In March 2024, we spent a full 7 days exploring the Faroe Islands.
Along the way seeing, arguably the very best things to do in the Faroes.
We spent weeks planning the trip in the run-up so as to not miss anything.
And then took time to explore the islands top to bottom in our own car.
To discover even more unique hidden sites that exist.
And below is an absolutely EPIC week-long itinerary for visiting the Faroe Islands.
Based on all of the things we did ourselves; this is easily one of the most jam-packed, yet awe inspiring road trips you can have anywhere in Europe.
Let’s get straight into it …
Note: You can follow these days in any order; so I advise pre-booking any necessary tours/ferries on days that are available first and then working the rest of the days around those.
The below itinerary is very full on and, chances are, the weather will be terrible at least one day you are in the Faroe Islands.
For that reason I recommend prioritizing the things you want to see most right towards the start of the itinerary.
That way, if you have washout weather for one or two days, then you can push your lesser priority things out of the itinerary and still get to see everything you need to do.
If the weather is perfect, then it’s 100% possible to do everything below in 7 days.
Otherwise, if you think you need 7 full days, then I actually recommend staying in the Faroe for more like 9 days, so that you have that big of wiggle room.
If you want to see puffins when in Faroe (which I’m guessing you will), then you’ll want to take a visit to Mykines.
This island in the very north western part of the Faroe Islands is the best place to go puffin spotting. But be aware that they are only here from the end of April through till September.
Full disclosure, we didn’t actually get to see the puffins, as we were in Faroe in the last week of March so they hadn’t arrived yet (but instead saw them in Iceland 2 weeks later).
If we were only going to Faroe (and not Iceland straight after) then we would have adjusted our trip time so as to be sure we could see them as this is one of the highlights of visiting this region of the world.
To see them here, you can’t drive the whole way to the island of Mykines, but will instead need to take a tour or get the ferry over and back on your own.
If you choose to take the ferry, then you will first need to head to the harbour of Sørvágur in Vagar and take the ferry. It takes 45 minutes to reach the island and there are a limited number of ferries throughout the day so I 100% recommend booking.
You can check the timetable and book here.
When there you can hike to the Mykines Lighthouse and spend your day taking in the fresh air and bird watching opportunities. To be sure of any recent closures on the island and what you can and cannot do here, I recommend reading this guide by the “Destination Management Organization” for the islands of Vágar and Mykines.
Alternatively, a great option is to book a pre-booked trip that handles your transport there and back, and perhaps even comes combined with a different activity.
Some examples of the top rated tours for visiting the Puffins in Faroe include:
Next up, we have the wonderful island of Vagar!
You will have already seen part of this if you went to Mykines the day before.
Vagar is one of the more popular areas of the Faroe Islands, and there are quite a few awesome attractions to see there!
This will be a fairly big day so as always, it’s best to start out earlier, just in case the weather plays havoc with you at certain times of the day.
Your first stop should be the Witch’s Finger trail. This is a fairly easy walk that takes around 25-30 minutes each way, but leads to a beautiful viewpoint of the witch's finger!
The tale goes Trøllkonufingur is the finger of a witch who came to throw the Faroe Islands to Iceland. When she came to the sea south of Vágar, the sun came up and she was turned into stone and fell into the ocean.
Be wary that this walk can get very windy, so I wouldn’t recommend flying a drone.
It’s also free! There is limited parking (enough for 4-5 cars), and there are no toilet facilities.
Next up, is “Slaves Cliff”, also known as the “Lake Above The Ocean”. This is one of the most popular hikes on the Faroe Islands, which also means it’s a paid hike!
This can really frustrate some people, but it is what it is!
However on this particular hike, it does include a briefing on the area with some fun facts and a hot drink from a machine.
The cost is 200 Danish Krone per person (which is around $30 at the time of writing).
The hike itself is easy enough and there were some steep areas, near the end, but it is an absolutely beautiful walk. It should take you around 2 hours round trip (but may take a little longer if you’re going to be taking lots of pictures, relaxing at the top with a picnic or even flying a drone!).
