Itinerary

DAY 1 | REYKJAVÍK
Iceland’s capital stretches along the edge of a vast bay in the west of the country. Perlan, the “Pearl of Reykjavík'', a museum located on ’Oskjuhlið hill, offers a panoramic view of the lush, green landscapes. A little further, one can easily spot the signpost showing the way to the evangelical Hallgrímskirkja church, and to the historical centre where one can stroll along the Skólavörðustígur and the Laugavegur, two lively streets with charming small shops. For some relaxation just outside of the city, visitors have the opportunity to visit the Reykjanes peninsula and its famous thermal lagoons of the Blue Lagoon.

DAYS 2 & 3 | AT SEA ABOARD LE COMMANDANT CHARCOT
Spend exceptional moments sailing aboard Le Commandant Charcot, the world’s first luxury polar exploration vessel and the first PC2-class polar cruise ship capable of sailing into the very heart of the ice, on seas and oceans which the frozen conditions render inaccessible to ordinary ships. Le Commandant Charcot is fitted with oceanographic and scientific equipment selected by a committee of experts. Take advantage of the on-board lectures and opportunities for discussion with these specialists to learn more about the poles. Participate in furthering scientific research with us and let us discover together what these fascinating destinations have yet to reveal to us.

DAYS 4-6 | ITTOQQORTOORMIIT REGION
Located between the largest national park and the longest system of fjords in the world, the town of Ittoqqortoormiit, whose name means “great house” in Greenlandic, is one of the remotest inhabited places in the world. Covered with ice and snow for nine months of the year, you will be able to discover the ancestral way of life of the last hunters of the polar region. As soon as the thickness of the ice floe allows, they set out on the trail of walruses, seals, narwhals, musk ox and polar bears, travelling by traditional dog sleds.

DAY 7 | DODMANSBUGTEN
In Gael Hamke Bay, you will sail towards Dodmansbugten, or “dead man’s bay”, in the south of Clavering Island. This is where the last Inuit settlement of Northeast Greenland was discovered around 1823. Here, you can still find typical trapper cabins like those described by the Danish explorer and writer Jørn Riel in his stories of the Arctic, humoristic accounts drawn from the dozens of years he spent exploring the fascinating lands of what is now the Northeast Greenland National Park. Further west, you will be able to discover the vestiges of the former Eskimonaes radio and weather station, captured by German troops during World War II to achieve control of the meteorological intelligence for the region.

DAY 8 | DANMARKSHAVN
Sailing through the fascinating landscapes of the Northeast Greenland National Park, you will make your way to Danmarkshavn on the southern coast of Germania Land. Built in 1948, to this day Danmarkshavn remains a station of prime importance for determining meteorological conditions in Europe and North America. Despite the difficulty in accessing this coast often covered by ice, the spot was chosen during the wintering of the Danmark in 1906 as the base for an important scientific expedition through the region by dog sled. The north of this bay that is only free of ice for a very short time each year in August can only be reached by ships built to sail through ice.

DAYS 9 & 10 | EXPLORATION OF NORTHEAST GREENLAND NATIONAL PARK
With a craggy coastline formed by gigantic fjords, magnificent alpine mountains looming over them, the shores of north-east Greenland offer breathtaking landscapes and are home to the largest national park in the world. Covering an area of around one million square kilometres, almost half the island, the North-East Greenland National Park, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, is a particularly isolated region. Cut off for many months of the year by the ice floe, it is renowned for its pristine nature and rich wildlife.

DAY 11 | ÎLE-DE-FRANCE
In the Northeast Greenland National Park, we are humbled by the changing and extreme ice conditions in this site where we are privileged guests. We will try to go as far north as possible to land on the coast of the famous Île-de-France, a mythical site of French polar expeditions discovered on 28 July 1905 during a polar exploration campaign led by Philippe of Orléans, Duke of Orléans (1869-1926). A little-known polar explorer, in 1905, 1907 and 1909 Duke Philippe of Orléans organised three Arctic expeditions aboard La Belgica, led by Captain Adrien de Gerlache de Gomery and his crew, thus entering the closed circle of the heroes of the Far North. During the 1905 expedition that led him to Spitsbergen in Greenland, he was accompanied by his friend the doctor Joseph Récamier and by the nature artist Edouard Mérite.

DAY 12 | MYGGBUKTA
To the south of the Northeast Greenland National Park, near the Hold with Hope Peninsula, in the King Christian X Land region, you will visit Myggbukta, a former Norwegian whaling, meteorological and radio station established in 1922 by Johan A. Olsen. It was he who gave this site its name meaning “mosquito bay” in Norwegian. This large bay situated at more than 73° latitude north is covered in superb arctic tundra extending as far as the eye can see. This rich vegetation cover allows a large population of musk oxen to thrive. If you are lucky, you may get to spot a few.

DAYS 13 & 14 | AT SEA ABOARD LE COMMANDANT CHARCOT
Spend exceptional moments sailing aboard Le Commandant Charcot, the world’s first luxury polar exploration vessel and the first PC2-class polar cruise ship capable of sailing into the very heart of the ice, on seas and oceans which the frozen conditions render inaccessible to ordinary ships. Le Commandant Charcot is fitted with oceanographic and scientific equipment selected by a committee of experts. Take advantage of the on-board lectures and opportunities for discussion with these specialists to learn more about the poles. Participate in furthering scientific research with us and let us discover together what these fascinating destinations have yet to reveal to us.

DAY 15 | REYKJAVÍK
Iceland’s capital stretches along the edge of a vast bay in the west of the country. Perlan, the “Pearl of Reykjavík'', a museum located on ’Oskjuhlið hill, offers a panoramic view of the lush, green landscapes. A little further, one can easily spot the signpost showing the way to the evangelical Hallgrímskirkja church, and to the historical centre where one can stroll along the Skólavörðustígur and the Laugavegur, two lively streets with charming small shops. For some relaxation just outside of the city, visitors have the opportunity to visit the Reykjanes peninsula and its famous thermal lagoons of the Blue Lagoon.

@ Shutterstock

@ Shutterstock

@ Shutterstock