Tasiilaq is the largest town on Greenland’s sparsely populated east coast, and is home to around 2,000 hardy souls. Walking around town you’ll see dog sleds and kayaks made from animal hides, while the surrounding landscape is home to glaciers, caves and wildlife including seals and dolphins.

The uninhabited island of Skjoldungen is situated on Greenland’s rugged east coast, between the Northern and Southern Skjoldungenfjord. Here you’ll find a starkly beautiful landscape of snow-capped mountains, steep valley sides and icebergs in crystalline shades of white and blue.

The spectacular Prince Christian Sound provides a protected passage for ships rounding the southern tip of Greenland, at times narrowing to just 1,500 feet across. Waterfalls cascade down the rugged mountain sides, and you can often spot whales and seals amongst the icebergs.

Nanortalik is the southernmost city in Greenland, and sits on a small island at the mouth of the Tasermiut fjord. The name means ‘the place of polar bears’, since bears come to hunt on the sea ice in summer, and the town is also known for its unique choir singing culture.

The island of Uunartoq is famous for its hot springs, the only place in Greenland where the water is warm enough to bathe in. Norsemen are believed to have first discovered the steaming pools a thousand years ago, and the setting is spectacular, surrounded by mountains and icebergs drifting through the fjords.

Qaqortoq is southern Greenland’s largest town, though with just 3,000 inhabitants it’s hardly crowded. A trip to the nearby hot springs at Uunartoq is recommended; relaxing in the 38°C water and watching icebergs drift across the bay is quite something.

Norse settlers were exploring the coasts of North America long before Columbus made his journey across the Atlantic, and Hvalsey is home to some of the most important Norse ruins in Greenland. The 14th-century church here is remarkably well preserved, on the site of a major medieval farmstead.

St Anthony sits right at the tip of Newfoundland’s Great Northern Peninsula, first settled by French and Basque fishermen in the 16th century. Off the coast you can see whales and icebergs that have drifted here from Greenland, while nearby attractions on land include the fascinating Norse site of L’Anse aux Meadows.

The archaeological site of L’Anse aux Meadows, on the northern tip of Newfoundland, is the only confirmed site of Norse settlement in North America. Vikings arrived from Iceland and Greenland some 500 years before Columbus, and you can visit the reconstructed timber and peat-turf homes that they built.

The town of Woody Point is located in the heart of Gros Morne National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the west coast of Newfoundland. Just outside the town are the remarkable Tablelands, a barren and otherworldly landscape of peridotite rock that resembles the surface of Mars.

Situated off the coast of Nova Scotia, remote Sable Island is a largely uninhabited wilderness of shifting sand dunes and deserted beaches. The island is best known for its wildlife, including hundreds of wild horses and the world’s largest colony of grey seals.