Faroe Islands

Faroe Islands highlights

Tórshavn
Kirkjubøur
Saksun
Fossá
Tjørnuvík
Gjógv

Why visit the Faroe Islands?

For exploration and adventure in the natural beauty of raw wilderness.

Getting there and around

We visited the Faroe Islands in August 2022 on our way from London to Iceland. The Faroes are a self-governing part of Denmark but are located between the Scottish Shetland islands and Iceland, in the North Atlantic.

Flights are available from London, Edinburgh and Copenhagen but we thought it would be more fun and sustainable to arrive by train and boat. Getting there was an adventure and arriving by boat felt like a true expedition, and far more romantic than flying. Seeing the islands emerge from a dusky gloom across the ocean was a wondrous experience we won’t forget.

We travelled by train to Hirtshals at the northern tip top of the Jutland peninsular in Denmark. At Hirtshals we boarded the Smyril Line ‘MS Norröna’ ferry. We set sail at 4pm and arrived at 10pm the following night.

The ferry from Denmark to the Faroe Islands cost us £210 per adult and £105 per child. For this price we got breakfast, lunch and 2 x dinners, and a surprisingly spacious family cabin with four bunks, a window and small bathroom. Our cabin was on the 8th (upper) deck at the front. The ship had two restaurants, a cafe, wine bar, cinema, swimming pool, gym, football area, games room, kids soft play, hot tubs and a shop. The food on board was excellent quality, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. The ship also had plenty of viewing areas inside and outside on the decks where we were treated to a pretty sunset and where we enjoyed spotting birds and other ships as we passed by the Shetland Islands in Scotland.

The hotel on the Faroe Islands was a mile from Tórshavn town centre. We waited 15 minutes for a taxi from the ferry terminal to the hotel. The taxi then took less than 10 minutes and cost £10. We used a mixture of buses and taxis to get around the island during our stay.

For one of our days on the islands we had a guided tour provided by Heimdal Tours. We were expecting a coach group tour so we were delighted when Símun our guide arrived in his car for a private tour for the four of us. Símun was great with the kids. He drove us safely around the islands and had infinite patience and a good sense of humour. We would highly recommend this local tour operator.

Our Airalo data package didn’t seem to work on the Faroe Islands unfortunately. We couldn’t find any networks in Streymoy to connect to. Luckily though our hotel had excellent wi-fi.

Accommodation

Hilton Garden Hotel

We stayed at the newly opened green-roofed Hilton Garden Hotel in Tórshavn (the capital of the Faroe Islands) on the island of Streymoy for 3 nights.

This was the best hotel we have ever stayed in. Every time we stay in a new hotel we see if it beats the Hilton, Faroes, and none has managed it yet!

Our room was a very large suite consisting of two connecting rooms - one with a king size bed and one with twin beds - each with its own bathroom. It was an impeccably modern room with designer furniture, stunning views across Torshavn, and one of the best rooms we’ve stayed in.

The hotel breakfast was fantastic with a range of cereals, continental and cooked breakfast options. The kids loved the fresh waffles and berries. We had a couple of restaurants in Tórshavn booked for dinner but we ended up eating at the hotel in the evenings too because the food was excellent.

The hotel had very good facilities too including free laundry (washer and drier), gym and hot tubs.

The hotel was expensive and well over our budget at £320 per night but we felt it was good value for money considering what a wonderful stay we had. It was also comparable in price to other hotels in the area.

Our star rating: 5

Our cost rating: 3

Hilton Garden Inn Faroe Islands

Tórshavn

The old town and harbour are picturesque and full of stylish clothing, gift and homeware shops and plenty of cafes and restaurants. We love strolling through a place and soaking up the atmosphere and Tórshavn was perfect for meandering. Buses in and around the town are free to use. After a morning walking around the town and harbour Max declared the place to be paradise.

Kirkjubøur

At the southern tip of Streymoy is the village of Kirkjubøur, 13km south west of Tórshavn. The houses in the village were very pretty and painted in traditional colours.

It is a historical site with the remains of the bishops’ seat dating from the 12th century. The St. Magnus Cathedral walls are preserved and St. Olavs church which was erected in the 13th century was restored in the 1960s and is still in use as the parish church.

Saksun

Saksun is a seawater lagoon surrounded by high mountains.

Feeding the bay is a beautiful waterfall (and lots of rain)! This was one of the most picturesque places we visited.

Here we saw more of the old wooden houses with grass roofs, which you can find all over the islands.

Fossá

Fossá is the biggest waterfall in the Faroe Islands. It falls over two levels and you can walk up and behind it. The rocks were very slippy in the rain so we only walked a little way up. We counted many many waterfalls but this was definitely the biggest!

Tjørnuvík

At the northern tip of Streymoy is this village with a volcanic black sand beach. It has become popular with surfers! Unfortunately by this point the rain was torrential so we huddled in a bus shelter to eat our picnic and then ran back to the car!

Out in the bay are two sea stacks (seen below in the distance).

Local legend has it that a giant and a witch swam over from Iceland intending to steal the Faroe Islands and take them back to Iceland. They didn’t manage to get back before the sun rose and they turned to stone.

Gjógv

Located on the island of Eysturoy which is connected to Streymoy by both road bridge and tunnel (complete with the world’s only under-the-sea roundabout), Gjogv is home to hundreds of puffins and a very pretty village.

The puffins are small and difficult to photograph but we did manage to see them on the headland cliffs and borrowed some binoculars to get a closer look.

Final thoughts

We had wanted to visit the Faroe Islands for a long time basically because other peoples’ photos looked stunning! And their photos are accurate - it truly is a beautifully rugged dramatic landscape.

Despite this being peak tourist season, the islands were not busy at all. Most of the other tourists we saw were older solo travellers or hiking tour groups. A handful of families with kids arrived by plane while we were there. Tourist infrastructure is growing on the island and we were glad to have visited before it suffers from over-tourism. Temperatures in August were around 11 - 14 degrees centigrade and while we had one sunny day, we also had a lot of rain.

As a family we love spending time outdoors and exploring on foot, and the Faroe Islands was a fantastic place to be out in the remote wild. We feel so privileged that we were able to travel to the Faroe Islands on our way to Iceland.