The last sight to check out on day 2 is Múlafossur Waterfall & The Iconic Gasadalur Village. Thankfully, this isn’t an overly long walk (you may be starting to feel tired at this point!).
You park at the village car park and can walk down, it’ll take about 10-15 minutes.
This is an ICONIC photo of the Faroe Islands, and you’ll likely have come across this spot countless times as you’ve been researching!
Well finally you can see it, and you’re allowed to fly a drone (woohoo!)
Oh, it’s free too!
After this day, head back to your accommodation, relax and pour yourself a well earned drink!
Day 3 of your Faroe itinerary is going to take you to one of the most popular (and beautiful!) places on the Faroe Islands!
This is the village of Saksun.
Saksun stands out as one of the most enchanting spots in the Faroe Islands, offering a serene atmosphere where time seems to slow down.
Nestled above a breathtaking lagoon, the village is renowned for its distinctive setting. Towering mountains and numerous waterfalls add to the charm.
Lots of people visit Saksun primarily to capture the charm of its quaint church, check out the Dúvugarðar Museum & Café, and embark on scenic hikes in the area.
One of the most popular trails is the route leading to the "Black Sand" Beach, which also showcases the stunning Pollurin Waterfall.
This was one of my favourite “hikes” (it’s more of a walk, there’s very little incline), but there is a hiking fee of 75 DKK per person.
Note: when we visited in March 2024 the turnstile had been removed. I have no idea for how long, this may have just been for winter. So if it does reappear on your visit, do drop a comment and let us know!
The walk will take anywhere between 45 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes depending on your pace and just how much time you spend taking magical photos.
Something important to note here is that you can only walk out on the black sand beach when the tide is out, so make sure you check tide times before you embark on your adventure.
After you’ve finished visiting Saksun, it’s time to hop back in your car and head north to Tjørnuvík, which is actually the hot spot to do surfing in the Faroe Islands!
If you’re feeling adventurous and brave, there is a surf shop there where you can rent all the equipment you need (but it is seasonal).
Even if you don’t want to surf, it’s definitely worth visiting this quaint little town for the epic beach and wave views. Plus, there’s a random little cafe in town (located in a locals home) which serves the best waffles.
I can’t vouch for this because it was closed when we visited, but Google Reviews indicate great things! It opens May to October and you can find out more here.
On your way out of Tjørnuvík and back to base camp (your hotel), you can stop at the tallest waterfall on the Faroe Islands, named Fossa!
It’s not very big if we’re comparing it to the majority of waterfalls in the world, but it’s pretty, easy to see, and worth stopping and grabbing some pictures.
After your day of sightseeing the northern part of this island, it’s time to head back down to the capital for the evening.
This is a perfect time to wander around the “old town” of Tinanges located in Torshaven.
It’s quite a small area, but very picturesque with its red houses with grass-top roofs.
There are also a number of bars and restaurants in the area where you can finish your day by grabbing a bite to eat!
On day four of this Faroe Itinerary, things are going to be more focused on the journey, rather than lots of activities and walks, but first we’re going to head straight north towards Eiði.
They have quite a cool football pitch here which makes a great drone shot (it was covered in snow when we were there), but the town itself is beautiful and has some amazing views.
After a quick stop there it’s time to drive around to Gjógv, which is a beautiful harbor town with amazing views, wonderful walks, and viewpoints.
You can check out the natural harbour, get some pictures by “Queen Marys Bench”, then head to the local cafe in town for a local beer, or coffee!
The drive here is very picturesque as goes over a sort of mountain pass, so just be careful in the winter!
From there it’s time to drive to the Gongutúrur / Hvithamar Trailhead, which we actually couldn’t do due to poor visibility and lots of snow, BUT, in the summer this will be a lovely trail with wonderful views and should take you around an hour to get to the two viewpoints (it’s a little over a mile!).
Once you’ve stretched your legs, it’s then time to take a beautiful mountain drive towards Funningur viewpoint.
