What to do in Faroe Islands

The Faroe Islands are a group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean located between the United Kingdom and Iceland. Politically, the Islands are a self-governing country that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Thanks to the volcanic origin of the islands, the Faroe Islands offer some incredibly scenic landscapes and coastlines. This post gives an overview of what to do in the Faroe Islands.

Contents:
What to do in Faroe Islands
– Mulafossur Waterfall – The most scenic waterfall in the Faroe Islands
– Hiking at Lake Sorvagsvatn (or Leitisvatn) – My top sight in the Faroe Islands
– Take an affordable helicopter ride
– Visit Saksun Church
– Torshavn – the capital of the Faroe Islands
– See the breathtaking cliffs at Vestmanna by boat
– Go horseback riding in the Faroe Islands
Faroe Islands map of attractions
Where to stay in the Faroe Islands
Google sheep view – Inspiration for your trip to the Faroe Islands
Getting to the Faroe Islands

What to do in Faroe Islands

Mulafossur Waterfall – The most scenic waterfall in the Faroe Islands

Mulafossur Waterfall is located on the island of Vagar, where the airport is also located. Therefore, Mulafossur should be either the first, or the last stop on your Faroe Islands itinerary. We decided to take the short drive to the waterfall from the airport right after landing in the Faroe Islands. There are parking spots on the side of the main road and the viewing platform is just a very short walk away.

Faroe Islands Travel Tip: Rent a car to see the islands
The Faroe Islands have a good public transport system and it is possible to visit all the main tourist attractions by bus. However, if you are sitting in a bus, it will be much harder to plan and you can’t just stop for the great sceneries on the way.

Hiking at Lake Sorvagsvatn (or Leitisvatn) – My top sight in the Faroe Islands

Lake Sorvagsvatn is a must see for every visitor to the Faroe Islands. The largest lake in the Faroe Islands sits right on top of a cliff that drops down to the ocean. An optical illusion makes the lake seem even higher above the ocean than it actually is.

The trail to the viewing spot to see the lake over the cliffs starts in the village of Midvagur, just a few miles east from the airport. Just type in “Miðvágurt to Bøsdalafossur Trail Head“ in Google Maps to find the spot where you can park the car. The hike is one of the best hikes in the Faroe Islands. It takes around one hour and is mostly flat and quite easy to walk. As always in the Faroe Islands, you should wear waterproof shoes since the trail gets wet at some points.

Take an affordable helicopter ride

Helicopter flights in the Faroe Islands are incredibly cheap since they are highly subsidized by the government. The cheapest fares already start at 85 DKK (€11). The subsidies are in place to provide the locals in the outer islands a fast connection to the capital and other central places – luckily, you don’t have to be a local to take advantage of the great fares.

However, it is only allowed to book one-way fares with the helicopter. This policy is in place so tourists don’t take cheap scenic flights back and forth and take away the availability for locals. If you take a helicopter flight, you have to either stay overnight on one of the islands and fly back the day after (which is allowed) or take a ferry on the way back.

The helicopter flights are operated by Atlantic Airways, the flag carrier of the Faroe Islands. Check out the available routes and fares here.

Visit Saksun Church

The tiny village of Saksun is located on the island of Streymoy, the largest island of the archipelago that is also home to the capital of Torshavn. The last few miles of the road towards Streymoy only has one lane and winds through a breathtaking valley with waterfalls left and right. At the end of the road, the village itself consists only of a few small houses with typical turf roofs. Just like the church of the town that sits beautifully in front of a fjord.

Torshavn – the capital of the Faroe Islands

After a few hours of driving through the beautiful landscapes and tiny villages in the Faroe Islands, its capital Torshavn may seem like a metropolis with its 13,000 inhabitants. Head directly to Tinganes, the old part of the city right by the port. Many of the traditional houses have turf roofs and some of them date back up to 500 years.

Another great place to visit in Torshavn is the Skansin Fort located on a hill nearby. It offers great views over Tinganes and the port of Torshavn. It is best visited during sunset.

See the breathtaking cliffs at Vestmanna by boat

The area around Vestmanna on the main island of Streymoy offers some of the best steep cliffs of the island. While the views are already great if you drive along the coastline, they are even better from a boat. From Vestmanna, daily boat tours are available that take around 2 hours for 295 DKK (€40) per person (160 for children). More information and bookings can be made directly through the website of the organizing company here.

Go horseback riding in the Faroe Islands

Another fun activity in the Faroe Islands is horse riding. The islands are home to the Faroese horse – a breed that can only be found on the Faroe Islands. A breed of horses so tiny that they would be called ponies anywhere else in the world. If you are looking for a fun activity with kids on the Faroe Islands, horse riding is the right choice. The best spot to do so is on the island of Vagar, not far from the airport. Two hours of horseback riding costs 400 DKK per person (€54) for a two-hour ride. You can ride directly to the viewing spot for Lake Sorvagsvatn – so you will save yourself the hassle of hiking there yourself. Check out the website of the Faroe Islands tourism office for more details.

Faroe Islands map of attractions

The following map shows all the best things to see in the Faroe Islands that we visited during our three days in the Faroe Islands. On our first day, we visited Mulafossur Waterfall and Lake Sorvagsvatn on Vagar Island. On day two, we explored Streymoy, the island with the capital Torshavn. Day three was our last day before flying back to Copenhagen. We explored the island Eysturoy with the nation’s highest mountain peak in the north and beautiful views of fjords in the south.

Where to stay in the Faroe Islands

There are not many large hotels on the islands – and there is no need for them. The Faroe Islands are an ideal destination to find peace and quiet and escape the hassle of everyday life. Due to the central location, we decided to stay in a beautiful apartment we found through booking.com near the capital Torshavn. The apartment we chose had three bedrooms and a beautiful living room with a kitchen. Whenever I travel in Nordic states, I prefer an accommodation with kitchen so I don’t have to rely solely on expensive restaurants. We paid €180 for two nights – check the rates for your dates here.

Google sheep view – Inspiration for your trip to the Faroe Islands

Due to the abundance of sheep on the islands, the Faroe Islands tourism office supplied several sheep with a 365 Google camera so they could record images for Google street view. What started as a funny campaign became one of the most shared news stories and got Google’s attention to send proper street view vehicles to the islands. Check out the following video for the funny story:

Getting to the Faroe Islands

Assuming you are not planning a very long journey by boat, the only option to get to the Faroe Islands is by plane. The national airline Atlantic Airways connects the Faroe Islands to Copenhagen and Billund in Denmark and Bergen in Norway. In addition, they operate several other seasonal flights to European destinations. Scandinavian Airlines operate flights from Copenhagen.

Even though the Faroe Islands are a rather exotic destination, plane tickets are very affordable during the off-season. We paid less than €100 for our return flight from Copenhagen.

I hope you will enjoy your holiday in the Faroe Islands as much as we did. The islands are some of the best place for a roadtrip in Europe offer some of the most spectacular views I have ever seen. The landscapes reminded me a lot of my trip to Svalbard in the Arctic Circle – but the weather was much warmer in the Faroe Islands.

In case you have already traveled to the islands and think that there are most sights that we didn’t cover in this post, let us know in the comment section below so we can add it. We want to offer a full overview of what to do in the Faroe Islands.

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