Why the Faroe Islands should be your next adventure

The Faroe Islands don’t make it easy for you. Weather changes every fifteen minutes, roads are often single-lane tunnels through mountains, and you need to plan around ferry schedules. But that’s exactly why they’re incredible.

I started in Torshavn, the capital and one of the smallest in the world. The old town, Tinganes, with its grass-roofed houses painted in deep reds and blacks, looks like something out of a fairy tale. On my first day, I experienced sunshine, rain, fog, and wind strong enough to lean into, all within an hour.

The real magic happens when you venture beyond Torshavn. I hiked to Saksun, a village that sits in a natural amphitheater surrounded by mountains. The lagoon there doesn’t look real, it’s too perfect, like a postcard come to life. Only about a dozen people live there year-round, and I understood why someone would choose such isolation.

Gasadalur was another highlight. Before 2006, this village was only accessible by hiking over a mountain or by helicopter. Now there’s a tunnel, but it still feels wonderfully remote. The waterfall here, Mulafossur, drops straight off a cliff into the ocean. I sat and watched it for an hour, the spray occasionally catching the light just right to create rainbows.

The food surprised me. I expected basic fare, but Faroese cuisine has a sophistication to it. Fermented lamb, wind-dried fish, and local seafood prepared with modern techniques. It’s rustic and refined at the same time.

What I loved most was the sense of solitude. You can hike for hours without seeing another person. The sheep, which are everywhere, became my main companions. The landscapes are dramatic, all steep cliffs and green valleys and the ever-present North Atlantic crashing against the rocks.

If you’re looking for somewhere that still feels undiscovered, where nature dominates and the landscapes leave you speechless, the Faroe Islands deliver in spades.