From the European Heatwave to Greenland: A Summer Escape to the Arctic
Europe experienced a record-breaking heatwave in 2026. Temperatures soared above 40°C in France and Spain, and my home city of Graz, Austria, was no exception. Temperatures reached as high as 37°C, and simply walking outside was exhausting.
“If it’s going to be this hot, why not go somewhere as cool as possible?”
That’s how I ended up choosing Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, as my destination.
Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark and is known as the world’s largest island. Nuuk lies at approximately 64° north latitude. In Europe, this is roughly the same latitude as Trondheim in Norway and Reykjavik in Iceland, but the climate is completely different.
Trondheim, for example, is influenced by warm ocean currents, so summer temperatures can reach around 15–20°C, with some days warm enough to wear short sleeves. Greenland, on the other hand, is surrounded by cold ocean currents. Even when temperatures across Europe were approaching 40°C, Nuuk was only around 8°C at its warmest and 2°C at its coldest. It was hard to believe that the two places are located at roughly the same latitude.
It was basically a natural refrigerator.
So this time, I decided to spend some relaxing time in Greenland.
☆ Check out my other Nuuk travel articles here!
Part 1 (Departure–CPH), Part 2-1 (Arrival in Nuuk), Part 2-2 (Exploring Nuuk), and Part 3 (Returning from Nuuk).
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My Itinerary
The easiest way to reach Greenland is generally via Copenhagen, Denmark (CPH), or Iceland.
Since I was traveling from Graz, Austria, I took the following route:
Graz → Vienna Airport → Copenhagen → Nuuk
For travelers starting in Graz, this is probably one of the simplest routes to Greenland.
From Graz to Vienna Airport
The Copenhagen-bound flight I took departed from Vienna Airport at 10:15 a.m. as SK1694.
There is one thing worth keeping in mind here.
Austria’s railway system, ÖBB, is usually very convenient. However, if you need to catch a morning flight from Vienna Airport, I find it slightly risky because even a small delay could cause problems.
So, just as I usually do when catching an early morning flight, I took a FlixBus.
This time, I took the bus departing from Jakominiplatz at 4:35 a.m. and arrived at Vienna Airport at around 7:00 a.m. That gave me about three hours before departure, which felt reassuring for an international flight.
Leaving at 4 a.m. was honestly pretty brutal, but knowing that I had plenty of time and wouldn’t have to worry about missing my flight made the journey much less stressful.
Flying to Copenhagen on SK1694
At 10:15 a.m., I boarded Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) flight SK1694 to Copenhagen.
The flight time was about two hours.
Interestingly, the flight was not actually operated by SAS, but by CityJet.
I had never really thought about this before, but apparently it is quite common in Europe for airlines to outsource flights to other carriers.
CityJet is an Irish airline headquartered in Dublin and operates many regional routes.
There were no particular issues with the service, and the flight was comfortable.
I arrived safely at Copenhagen Airport around noon.
I had about five hours before my flight to Nuuk.
Exploring Copenhagen Airport
Copenhagen Airport (CPH) is one of the largest airports in Scandinavia, so it is quite spacious, with gates ranging from A to F.
Based on what I saw while walking around, the layout seemed to be roughly as follows:
- Gates A–B: Schengen flights
- Gate C: Flights to the United States
- Gates E–F: Long-haul international flights, including flights to Japan
Gate D was under construction at the time, and the signs directed passengers toward Gate C instead.
Is There Passport Control?
One thing I was slightly worried about was the fact that Greenland is not an EU member and is also outside the Schengen Area.
I had looked into this beforehand, but there was surprisingly little information available online. Even when I asked ChatGPT, I was told that there would be an exit passport check when traveling from the EU to Greenland.
However, in reality, neither my Vienna flight nor my Nuuk flight required passport control inside the airport because both used the A/B gates.
That does not mean you can travel without your passport.
Your passport will be checked properly at the boarding gate later, so make sure you bring it with you.
When traveling to places where information is limited, there are clearly some things you simply cannot know until you experience them yourself.
An Unexpected Reunion at Copenhagen Airport
Between Gates A–B and Gate C, there are plenty of restaurants and shops.
And then I spotted something that instantly made me excited…
7-Eleven!
I never expected to run into the familiar Japanese 7-Eleven brand again in Denmark.
There were actually quite a few locations, and I spotted them in several areas of the airport.
Since I had the chance, I bought a crispy chicken sandwich.
It cost 59 Danish kroner, or about €8.7 / ¥1,300.
Even though it was airport pricing, most of the other restaurants seemed to start at around 100 kroner (about €15 / ¥2,200), so this was actually a relatively affordable option.
The only disappointing part was that I had expected a warm chicken sandwich, only to discover that it was actually cold. Haha.
Still, seeing that familiar 7-Eleven logo after such a long time made me feel a little homesick for Japan.
After this, it was finally time to fly to Nuuk with Air Greenland.
…But on this flight, I was about to experience something that had never happened to me before in my life. (To be continued in Part 2-1)
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