Seven days, five islands, and a self-drive loop that takes in some of the North Atlantic's most dramatic landscapes. This Faroe Islands road trip itinerary covers Tórshavn, Saksun, Gásadalur's famous waterfall, the Kalsoy lighthouse hike from Klaksvík, and the village of Gjógv on one connected circuit.
The Faroe Islands do not ease you in gently. Within an hour of leaving Tórshavn's harbour, you will be navigating single-track mountain roads, emerging from subsea tunnels into valleys that seem to belong to another world, and stopping every few kilometres to get out and stare at a landscape that looks rendered rather than real. These 18 islands between Norway and Iceland have become one of the most talked-about self-drive destinations in Europe, and the seven-day grand loop is the best way to understand why.
This Faroe Islands road trip itinerary covers the main island chain, from the capital and the sea-cliff villages of Streymoy, west to Gásadalur's famous waterfall on Vágar, north to the fjord city of Klaksvík and the Kalsoy lighthouse hike, and east to Gjógv before looping home. No driving section is longer than two hours, though you will rarely cover the miles quickly with so much to stop for.
When to go: May to September. The summer months bring up to 20 hours of daylight and passable road conditions across all islands. July and August are the busiest months; May and early June offer similar light with smaller crowds and a better chance of seeing puffins nesting on the cliffs.
Getting there: Atlantic Airways flies to Vágar Airport from Copenhagen, Reykjavik, Edinburgh, and seasonal European routes. The airport is on Vágar island, connected to Streymoy and Tórshavn by the Vágatunnilin undersea tunnel.
Car hire: Book well in advance. Rental options are limited and fill up early in summer. A standard compact car handles all roads on this route. Keep fuel topped up whenever you pass a station; remote villages have none.
Tunnel tolls: Four subsea tunnels on this route require payment online at tunnil.fo within three days of use. Budget around 200 to 450 DKK per crossing. The Eysturoyartunnilin charges in both directions.
Accommodation: Book at least six months ahead. Small villages like Gjógv have only one or two guesthouses with very few rooms. Tórshavn has the most options, including the Havgrim Seaside Hotel on the harbour front.
Budget: The Faroes are expensive. Budget at least £150 to £200 per person per day for accommodation, meals, and fuel.
Start in the capital, which is compact enough to explore on foot in an afternoon but full of more genuine character than most Nordic cities three times its size. The Tinganes peninsula, where the Faroese parliament (Løgting) has met since the 9th century, is a cluster of red and black turf-roofed buildings around a working harbour. It takes 20 minutes to walk the old town lanes, but you will spend much longer.
Eight days through the finest UNESCO towns of Bohemia and Moravia: Prague's Astronomical Clock, the bone church of Kutná Hora, Telč's Renaissance square, the fairy-tale castle bend of Český Krumlov and Pilsner Urquell in Plzeň.
On your second day, drive 20 minutes south to Kirkjubøur to see the ruins of St Magnus Cathedral (circa 1300) and the Roykstovan farmhouse, continuously inhabited since the Viking Age. Return to Tórshavn for the evening: the restaurant scene is genuinely strong, with several kitchens focusing on traditional fermented lamb and fresh Atlantic catches.
Drive north from Tórshavn on the main #10 road, then turn inland on the #53 toward Saksun. The road narrows and the valley deepens until the village appears: 15 or so inhabitants, a handful of turf-roofed houses, and one of the most striking natural settings in the Faroes. A tidal lagoon closes off the valley from the sea; at low tide you can walk out to the sandy spit and look back at the amphitheatre of mountains behind.
The Dúvugarðar farmhouse at the lagoon edge is a small museum covering traditional Faroese farming and Norse heritage. After lunch, hike up the valley toward the ridgeline for Atlantic views west across Streymoy. Stay the night in Saksun or nearby Hvalvík.
Drive south from Saksun back toward Tórshavn, then take the Vágatunnilin west to Vágar island. Gásadalur, at the far western tip, was connected to the road network only in 2004; before that, the only access was a steep mountain trail or by helicopter. Today you drive to the village and walk 15 minutes to the clifftop for Múlafossur, a 30-metre waterfall that drops uninterrupted from the grass above directly into the Atlantic.
In the afternoon, drive to Sørvágur and walk the Trælanípa ridge path along the coast. At the right camera angle, the long lake (Sørvágsvatn) appears to float far above the ocean below. The walk is 1.5 hours return and genuinely vertiginous toward the edge. Stay overnight in Gásadalur or Sørvágur.
Drive back through the Vágatunnilin to Streymoy, then east across the bridge to Eysturoy, and north through the Norðoyatunnilin to Klaksvík on Borðoy island. This is the Faroes' second city and its northern hub. Check in early and spend the afternoon at the harbour and the striking Christianskirkjan church.
On your second day here, take the morning ferry from Klaksvík to Kalsoy island and hike three hours to the Kallur Lighthouse. The ridge path is exposed and sometimes waterlogged, but the lighthouse sits above 200-metre cliffs with views of the Faroes' northern island chain on a clear day. In the evening, drive north to Viðareiði for the most dramatic fjord panorama on the entire route.
Return through the Norðoyatunnilin to Eysturoy and drive north to Gjógv. This village is widely cited as the most photogenic in the Faroes, and it earns the description: a cluster of turf-roofed houses on a headland above a 200-metre natural sea gorge. The gorge path runs to the cliff edge where the Atlantic crashes into the rock. Puffins nest in the clifftops above from May through August.
From Gjógv, drive south through Eysturoy and back across to Streymoy to return to Tórshavn. Allow two hours, including time for a final stop on the coast with a view. You will want a last look.
All islands on this route are connected by road tunnel or causeway. No ferries are required for the core loop itself, though Kalsoy (Kallur Lighthouse) and Mykines (puffins, an optional add-on) require ferry crossings.
The Faroe Islands are small enough that no driving day on this itinerary exceeds two hours of road time. What extends the journeys are the stops you cannot help making: the layby on a ridge, the village you did not plan to visit, the waterfall you almost drove past.
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The full route — stops, maps, and driving times — is on Routebook by Kington.
Seven-day self-drive loop from Tórshavn taking in the sea-cliff hamlets of Saksun and Gjógv, Gásadalur's famous Atlantic-edge waterfall, and the Kalsoy lighthouse hike from Klaksvík.
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