Seward to Kangerlussuaq

Seward, Alaska, is a captivating port known for its stunning landscapes and rich history as a gold rush supply town. Must-do experiences include visiting Kenai Fjords National Park and sampling local delicacies like halibut tacos and akutaq. The best time to visit is during the summer months when the natural beauty is at its peak and outdoor activities abound.

The Aleutian Islands are a 1,900-kilometer volcanic chain in Alaska where forty active volcanoes, enormous seabird colonies, and Steller sea lion rookeries create one of Earth's wildest landscapes. Must-dos include watching auklet swarms, approaching sea lion rookeries by Zodiac, and viewing the perfect cone of Mount Shishaldin. July offers the best conditions during the brief June-to-August expedition season.

Saint Paul Island in the Bering Sea hosts the world's largest northern fur seal rookery — nearly one million animals — and ranks among North America's premier birding destinations for rare Asian vagrant species. Must-dos include watching fur seal breeding colonies at close range, birding the cliffs for puffins and murres, and experiencing Unangan cultural heritage. Fly from Anchorage mid-May through mid-September, with July-August peak for seal activity and seabird nesting.

Nome, Alaska, United States, offers an authentic North American experience where stunning natural landscapes meet communities of genuine character. Visitors should explore the surrounding wilderness and sample the honest, locally sourced cuisine that defines the region. The ideal visiting period is June through August, when the midnight sun bathes the landscape in golden light for nearly twenty-four hours. Cruise lines including HX Expeditions feature this port on their most compelling itineraries. Whether you have a few hours or a full day, the port rewards exploration at every pace and in every direction.

Lancaster Sound is the dramatic eastern gateway to the Northwest Passage, now protected as one of the Arctic's richest marine environments with extraordinary concentrations of narwhals, belugas, polar bears, and seabirds. Must-dos include watching narwhal pods surface in the hundreds, scanning ice edges for polar bears, and contemplating the history of Franklin's doomed expedition. Expedition ships transit from late July through September, when ice conditions permit passage through this legendary Arctic strait.

Herschel Island (Qikiqtaruk) is a remote Arctic territorial park off Yukon's north coast, rich in Inuvialuit heritage and 1890s whaling history preserved in permafrost. Visitors arrive by Zodiac to explore tundra wildflowers, coastal erosion sites, and restored whaling-era buildings at Pauline Cove. The narrow visiting window of mid-July to early September offers midnight sun and beluga whale sightings.

Victoria Island is Canada's second-largest Arctic island — bigger than the United Kingdom yet home to barely 2,000 people in two tiny communities on a vast tundra landscape of caribou herds, pristine fishing rivers, and Copper Inuit heritage. Must-dos include tasting legendary Arctic char, learning about Inuinnaqtun culture in Cambridge Bay, and watching for muskoxen and migrating caribou. Expedition ships visit late July through September, when the brief navigation season opens this enormous, sparsely inhabited wilderness.

Victoria Island is Canada's second-largest Arctic island — bigger than the United Kingdom yet home to barely 2,000 people in two tiny communities on a vast tundra landscape of caribou herds, pristine fishing rivers, and Copper Inuit heritage. Must-dos include tasting legendary Arctic char, learning about Inuinnaqtun culture in Cambridge Bay, and watching for muskoxen and migrating caribou. Expedition ships visit late July through September, when the brief navigation season opens this enormous, sparsely inhabited wilderness.

Beechey Island, Canada, offers an authentic North American experience where stunning natural landscapes meet communities of genuine character. Visitors should explore the surrounding wilderness and sample the honest, locally sourced cuisine that defines the region. The ideal visiting period is June through August, when the midnight sun bathes the landscape in golden light for nearly twenty-four hours. Cruise lines including Aurora Expeditions feature this port on their most compelling itineraries. Whether you have a few hours or a full day, the port rewards exploration at every pace and in every direction.

Devon Island is the largest uninhabited island on Earth — 55,247 square kilometres of ice caps, polar desert, and a meteorite crater that NASA uses as a Mars analogue. Must-dos include Zodiac landings on this austere landscape, watching for muskoxen and polar bears, and experiencing silence of a quality rarely found anywhere on the planet. Expedition ships visit from late July through early September, with access entirely dependent on ice and weather conditions.

Evighedsfjorden is Greenland's 'Fjord of Eternity' — a seventy-five-kilometer passage flanked by ice-capped peaks and tidewater glaciers that provides one of expedition cruising's most profound Arctic landscape encounters. Navigate July through August via Ponant or Seabourn for midnight-sun glacial photography, humpback whale encounters echoing off cliff faces, and a passage so vast it transforms the concept of eternity from abstraction to sensory reality.

Uummannaq is a vividly painted Arctic town perched beneath a heart-shaped mountain on Greenland's western coast, surrounded by colossal icebergs and rich Inuit cultural heritage. Must-dos include zodiac cruising through the iceberg-filled fjord, visiting the Uummannaq Museum, and experiencing the midnight sun's eternal golden light. July and August offer the warmest conditions and best accessibility for Arctic expedition cruising.

Ilulissat sits beside the Northern Hemisphere's most prolific glacier — the UNESCO-listed Sermeq Kujalleq, which calves forty-six cubic kilometers of icebergs annually into a fjord of almost incomprehensible frozen spectacle. Visit June through August via Silversea or Hapag-Lloyd for midnight-sun zodiac cruises among hundred-meter icebergs, Knud Rasmussen's childhood museum, and the light show that transforms Greenland's ice into one of Earth's most transformative visual experiences.

Kangerlussuaq Havn is the eastern Greenlandic gateway to the Scoresby Sund — the world's longest fjord system — where sheer basalt cliffs, colossal icebergs, and one of Earth's most isolated Inuit communities await expedition vessels from Ponant and Hapag-Lloyd. Visit July through September for muskox encounters, midnight-sun ice photography, and the Arctic in its most concentrated and demanding form.