“Please, Sir, we like to keep our grass alive. Stay on the road if you can,” called the passing local from his car. A tourist had stepped onto a meadow, above the tiny Faroese village of Boeur, to capture the perfect shot of the jagged sea stacks beyond.
The tourist hopped back onto the road and the meadow was spared. The local waved, smiled, and drove on. Life continued. It was a moment that would encapsulate our five days in the Faroe Islands. The archipelago, adrift between Iceland, Norway and Scotland, seemed so remote that visiting it was like stumbling upon an ancient secret.
Despite being only a two-hour flight from London, these 18 volcanic islands remain a mystery to most back home in the UK.
Faroe Islands factbox
It rains roughly 300 days a year
Location: Halfway between Scotland and Iceland
Population: 55,000
Total land area: 1,399km2 (540 square miles)
Climate: Average 3º to 11ºC, winter-summer
Language: Faroese and Danish
Currency: Faroese krona (DKK)
Time: GMT (winter); GMT+1 (summer)
That anonymity, however, is at risk of fading. As overtourism crowds Europe’s mainland, this Danish outpost is bracing for a record number of visitors.
But for the time being, on a cliff edge with the wind howling around you, the Faroe Islands still feel like the end of the earth.
A map of the Faroe Islands:
Exploring the region without a car is near impossible: the archipelago is connected by a web of 23 tunnels, four of which run beneath the sea. It’s a feat of engineering that nearby Shetland is now dreaming of replicating.
This is a nation where connectivity isn’t about making tourism easy; it’s about keeping people rooted in a place where tradition, family, and the ocean remain central to daily life. Some of the islands have a grand total of just 30 residents.
There are no crowds jostling for the perfect selfie, no TikTok stars hoping for their next viral video, no souvenir stalls selling magnets. Your only real concerns here are running out of camera memory and stepping in sheep…
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