Narsarsuaq

Narsarsuaq is located within the Eastern Settlement of the Greenlandic Norse; the Brattahlíð farm of Erik the Red established in 985 was located on the opposite bank of Tunulliarfik Fjord, where the modern settlement of Qassiarsuk is situated.

In 1941 the United States built an air base at Narsarsuaq code-named Bluie West One (BW1). (Bluie was the Allied military code name for Greenland.) Thousands of planes used BW1 as a stepping stone on their way from the aircraft factories in North America to the battlegrounds of Europe. A 600-bed hospital was built in order to deal with casualties from the Normandy landings. After the end of the war, BW1 continued to be developed, and was a major hospital site during the Korean War, with the military hospital expanded to 1,000 beds. However, it was rendered surplus by the advent of mid-air refueling and the construction of the larger Thule Air Base in northern Greenland.

In 1951, it was agreed that Denmark and the United States would jointly oversee the airbase. Although it closed in 1958, it was reopened as Narsarsuaq Airport the following year by the Danish government after the loss of the vessel Hans Hedtoft and all crew south off Cape Farewell. The hospital was destroyed by a fire in 1972, although the ruins remain.

The town and its airport remained an important part of Greenlandic aviation in the latter part of the 20th century, as one of two airports which were able to handle larger fixed-wing aircraft, the other being Kangerlussuaq Airport, also an old U.S. military base. It was the principal airfield in South Greenland, and served as a transfer point between fixed-wing flights and helicopters. A tourism industry developed as a result of the airport and most economic activities in the town are related to tourism or servicing the airport. …

Narsarsuaq Heliport is connected to Qaqortoq Airport by helicopter service. Narsarsuaq Airport previously served as the principal airfield in southwestern Greenland until flights were transferred to the newly-built Qaqortoq Airport in 2026.

Narsarsuaq has a sea port where passenger boats and cruise ships can moor. It is located 2.4 kilometres (1.5 mi) south of the heliport terminal building.

A 26 kilometres (16 mi) gravel road is maintained between Qassiarsuk and Narsarsuaq around the fjord. It has two river crossings without bridges but off-road vehicles ford them, although a direct boat across the fjord is also used. There is also a regular boat service to Qaqortoq, 85 kilometres (53 mi; 46 nmi), which takes almost 4 hours.

Narsarsuaq experiences boundary subarctic climate (Köppen: Dfc), which with a 1.1 °C (1.98 °F) margin escapes being classified as polar climate that is typical for the rest of Greenland. Mean temperatures are similar to Vadsø in northeasternmost Norway. Despite its rather chilly temperatures, Narsarsuaq is one of the few places in Greenland with abundant naturally growing trees. This is due to several factors. Its geographical position is extremely sheltered from harsh subpolar winds by multiple layers of tall mountains to the west, and there is a heavy oceanic influence that results in a rather stable and steady amount of precipitation year-round. The oceanic influence can be observed in the occasional Atlantic storms that often pound the region (resulting in a fairly wet climate) and a moderate amount of precipitation per year (which could also be considered quite high by Greenlandic standards). Due to the fair climatic conditions, Narsarsuaq is the site of Greenland's only botanical garden, the "Greenlandic Arboretum".

On the lower slopes of the Mellemlandet ridge, close to Narsarsuaq Airport, there is a unique 'botanical garden of the Arctic', called the Greenlandic Arboretum. The goal is to establish a live collection of trees and bushes native to both the arctic and the alpine tree-lines of the entire Northern Hemisphere.

Founded in 1988, it encompasses 15 hectares and it shelters 110 plant species, mostly varieties of boreal taiga trees, such as Siberian larch, lodgepole pine, white spruce, Sitka spruce, and various bushes. There have also been plantings of a few species, including sycamore maple and American chestnut, from middle latitudes south of the boreal zone. Many individual trees are tagged or otherwise marked. The plantation currently has more than 50,000 trees of various provenances.