and it has also been nicknamed The Bridal Veil for the way the water sprays and spreads over the rocks.
Reykjavik, Iceland
Reykjavik is the world's northernmost capital, an unusually walkable city where colourful corrugated-iron houses line streets that lead between geothermal outdoor pools, the Hallgrímskirkja church, and the Harpa Concert Hall on the waterfront. The city is the base for Iceland's extraordinary natural experiences — the Northern Lights, the Golden Circle, and the Blue Lagoon all within easy reach.
Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland
Vestmannaeyjar's Heimaey Island is shaped by the 1973 Eldfell eruption. The volcanic event buried a third of the town, redirected the harbour entrance, and was eventually halted by pumping millions of litres of seawater onto advancing lava. The eruption is commemorated at the Eldheimar museum, built directly over a house entombed in ash, and the new lava fields are now colonised by puffins.
Day at Sea
Cruise Prince Christian Sound, Greenland
Connecting the Labrador Sea with the Irminger Sea, Prince Christian Sound stretches 100 kilometres and narrows at times to just 500 metres, its soaring mountains and rock-strewn cliffs creating a landscape seemingly untouched by time. Named after Prince, later King, Christian VII of Denmark, the sound is one of the most dramatic fjord passages in Greenland, framed by icebergs floating serenely through Arctic waters. It is one of the highlights of any voyage through this part of the world.
Tassermiut Fjord, Greenland
Tassermiut Fjord, considered one of the ten wonders of the Arctic, cuts 70 kilometres into southwestern Greenland's wilderness near Nanortalik. Its vertical granite walls — some exceeding 1,000 metres — have made it a destination for elite rock climbers, while the fjord's scale and the surrounding Patagonian-like landscape are equally compelling from the water.
Qaqortoq (Julianehåb), Greenland
Qaqortoq, the largest town in southern Greenland, rises steeply above a fjord system with panoramic views of mountains, icebergs, and the open sea. Founded in 1774, it has been inhabited since prehistoric times and is known for the Stone and Man outdoor sculpture project — over 20 sculptures carved directly into the town's rocks by Nordic and Greenlandic artists.
Hvalsey, Greenland
Hvalsey is part of Kujataa, a UNESCO World Heritage Arctic farming complex inscribed in 2017. The well-preserved ruins of a Norse church and farmstead at the northeastern end of Hvalseyfjord include living quarters, a hall, livestock pens, a storage building, and a warehouse. The last documented event of the Norse in Greenland was a wedding held in this church in September 1408.
Day at sea
Sisimiut, Greenland
Sisimiut, Greenland's second city and the largest Arctic community in North America, bridges the warmer south and the frozen north of the island. Inhabited for over 4,500 years, the town is known for exceptional dog sledding in winter and for the Sisimiut Museum — a collection of restored buildings tracing the progression from ancient turf houses to modern Inuit art.
Ilulissat, Greenland
Ilulissat, whose name means icebergs in Kalaallisut, is home to the Ilulissat Icefjord, which produces nearly 20 million tons of ice each day. The town of around 4,500 people is the third largest in Greenland after Nuuk and Sisimiut. A local history museum is located in the former home of Greenlandic polar explorer Knud Rasmussen.
Day At Sea
Kangerlussuaq, Greenland
Kangerlussuaq in western Greenland is the country's main air transport hub, with Greenland's largest commercial airport dating from an American wartime base known as Bluie West-8. The surrounding area is home to Greenland's most diverse terrestrial fauna, including muskoxen, caribou, and gyrfalcons. The settlement's population of 512 is almost entirely reliant on the airport and tourist industry.
Evighedsfjord, Greenland
Evighedsfjord, or Eternity Fjord, is a large fjord northeast of Kangaamiut in southwest Greenland, stretching 75 kilometres with several branches and numerous glaciers descending from the Maniitsoq Ice Cap. The fjord has multiple bends, and whenever the ship reaches an apparent end it continues in another direction. The mountains on either side exceed 2,000 metres and the fjord reaches a depth of up to 700 metres.
Nuuk (Godthab), Greenland
Greenland's capital and home to over a third of the country's population, Nuuk is a city where Scandinavian modernity meets deep Inuit heritage. The Old Harbour district preserves the oldest buildings in Greenland, and the National Museum houses the Qilakitsoq mummies — among the most significant archaeological finds in the Arctic world.
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