You can opt to drive down into the town itself, as they have a very picturesque black church by the water, otherwise, it’s still a lovely viewpoint from the road above!
This entire island offers so many amazing views, and we literally just drove around the entire island (it doesn’t take long, remember the Faroe Islands aren’t very big!). So another viewpoint I can suggest you drive to would be Fuglafjørður Viewpoint.
Get ready for perhaps my favourite day of this entire 7 day road trip!
It sounds pretty full on, covering 4 islands in one day; but just remember that you aren’t seeing every single island to its fullest.
Instead, I recommend planning your day largely around the island of Kalsoy.
This is a thing, a long island that doesn’t have a lot to do there. But what it does have, is awesome!
It is home to one of the best hikes you can do on the Faroe Islands which is the walk out to Kallur Lighthouse at the northern tip. It’s an incredibly scenic point, with insane views looking back in front of the lighthouse at the gaping cliff edge.
But better still, it is at this spectacular point where you can visit James Bond’s grave. Yep, spoiler alert! This is where he is buried.
After this hike, you head back down towards the southern end of the island with a stop off at Mikladalur. Which is home to the infamous Seal Woman (infamous at least in Faroe folklore!).
Not only is this a truly breathtaking spot, but the statue (and story) are sited to behold and take in.
In the summer months there is a cafe at this point which is open. And there is also a super cute Airbnb here. I fell in love with this and really wish I had booked a night here in advance.
These are the main things to do on the island, but they are things I would not recommend skipping on a trip to Faroe.
The only thing you need to be aware of is how to get to Kalsoy. You can either turn up (I would not recommend this) to the ferry port and wait to board. Or better still simply book in advance.
I believe this is quite new for 2024, as when we turned up there were people just waiting in their cars and could have been left queuing a long time to board. You can find out more information about this process in our other guide on best things to do in the Faroe Islands.
I recommend prioritising this day with Kalsoy first and with whatever time you have left, check out the other islands of Kunoy, Borðoy & Vidoy.
Vidareidi Viewpoint is nice and, if you have time, there is a mountain hike you can do from here which seemed to be very highly rated (the weather was pretty horrendous by the time we reached here).
With only 7 days in the Faroe we were (like you will be) limited in what to do and prioritise so I’m sure there are things on these islands worth doing but that we simply didn’t have time to discover.
But the drive around them was truly lovely in and of itself.
What an epic island this is!
This was an amazing day for us, with a lot of very unexpected sites to see. Largely because the island is (comparatively) so underdeveloped for tourists.
In December 2023, the Sandoyartunnilin opened, officially connecting Sandoy to the rest of the Faroe Islands road network.
Instead of needing to take a ferry to reach the islands, you now have the ability to quickly drive here, with the tunnel itself being a pretty epic thing to drive through.
I mean, we’ve driven a lot of tunnels over the years, but when you consider how small the Faroe Islands are in terms of population, then you realise these deep sea tunnels are actually pretty epic feats of engineering.
They are still building out the tunnel networks all across the Faroe, and you will see evidence of these on the island of Sandoy, such as when heading across to the small isolated community of Dalur.
The drive here was wonderful and, though there’s not much to see when you reach it; the drive itself is what makes a quick stop here all the more special.
The same goes for the equally small and isolated community at Skarvanes.
One of the few “things to do” on Sandoy is the Caféin á Mølini which, unlike most other cafes on the Faroe, is open almost all year round.
It’s a charmingly remote and old fashioned cafe situated with some lovely views and with wonderful staff.
Another thing to check out when on Sandoy is the world’s largest blue mailbox! Pretty random I know, but worth a visit seeing as you’ve already come this far.
Ultimately, for me at least, this day of your Faroe itinerary is all about driving as many little roads as you can (or want to), visiting small communities that remain much like they have for generations.
There are some cool photography opportunities, as well as some hikes if you fancy. In fact, it’s possible to hike all the way across from Skarvanes to Dalur (our two favourite places on Sandoy).
Don’t be sad, but it’s the final day of your 7 day Faroe Islands itinerary!
