Bluie East Two

Bluie East Two, aka “BE2,” is an abandoned U.S. Army Air Corps base from World War II. (“Bluie” was the military code name for Greenland during the war.) What remains of the disused airfield today are thousands of empty fuel drums and heaps of twisted metal and rusted vehicles. In the background, the scenery is spectacular.

Getting to this remote site requires some work. It’s located on Greenland’s east coast, about an hour-and-a-half flight from Keflavik, Iceland, followed by two boat rides. The journey is an all-day outing, but whales and glacier calving will also be seen during the trip.

The military base sits on the east shore of a channel from a larger fjord. You could spend hours exploring this place and its abandoned airstrip, and while you might expect such a place to be haunting, the opposite is true. It’s serene and oddly beautiful, with a backdrop of mountains and glaciers and a calming narrow fjord channel in the fore.

Following reports of toxic waste, Denmark agreed to clean up this deserted site, many locals prefer it to remain as it is a bit of a tourist draw. They say that any fuel contamination has long disappeared, and all that remains are the rusted metal heaps and drums left behind some 70 years ago.