Photo by Svíčková, via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
🇬🇱 Greenland · Kujalleq
Photo by Svíčková, via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
🇬🇱 Greenland · Kujalleq
♨ Temperature
38°C
⛰ Altitude
0 m
⚗ pH
8.2
💧 TDS
140 mg/L
🌊 Flow rate
7 L/s
📅 Established
Natural
✓ Verified on 2026-07-22
Uunartoq, whose name means 'warm' in Greenlandic Kalaallisut, is a small island in the fjords of southwest Greenland that harbours one of the most remote and extraordinary natural hot springs in the world. Three naturally formed pools, the largest about the size of a small swimming pool, sit at the water's edge where geothermal water at 36–38°C emerges from the rock. The island is accessible only by boat from the settlement of Qassiarsuk or the town of Narsarsuaq, a journey of several hours through iceberg-scattered fjord waters. In summer, bathers can soak while watching icebergs drift past and eagles circle overhead — an experience found nowhere else on Earth.
| Silica | 55 mg/L |
| Sodium | 38 mg/L |
| Calcium | 28 mg/L |
The Uunartoq springs have been known to the Greenlandic Inuit and later Norse settlers for centuries. The island appears in historical records from the Norse colony period as a place where crews sought warmth during Arctic voyages. The Greenlandic name reflects generations of indigenous knowledge of the island's thermal character.
Visiting Uunartoq requires genuine expedition planning — boat access, weather windows, and the logistical realities of Arctic travel. For those who make the journey, it offers what may be the ultimate expression of thermal bathing: ancient volcanic water in an Arctic wilderness landscape shared with glaciers and sea birds.
Uunartoq is managed as a natural site under Greenlandic environmental regulations. Visitor numbers are naturally limited by access difficulty, and there are no permanent facilities on the island beyond a small changing hut.