3 hiking spots near Nuuk

Quassussuaq

Looking for your first hike into the trails of Nuuk? This is where you start.
Quassussaq is the easiest mountain route that you can take as a new hiker as we use these hills for skiing in the winter.
This means that you can follow the ski lift up and never be afraid that you will get lost, and your phone and internet service will be cover the whole route.

If you are still unsure on walking in the mountains by yourself, there is a group called “walk away cancer” that hikes up Quasussaq every tuesday
Walk away cancer facebook group

In the winter
As mentioned before, this specific route is used as our skiing area, which means that it can be packed by skiing and snowboarding nuummiuts!

So you can’t follow the ski lift as you can in the summer, so you have to walk between the skiing tracks, or on the right side of the lift.

But it is an amazing place to hike in the winter because the slopes have been prepared by machines, and you can still follow the normal route when the ski lift closes around 18:00.
It gets very dark in the winter so bring a headlamp, and a camera at the top is an amazing place to enjoy the northern lights over Nuuk.

Ukkusissaq

Ukkusissaq has a lot of local culture behind it, it is one of the hardest routes you can take in the city area, and many people say that you are not a true nuummiut before you have seen the view from the peak yourself.
The most important thing to remember about this route, is to follow the orange / red dots that have been painted on the rocks.
These dots indicate the route that you should follow, please do not deviate from the trail as we have had cases where people have gotten lost, and needed to be retrieved by a helicopter.
This means that we do not recommend hiking Ukkusissaq in the winter alone as a beginner, as you can not see the trail spots.
This route is almost twice as high as Quasussuaq, but it is definitely steeper that multiplies the effort that you put into the hike, but there are many good spots to have a little snack break.
Both Ukkusissaq and Quasussuaq are very popular hiking routes, and you can expect to see a few locals on the trail, so if you are unsure on how to walk the trails, you can always wait for someone to go by and ask for advice, or follow someone in front of you.

Paradise valley

The fastest way out of the city into your private naturespace.

This is the spot you take yourself, your partner, family or business team to spend some hours in nature where the goal is to relax at the destination, rather than the hike being the focus.
The paradise valley is an area outside of Nuuk that with the development of the city has come closer and closer to us, today it is only 1.5 kilometers away from the nearest road, but back in the day it was so far away from the city that people went out there to hunt on day trips!.
You can find the trail to Paradise valley behind the detention center, you can find the road close to the airport,

There are different ways that you can go about the trip depending on your mood and travel partners.
If you want the trip to be longer you can walk from the inner city and get some miles in, but if you want to get there fast you can be dropped off by the detention center and walk from there, giving you more hours to spend at your destination.

If you want to spend more time at the destination and shorten the walk, you can be dropped off by the detention center, the walk from here is only 30 minutes.

Have fun out there, but remember to always tell family or friends where you are going, and when you are expecting to be back, you never know if you are in a sudden need of help.