It’s the final day, but you’re ending with the furthest island!
This is the *one* island we did not do on this itinerary, and it was my fault (Cazzy), we had just come off a 3 day ferry ride, and I didn’t want to get on another 2 hour ferry each way….
BUT if you want to visit the most remote, non-touristy island of the Faroe Islands, then this is the place to go.
You can get the ferry there and back in one day, so start early.
Whilst there are no specific attractions to visit on the island (other than checking out the churches), this island will offer you amazing views at every turn.
But definitely, the most popular thing to do on the island is to visit the southernmost village of Sumba and the Akaraberg Lighthouse.
To assist you better on your final day, this blog post offers ood insight on the things to do there!
But to help with logistics, this is how you get there: you need to take the ferry Smyril, which has several daily departures from Tórshavn. The sailing time is 2 hours and the trip is an experience on its own. You’ll actually pass by one third of all the Faroe Islands on your way to Suðuroy.
So it kind of acts like a sightseeing tour too!
Here is a link to the prices for passengers and cars.
You can also get a helicopter (which is pretty cool), and you can check out the timetable and book here.
If you’re reading this guide, then I’m going to assume you’re happy enough driving your own vehicle.
Yes, this exact itinerary can be followed using public transport and tours, but it will naturally take longer to achieve and you probably won’t be able to squeeze absolutely everything in.
But for the purpose of this guide, I’m assuming you are happy to either:
In the case of the first, I recommend using Rentalcars to find a vehicle. For all road trips that we do (which is a lot!) We always search for a rental vehicle through Discovercars and Rentalcars.
Between them, you are covering all your bases and best placed to get an amazing deal, as well as the best choice available.
Or to save even more time, check out my in-depth rundown on the best car rentals the Faroe Islands have to offer.
But in the case of the Faroe Islands, Rentalcars reigns supreme in terms of vehicles on offer and companies they work with, so I recommend doing a search with them. Discovercars
In terms of vehicles itself, the roads in the Faroe Islands are very high quality (for the most part), and at times a little narrow in some of the older settlements.
So any vehicle will do, though having an all-wheel drive vehicle will perhaps be favourable if you plan on visiting in times where snow is due (which is a lot of the year). We went in March and having an all-wheel drive with all-season tyres proved to be a wise decision!
If you’re wondering about driving an electric vehicle in the Faroes, just scroll down for my notes below on this.
It is entirely possible to drive your own vehicle over to the Faroe Islands, and that’s exactly what we did!
Our week in the Faroe Islands actually formed part of a longer 6 week trip which included a full month exploring Iceland.
There is a ferry (sort of like a mini cruise in fact) that goes from Hirtshals in Denmark and takes 2 days to reach the Faroe Islands.
It then calls back in the Faroes a week later at the same time and takes 1 more day to get to Iceland. The return journey from Iceland to Denmark then takes 3 days.
It’s important to note that you can also bring campers to Faroe, and there are limited campsites around the islands to stay at, saving the need for hotels.
Learn more about how to do this through the Smyril Line website here.
Driving in the Faroe is an absolute pleasure. They have wonderful roads mostly throughout and it is all scenic. Literally 100% of the time.
But the best part is the sheer scale of the tunnel projects they have undertaken here. Almost all islands are now connected by either bridges, or underwater tunnels.
And many of the islands themselves have tunnels bored through the mountains to enable remote communities to connect with the rest of the infrastructure.
In fact, when we were there we saw half a dozen other tunnels being built to further connect communities (sometimes with even just 10 or 20 homes in them).
The engineering is incredibly impressive, but perhaps none more so than their underwater tunnels. There are 4 of these, with the most recent one connecting the island of Sandoy being completed only in December 2023.
All of the mountain tunnels and bridges are free to use, but the 4 sub-sea tunnels are tolls, with prices typically around 100 DKK each way.
If you are driving your own vehicle over to Faroe, then to pay for these; you need to sign up via the link on this website here and enter your number plate and car details. They will then register your number plate when you drive through and automatically bill you (usually 24 hours later).
