Name: Old Camp
Address: B 1640, Box 1009, Kangerlussuaq, Kangerlussuaq, Kangerlussuaq, 3910, Greenland
Rating: 7

Smoke-free property

Ticket assistance

Garden

Terrace

No elevators

Reception desk

General

Breakfast

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

Tour assistance

Tourist services

Barbecue grill(s)

Picnic area

Barbeque

Recreation

Free parking

Parking

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Personal protection equipment for staff

Extra decontamination measures

Personal protection equipment for guests

Contactless check-in and/or check-out

Additional measures against COVID-19

Health and Safety Measures

Location

At the guest house

Kangerlussuaq Airport

Old Camp

Kangerlussuaq

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

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shared-bathroom

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limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

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canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

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ocean-front

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oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

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with-view

annex

basement

main-building

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not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

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pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

Pick up from the airport is great. Old Camp was a base during WWII so think of long buildings with multiple rooms. The rooms are small, but it is a hostel after all, open one suitcase at a time. There were enough bathrooms and each is self-contained with lockable doors. Towels are supplied. The kitchen/dining area is very large so we were able to prepare our own dinner. The breakfast is mainly bread, cheese and cereal so no good for my dietary restrictions (no wheat or dairy), but adequate to get most people on their way. If you have time before your drop off at Old Camp there is a decent sized supermarket outside the airport where you can grab a few things. You have to leave by 9:00am in the morning so get your towels and sheets out into the hallway pronto as the cleaners are there already gathering them beforehand. 

Hostel Stayover

This is a very basic hotel but considering it is in Greenland at basically an airport town it is very comfortable and clean.  The staff at the registration off was helpful and the  people who drove us to and from our room were friendly.  The water was hot in the shower and it did not run out. There is a light breakfast included.

Agree, Basic but good

This was a totally new experience. limited choice in area to stay and this 
place offers hot water, shampoo cum bath gel are provided. Rooms are well heated for cold winter weather of the place. Breakfast is provided too.

exciting.

Basic lodging, shared bathrooms. But as you spend only few time in the lodge, it is ok. Toilets are unfortunately in the bathroom, should better be separated. Two bathrooms to be shared by 6 rooms (or 12 people). 

Breakfast basic, but more than ok. 

Wifi should be for free. Rather expensive. Better to walk to the Tele-Post office across the street, and buy & subscribe to a local provider. 

Basic but good

2-nights solo stay in room with 2 single beds and shared bathroom in March 2019.

Almost everything in Kangerlussuaq is owned and run by Albatross Arctic Circle (AAC), so prepare to pay monopoly prices. Stay options are Hotel Kangerlussuaq (the airport hotel, operated by government owned Greenland Airports, Mittarfeqarfiit), and Polar Lodge and Old Camp, both of which are AAC properties.

The airport hotel & Polar Lodge didn't have availability for the nights I was in Kangerlussuaq, so Old Camp was the only option. I wasn't enthusiastic about staying in a hostel, and especially about the shared bathroom, but beggars can't be choosy (in Kangerlussuaq)!!

I made a refundable booking via an OTA (online travel agency) platform, and the rate seemed to be cheaper than the rate the hostel charges (there was some mumbling about an online issue when I checked-in).

Note: The Kangerlussuaq Youth Hostel (Kangerlussuaq Vandrehejem) is another option, although its website displayed 2018 prices and none of the OTA platforms seemed to be selling rooms when I checked in early 2019. Also, it seemed to be closed during the winter months and, with the supplement for single person stay in a room, prices weren't much lower than those at Old Camp. Plus, Old Camp has the heft of AAC in Kangerlussuaq behind it. TripAdvisor does list 2 other "hotels" in Kangerlussuaq, but I couldn't find their websites, any details about them, or any OTAs selling rooms.

Old Camp is located about 2.5km from Kangerlussuaq airport (i.e. the town centre). The walk between the two is fairly easy and takes about 20 minutes in the winter (although it would be silly to walk after sundown). There is very little light pollution in that corner of the world, and it's possible to see the Northern Lights from right outside the front door of your hostel (or even your room window, if you're lucky). The location offered a fantastic view of the frozen fjord and, more importantly for a plane spotter like me, Greenland's longest runway!!

The barracks-like hostels of Old Camp were apparently lodgings for the workers who built the airstrip and worked there, when it was an American base. The quaint light switches in the hostels is testament to their age.

