You likely won’t find the Faroe Islands on most travelers’ radars, but these craggy North Atlantic rocks stand poised to jolt even the most jaded globetrotter. The Faroe Islands are at once ancient and utterly modern—a wind-whipped 18-island archipelago that’s easier to reach than you’d imagine, yet begets the thrilling sense of having arrived at the ends of the earth. Even so, from European gateways like Copenhagen (the Faroe Islands are a territory of Denmark) and Edinburgh, the capital of Tórshavn is just a short flight before you’re touching down amid the swirling swells. Brace yourself for what awaits beyond the tiny airstrip: an epic, time-warped wonderland of treeless moors crisscrossed by centuries-old footpaths and gnarled mountains shearing towards the horizon. Even the tiniest, once-inaccessible hamlets are now connected by a network of tunnels bored straight through those towering crags. And the weather? Always a spectacle, from ferocious gales and slashing rain to brilliant stillness revealing every crenellated peak and thundering cascade in high-def clarity.
Thanks to an enlightened tourism approach, there are myriad opportunities to venture beyond hotels and immerse yourself in authentic Faroese life. Join locals in their living rooms for intimate concerts like October’s Hoyma Festival, where you’ll be treated to Faroese music, food and hospitality while making the rounds from home to home. Or celebrate summer’s arrival at the raucous G! Festival, a multi-stage music blowout drawing crowds from across the archipelago. No matter the season, you can find yourself knitting shoulders-to-shoulders with islanders, savoring home-cooked åsturin fish soup or clinking glasses of local beer at impromptu kitchen festas. But the islands’ true giants roam the skies and waters. Come spring, guillemot colonies and comically rotund puffins blanket the cliffs by the thousands, porpoising in and out of their grassy burrows. Lower your gaze and shoals of fish rush the currents, ushering in a journey ahead.