If you rent a car, then I believe that all rental firms handle this process for you and bill you after (you should double check this with your provider).
We drove our Tesla Model 3 over from the UK and, I must admit, I was a little apprehensive about the charging network setup in the Faroe Islands.
In the end, I needn’t have been as there are surprisingly quite a few chargers now, all across the Faroe on all of the major islands.
The network isn’t as good as mainland Europe, and there are no Tesla superchargers anywhere. In fact Tesla maps aren’t supported on the Faroe yet.
You can view the map screen and it all loads perfectly well. We have premium connectivity and the Netflix and YouTube loads are no trouble, but you can’t use navigational maps. Which was strange, but maybe it will change soon.
Anyway, the largest charger you will find (at least as of 2024) are 150kw ones. The fastest charge speed we got out of these was 75kw. As an idea of time spent charging, we spent an average of around 1 hour a day to recharge our vehicle after the day of exploring from our base in Torshavn.
This wall until (after 5 days!) we realised our hotel had destination chargers at them. You can read more about this and other facilities on offer in our review of the Hilton Garden Inn Faroe Islands here.
It was a little frustrating to discover so near the end, as they are at a further end of the car park and only recently installed. But so cheap! At only 2 DKK per Kwh, these are probably the cheapest chargers we have ever found, anywhere yet for our car.
On the chargers throughout the rest of the islands, the going rate at the time was 2.24kwh, which is still insanely cheap (at least by UK standards).
To use the charging network in Faroe you need to use this website here. Sign up for an account and pre-deposit money before charging as this is how you activate and use any of the chargers.
For more guidance or questions on using an EV in the Faroe Islands, use this website here.
The Faroe Islands are still relatively small and the longest drive from Torshavn to the top of the lands is still less than an hour.
So really, you can base yourself pretty much anywhere and be able to make this itinerary work.
For us, we chose to stay at the Hilton Garden Inn, just on the outskirts of Torshavn.
The reasons for this being:
I did explore the idea of staying in a few places spotted around the islands, but as we knew that each day would be pretty big and full of driving and exploring, I didn’t fancy also having to haul our luggage from place to place.
It ended up being a really amazing choice (not least when we discovered the on-site electric chargers!).
But having our meals already sorted each night meant that when we got back we still had an hour or two to focus on writing these (hopefully super useful) guides for you to read; rather than letting them all build up.
You can read more in our review of the Hilton Garden Inn Faroe.
Alternatively, I recommend using Booking.com and Airbnb to find accommodation that suits your style and preferences. There are lots of choices from hotels to self-catered cute and quirky holiday lets. The only place I will say to check out is this place here.
I was tempted to book a night or 2 here but didn’t and kinda wish I had! You will see it either way on day 5 of this itinerary.
When planning any itinerary through the Faroe Islands (be it 7 days or 2 days or 3 weeks), there is one thing you have to contend with …
The weather.
The Faroe Islands are famous for how quickly the weather can change, but also how dreadful and treacherous it can be for days at a time.
We visited in March and our first 3 days were each entirely different. One being cold but extremely windy. The next calm and mild. The next day absolutely horrendous snow, and then the next day gale force winds and rain.
It even depends on which part of the islands you are on!
It's mad how the south end of a small island that takes 15 minutes to drive can be calm and blue skies, but completely misty and rainy in the north.
So you tend to factor this into any itinerary you do build. The above 7 day Faroe itinerary is full on, but leaves no room for error.
Instead I would recommend panning a 6 day itinerary and cutting out something or squeezing a few bits into one day. That way, if one day is a total washout, it does mean that you can still pick up and use your day in hand to make sure you still get to see everything you wanted.
Or better still, do the exact 7 day itinerary above, but stay for 9 days. Then when you do get bad weather you have peace of mind knowing you can have the day off to chill and unwind.
Now over to you …
Do you have any recommendations that you think my Faroe itinerary missed?
Or perhaps any questions you need help with in planning your own road trip on the Faroe islands?
Let me know in the comments below.
Other guides you may find useful:
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