Ilimanaq, Greenland · Greenland

Ilimanaq Lodge

Ilimanaq settlement, Disko Bay, Greenland

Greenland's standout design lodge, on Disko BayFifteen architect-designed two-storey cabins with icefjord panoramasReached only by a 30-minute boat transfer through the UNESCO Icefjord

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Location

Ilimanaq, on Disko Bay

The lodge sits in the historic Ilimanaq settlement on Disko Bay, cliff-side over the water, with the UNESCO Ilulissat Icefjord drifting past. There is no road in; access is by boat from Ilulissat.

Transfer

A boat through the Icefjord

Guests reach Ilimanaq on a roughly thirty-minute scenic boat transfer from Ilulissat, weaving through the icebergs of the UNESCO Icefjord, with no road in.

Villas

Fifteen design cabins

Fifteen architect-designed cabins of around forty square metres, two-storey A-frames with the living space and bath below and a loft bedroom above, wall-sized panorama windows over both floors, and a private terrace onto the drifting ice. Each cabin is angled to make the most of the ice beyond the glass, the off-grid, solar design keeping the settlement quiet and the night skies dark for the aurora.

Best For

Who it suits

Couples and design-minded travellers who want a remote, off-grid, gourmet stay with front-row icebergs, and who value place and food over hotel facilities, on Disko Bay. For travellers who want design, gastronomy and front-row ice in one of the remotest corners of Disko Bay, there is little to compare with it in the Arctic.

Board Basis

Bed and breakfast

Bed-and-breakfast in the black loghouse, with gourmet dinners at Restaurant Egede; usually sold as a multi-night gourmet-and-nature stay on the edge of the icefjord.

Overview

Greenland's standout design lodge, on the icefjord

Ilimanaq Lodge is Greenland's standout design lodge: fifteen architect-designed, two-storey cabins set cliff-side in the historic Ilimanaq settlement on Disko Bay, reached only by a thirty-minute boat transfer from Ilulissat through the UNESCO Icefjord. Each cabin of around forty square metres has a wall-sized panorama window framing drifting icebergs and breaching whales from the bed or the private terrace. The setting is a historic colonial settlement on the edge of the ice: there is no road in, access is by boat alone, and the lodge is solar-powered and off-grid, the icebergs of the icefjord drifting past the cliff. Dinner is gourmet, served at Restaurant Egede in a restored 1751 colonial building, breakfast taken in the black loghouse over the bay, and days are spent on icefjord boat trips, whale-watching and exploring the settlement. Remote, design-led and gastronomic, on the edge of the ice.

Accommodation

The design cabins

Fifteen architect-designed, two-storey cabins of around forty square metres step along the cliff, A-frames with the living space and bath below and a loft bedroom above, wall-sized panorama windows over both floors and a private terrace. Set cliff-side in the historic Ilimanaq settlement, they frame drifting icebergs and breaching whales from the bed itself, the off-grid, solar-powered design the only modern note in a centuries-old Disko Bay community. The A-frame cabins are among the most striking design accommodations in the Arctic, the loft bedrooms and the wall of glass placing guests eye-to-eye with the icebergs that drift past the cliff.

The cabin

Lodge Cabin

Sleeps two. An architect-designed cabin of around 40 square metres, a two-storey A-frame with the living space and bath below and a loft bedroom above, a wall-sized panorama window over the icefjord and a private terrace.

Around 40 square metresIcefjord panorama

Food & Drink

Dining

Dinner is gourmet at Restaurant Egede, set in a restored 1751 colonial building, plating game and seafood, with breakfast taken in the black loghouse over the bay. It is design-led, gastronomic dining remarkable for its remoteness, the kitchen leaning on Greenlandic game and fish, the icebergs drifting past beyond the glass. Restaurant Egede has earned a reputation well beyond Greenland, the 1751 colonial building one of the oldest in the country, its kitchen turning Arctic game and seafood into a genuine destination dinner.

Signature

Restaurant Egede

Restaurant Egede, gourmet game and seafood in a restored 1751 colonial building.

Breakfast

The black loghouse

The black loghouse, breakfast over the bay.

Setting

On the icefjord

On the icefjord, dining with drifting icebergs beyond the glass.

Activities & Experiences

Signature Experiences

Icebergs, whales and the UNESCO Icefjord define a stay — take boat trips among the icebergs of Ilulissat, watch humpbacks and fin whales on Disko Bay, and explore the historic Ilimanaq community. The midnight sun and the aurora of the high Arctic, and a gourmet dinner at the 1751 Restaurant Egede, round out a remote, design-led stay on the edge of the ice. Ilimanaq is a tiny settlement of a few dozen people whose history reaches back to the first Danish colonial era, and the lodge's cabins sit a short walk from buildings that have stood for centuries.