Things to be aware of:
•	Complimentary pick-up from the airport is available if you let the hostel know your arrival details beforehand. If not, there is inevitably someone from AAC/Old Camp at the airport (e.g. the airport Souvenir shop is AAC-owned) and they can assist. There is a public bus to the airport & "town" every hour (except at 12pm & 5pm, if I remember correctly), although I didn't use the service. I think you have to pay a small fare to use the bus
•	Check-out is by 9am, at which time the complimentary airport shuttle departs (even though my flight to Copenhagen was at 1.10pm, and was inevitably late)
•	The complimentary breakfast is available from 7am to 9am, and consists of standard cold continental fare - tea/coffee, juice, muesli/cereal, breads/toast, cheese and spreads
•	WiFi access can be bought at reception for 30, 60, or 120 minutes, with progressively decreasing per-minute costs. The 120m package costs DKK90. There was good signal strength and speed in the room
•	The hostel has 3 residential buildings - Qajak (10 rooms) and Tuukkaq (16 rooms) have "double" rooms with twin beds, while Ulo (13 rooms) has bunk bed rooms. The fourth building is the reception and souvenir shop, where you can book AAC-run tours and make reservations for "the restaurant" Roklubben (see my review of it)
•	The room walls are paper-thin, so you can hear conversations & snoring from the adjoining rooms. Also, the corridor floor is wooden and, while it's carpeted, it creaks. That means you will hear the folks arriving at 1am, or the early birds going to the toilets at 4am!!
•	The common kitchen had a dishwasher, large fridge and cooking range that you can use to prepare meals. The TV in the common room had (3?) local channels & (2?) local radio stations
•	Entry into each hostel is from the centre of the long building. The common areas are located here, with rooms off the corridors on either side of the entrance (and emergency exits at the far ends of both corridors). Bathrooms are located at one end of the building. I was in the part away from the bathrooms, so it was quieter; although that meant it was a long walk to the bathrooms
•	The Tuukkaq hostel had 4 shared bathrooms between 16 rooms. There was plenty of hot water, and it didn't run out even during the morning rush. The corner bathroom (the one at the end) is slightly bigger than the others
•	There is no shower gel / shampoo in the bathrooms, so bring your own

My room had 2 single beds, a writing table and a wardrobe. There was almost no floor space for luggage, so I put my cabin bag on the other bed when I needed access to it.

The hostel was super clean at all times, and housekeeping did a great job of keeping the toilets, common areas and kitchen spotless. This was one of my biggest worries ahead of the stay, so I'm really thankful to housekeeping for the cleanliness. 

The AAC staff rotates between Old Camp, Polar Lodge, and the airport souvenir shop, so you might run into them at any of these places at different times of the day. They're also the bus drivers, tour guides, restaurant waiter, and the Kangerlussuaq Museum's Northern Lights show presenters! Every staff member I interacted with was friendly, helpful and enthusiastic about their job and Greenland. My stay in Kangerlussuaq was definitely better because of the great AAC staff that I met there.

Overall, Old Camp is a great place to stay in Kangerlussuaq. There aren't many other options in Kangerlussuaq, and Old Camp prices are expensive for a hostel - but then nothing in Greenland is cheap. And for that price you'll have a comfortable stay in clean, friendly, warm surroundings.

I would stay again at Old Camp, and am happy to recommend it.

Really good

My husband and I haven't really ever stayed in a hostel so we were a little apprehensive about this as a base for 3 nights. But, all in all we had a pleasant stay! The rooms are small, we had a double but that was 2 x twin as they don't actually do double beds, there was not alot of space but the rooms were warm and we enjoyed. The breakfast was served in the little canteen and there was a kitchen area, our group were pretty good at keeping everything clean and in place so we had no bother and everyone kept quiet at night. The bathrooms were large enough and decent. Not liking having shared facilities all that much... prefer a hotel room but that said we enjoyed our stay and would go again. Beautiful to walk out and enjoy the quiet tracks and the northen lights right above your head. It was fun!

Not a normal hostel user......

Old Camp is a hostel which offers decent condition in such a special place like Greenland. If you are looking for Champagne and a bunch of people looking after you then you should search in another place. This hotel is located at about 2 km from Kangerlussuaq airport. We had a nice view from our room, looking to the mountains and  the flight path for the airport. Even at -40 Celsius degrees outside, was warm and nice inside. There is a kitchen in each building where in the morning is served a basic breakfast (bread, jam, butter, cheese, tea and coffee). There is also a TV in the seating area in each building. A small inconvenient was that in the first two days we had breakfast in another building.

Good accommodation

I visited kangerlussuaq for two nights and stayed at this hotel/hostel.

