[2] Its administrative seat is the city of Nuuk (formerly called Godthåb), the capital of Greenland, and it is the most populous municipality in the country, with 23,123 inhabitants as of January 2020.

In the north the municipality is bordered by the Northeast Greenland National Park beyond Cape Biot, at the northern end of Fleming Fjord.

In the east, near the settlement of Ittoqqortoormiit, the municipal shores straddle the Kangertittivaq fjord, which opens to the cold Greenland Sea.

The southeastern shores are bordered by the Anorituup Kangerlua fjord of the Irminger Sea in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Kalaallisut, the West Greenlandic dialect is spoken in the towns and settlements of the western coast.