Faroe Islands 5 Day Itinerary: Tórshavn, Vágar, Gjógv and Kalsoy

Vágar airport to Tórshavn is a 45 minute drive through your first subsea tunnel. After check-in, start at the white 1788 church at the top of the lane that drops to the harbour. It has been the seat of the Faroese church since 1990. Half an hour is enough.

Two hundred metres downhill is the headland where the Viking assembly met in the open air as early as the 9th century. The red turf-roofed houses are now the prime minister's office, yet you can still walk freely between them.

Get lost in the lanes of Reyn just behind, with black wooden houses from the 18th and 19th centuries. One hour.

Walk about 400 metres around the east harbour to the fort built in the 16th century against pirates. What is left are grass ramparts, the lighthouse and two British guns from the Second World War, when the UK occupied the islands. It is the best spot to watch the harbour in the late afternoon. Forty-five minutes.

Leave Tórshavn at 8:45 and drive back through the Vágar tunnel. In Sandavágur, the first village, a narrow road leads to a car park and a short walk to the viewpoint over the 313 metre sea stack. Forty-five minutes there and back.

This is the most famous view in the islands, and the trail crosses private farmland: pay at the landowners' reception at the trailhead in Miðvágur. Unguided it costs DKK 200; guided, DKK 450, with departures at 9:00, 12:00 and 15:00. It is about 3 km of mostly flat walking to the cliff edge.

From the top, the right angle makes the lake look higher than the sea. Carry on to Bøsdalafossur, the waterfall that pours into the ocean. Allow three hours and keep away from the edge in wind.

Ten minutes past the airport, the village of Bøur faces Tindhólmur, the tooth-shaped islet, and the Drangarnir sea stacks. Pull over before the road drops into the village for the view from above. Half an hour.

A short tunnel leads to Gásadalur, a handful of houses on the clifftop. From the car park, a five minute walk reaches the viewpoint where the water falls into the ocean with the mountain behind. Come late in the day, after the tour buses have left. One hour.

From May to August you can swap this day for Mykines, the puffin island: boat from Sørvágur, mandatory guide and a DKK 500 fee, booked weeks ahead. The path to the lighthouse is still closed after a landslide.

An hour north of Tórshavn, a single-track road ends in an enclosed valley with an 1858 church and a lagoon that drains at low tide. The land is a working farm: park where signed, respect the fences and bring a card in case there is a fee at the gate. Check the tide table if you want to walk the sand out to the sea. One and a half hours.

Go back to the coast road and head north. The roughly 140 metre, two-tier waterfall sits right beside the tarmac, with a lay-by. Twenty minutes.

The road ends at the northernmost bay on Streymoy, with a dark sand beach and surfers in summer. From the end of the village you can see the Risin og Kellingin sea stacks across the sound. Have lunch here; in summer there is a café on the beach. One hour fifteen.

Morning alternative: the boat trip to the Vestmanna bird cliffs, May to September, 30 minutes from here.

Cross to Eysturoy on the Streymin bridge, nicknamed the bridge over the Atlantic, and drive on to Eiði. On the road north of the village there is a viewpoint over the two stacks which, legend says, were two trolls turned to stone by the sunrise. Half an hour.

Head back through Eiði and take the mountain road: at the Eiðisskarð pass starts the trail up Slættaratindur, the country's highest point at 880 metres. On the other side is Gjógv, named after the 200 metre gorge where the sea runs in and boats are hauled up a ramp.

Walk the rim of the gorge and the colourful lanes, then have coffee at Gjáargarður, the turf-roofed guesthouse. One and a half hours. Return to Tórshavn through the Eysturoy tunnel, which has a lit roundabout under the sea.

Leave Tórshavn at 7:00 to catch the morning ferry from Klaksvík to Syðradalur, about 20 minutes. Book on the SSL website and arrive early, as the boat takes few cars. From there it is 25 minutes of road and tunnels to Trøllanes.

The hike is paid, DKK 200 per adult, and takes about two and a half hours return along the ridge to the lighthouse. At the top there is a James Bond memorial stone, because the island is where No Time to Die ends. In fog or strong wind, do not go up: the ridge has no railing.

On the way back to the ferry, drop down to Mikladalur harbour. The 2014 statue tells the legend of the seal who shed her skin to dance as a woman and was trapped by a fisherman who hid it. Half an hour.

Back in Klaksvík, the 1963 stone church has a rowing boat hanging in the middle of the nave, a tribute to fishermen lost at sea. Thirty minutes.

Thirty minutes northeast, the last village in the islands sits between two mountains and the sea. The 1892 church keeps silverware given by the British government after villagers saved the crew of an English ship in 1847. If you have the legs, climb Villingadalsfjall, a DKK 200 paid hike. One hour fifteen in the village.

Check out early and drive 20 minutes south to Kirkjubøur, the religious centre of the islands in the Middle Ages. St Magnus Cathedral, from around 1300, never got its roof. Next to it are St Olav's Church, the oldest still in use in the country, and Kirkjubøargarður, a wooden farmhouse lived in by the same family for 17 generations. One hour fifteen.

The Sandoy tunnel entrance is five minutes from Kirkjubøur. Opened in December 2023, it is 10.8 km long and dips 155 metres below the sea, with artwork by Edward Fuglø on the walls. On the other side, Sandur has a pale sand beach, protected dunes and a lake behind. One hour fifteen.

Before heading back into the tunnel, detour five minutes to Skopun, the old ferry port, with colourful houses and fishing boats. Leave by 13:30: from the Sandoy tunnel to the airport is about 1h10 by road. Thirty minutes.