There are limited choice in area and this is one of the only few with limited rooms and four toilet cum bath to be shared by all guests. Hot water, shampoo cum bath gel is provided

Rooms are well heated for cold winter weather of the place.

Breakfast is provided but no other meal
Airport shuttle for transfers is free if you are staying at hotel

Hotel with shared facilities

To European standards, you have a hostel with small basic rooms for ±20€, and ±7€ for breakfast (optional).  Add 10€ more for price difference and another 10€ for extra heating costs, brings it up to 40€, or 47€ but not more please!  Leave the choice to the tourist : breakfast coupon (to order in the evening) or self- catering- (it is a hostel anyway!)
Old bed mattresses, bedspreads and curtains: should be renewed to give it a fresher look. Sure, the rooms are small, but as a compensation the heating works very well, also the hot water in the shower.  With interest I have been observing this outside heating system with fuel that is being burnt and led into the accommodation blocks.
Fixed tapestry (gulvtaeppe-natersuaq) is something I have not seen before in a hostel and is not so good for the allergies.  
Guided tours must be booked in the reception of the hostel, so 2 businesses under one roof you could say. The tour guides are creative and optimistic to find a tour for any time of the year. They propose their tour with you in the evening or in the morning in the hostel. So in wintertime I was proposed an ice tour -I would call it- where we were trying to walk over the ice, while the river was streaming under it. We were given sticks and climbing irons for under the shoes. He took the risk and decided we should go up the hills instead. We climbed until we saw the ice cap.  I appreciate the efforts to give us such a special experience in winter time.  The price was 600 Kr./80€ for this 4 1/2 tour.
The ´Tundra Safari tour´ should be a bit cheaper, because we were not going offroad- just driving to the 2 highest points of the village (45€ per person, for just 2 1/2 hours -> 25€ is better).  Nevertheless, I wanted to keep the positivity.  People at the reception were very friendly.  Not everyone could understand that I lived on a budget though (That was part of my calculation to survive 3 weeks in Greenland on 4 places and pay a room every night!, but not always a guided tour), leading to reactions that should not be...  But I also keep in mind the important advices about the dangers out there, when you walk too far away on your own.  So I walked a bit more then 5 km, but less then 10 km on my own, aware of the dangers around me, and taking notice of the animal traces.  I felt dangers around me, and thought about the advices, since I think about anything you are telling me.  I had to walk back fast before the darkness of 3 p.m.  The walk to Roklubben is OK to do on your own (bus to the airport, then walk), but please keep in mind -in case of an accident that there is no doctor in Kangerlussuaq! Just a basic ´infirmerie´ room in the airport building- so make sure to have a good travel insurance, in case they have to fly you to another city!

Hostel and base camp for guided tours.

It is a long time since I stayed in a hostel but I was happy to put up with it for three days.  It is very warm, very basic, and clean, although when we arrived none of our beds had been made up and we didn't get bedding or towels until later in the day.  Rooms are very small, and I was lucky in that I had booked a room to myself.  I am not sure how people who were sharing managed, as there was very little floor space to put baggage.

The breakfast each morning was fine and perfectly adequate.  Lovely choice of beautiful fresh bread and rolls, cheese, jams, cereals etc plus fruit juice, tea and coffee.  There is a dishwasher and large fridge.

Old Camp is a couple of kms from the airport and pretty isolated.  I don't have a problem with that as the whole town is so remote and it all adds to the feeling of 'getting away from it all' and the location is pretty stunning, overlooking the mountains and fiord.  

The staff were, I found, extremely helpful and I must make special mention of the Danish gentleman who very kindly took me out in his car to catch up with the remainder of my small tour group when I had inadvertently set my watch to the wrong time and missed the rendezvous time.  His help was very much appreciated and I send him my thanks once again!

Now for the 'niggles' - in the 'Qayaq' block, there is a very unpleasant and overpowering smell which we all agreed originated in one of the bathrooms.  There was little escape from it and whatever is causing the problem does need to be addressed.  The second thing is the locks on the toilet doors.  Obviously there have been problems in the past as one of the toilets had a simple hook to keep it closed.  The other toilet had a proper lock, but it was inclined to get stuck and several people had difficulty opening the door.  A hook arrangement works just fine so it might be worth putting that on the other toilet door so that people don't run the risk of spending the day locked in the toilet!

All in all, a pleasant stay, but three days was enough.  Great location though.

Clean, warm and basic accommodation with kitchen facilities.  Couple of issues need addressing though!

Old Camp

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