Paamiut is located on the coast of Labrador Sea in the southern end of a small estuary called Kuannersooq ("Inlet").

[7] Following the warming climatic trends since the 1920s, Paamiut developed a booming cod industry between the 1950s and 1989, when the stock dwindled.

There is local museum downtown in original buildings from the previous century, among them a carpenter workshop and a salt warehouse.

The Danish Crown Princely family visited the town as part of an official tour of Greenland in summer 2014.

[8] As is the case for other towns of western Greenland, the sea is free of ice during the winter,[9] while fishing is the primary occupation of the inhabitants of the region.

The highest temperature recorded in Paamiut is 21.2 °C (70.2 °F) in July,[year needed] and the lowest is −29.6 °C (−21.3 °F) in February.