When we were planning our trip to Norway, I was debating if we should tack on another country while we’re already on that side of the world. I knew that Iceland Air had free stopovers in Iceland, but we had already done an amazing road trip in Iceland a few years back. Faroe Islands was just a short flight from Iceland and had direct flights to Bergen Norway, so I immediately put it on my radar! Make sure you use SkyScanner when looking for these flights, as Google Flights often doesn’t show smaller airlines.
Faroe Islands is a cluster of 18 small islands in the Atlantic ocean, somewhere between Iceland and Scotland, and is part of the kingdom of Denmark. The islands are connected by bridges, tunnels, and ferries and are fairly easy to get around.
How many days do you need for Faroe Islands with kids?
You can see most of the islands in about a week or less. The problem is that the weather is so unpredictable you might want to budget in extra days! If the fog rolls in or the wind picks up, you’ll want that extra time to revisit spots you might have missed.
The islands are really compact, and you can drive from South to North in just under two hours. This make the Faroes perfect for families who want to avoid long road trips. Keep an eye on ferry schedules though, and allow plenty of time for trail conditions if you’re hiking with little ones.
What to pack for a trip to Faroe Islands with Kids
Our kids are pretty much always outfitted in Reima gear head to toe – I swear by this brand for kids outdoor clothing.
Use SLJ15 for 15% off when purchasing any Reima gear!
We brought the kids’ rain jackets, boots and hats and glad we had all that with us. For everything else, check out our travel favorites and the camera gear we bring with us.
Faro Islands Itinerary: A 7-Day family Adventure
Day 1: Sørvágur (Vágar Island)
You’ll be flying into Vágar Airport which is just a few minutes away from the town of Sørvágur. This will be your base for the first few days! It’s a beautiful town with lots of houses covered in moss.
We rented a car through Enterprise right from the airport. It’s technically possible to get around by bus and taxi, but with three kids we wanted the convenience of having a dedicated transport. This also allowed us to stop on the side of the road when the views were nice!
Where to stay in Sørvágur?
This place is absolutely incredible with an unbeatable view of the ocean.
If you have an early morning flight, take the afternoon to hike to Trælanípa. This is a relatively flat and family-friendly trail that leads to the famous “lake above the ocean” view. Unfortunately we missed this due to intense fog the entire time we were in Sørvágur, so I hope you have better luck!
Day 2: Mykines
If the weather cooperates, take a day trip to Mykines. This is a small island reachable by ferry from Sørvágur which is famous for its Puffin colonies! Puffin season is typically from May until August. The ferry takes about 45 minutes, but a word of caution: the North Atlantic can be rough, and the crossing is prone to sea-sickness.
The ferry is small and the demand is high, so you’ll want to book your tickets weeks in advance and keep a close eye on the forecast. Once you arrive, there is a mandatory hiking fee (about 400-500DKK) to access the area where the puffin colonies are located. The hike on Mykines is a steep, steady trek which takes about 2 to 3 hours to complete round trip from the village to the viewing ridges. Amenities are limited so it’s best to pack a full day’s worth of supplies, especially since you might face delays with the return ferry.
We had pretty bad luck with weather on this trip so we stayed on solid ground and had to miss this part of the trip. Instead, we used that time to visit Múlafossur, twice! The first time it was completely covered in fog and started raining, and second time we actually had a small window of visibility and it paid off!
I realize it might sound funny to recommend so many things we didn’t actually get to cross off our list (Trælanípa and Mykines), but these spots were the heart of our original plan. Just writing this makes me want to go back and do it all over again, hopefully with a little more cooperation from the clouds or more room for error!
If you do end up doing the day trip to Mykines, you will still have time to make it to Múlafossur for sunset. Just not twice 😉 It’s an easy 13 minute drive away from Sørvágur and a very short hike from the parking lot.
Day 3: Klaksvik
Drive toward the village of Funningur. You’ll pass through two underground tunnels to get to this island. It’s about an hour drive and you’ll hopefully get really beautiful views along the way. If you have extra time, you can stop at Tjørnuvík and Saksun on Streymoy island. We skipped these two spots and kept going straight to Funningur as I really wanted to make sure we were able to hike Gongutúrur.
This hike ended up being one of our favorites on our trip! It’s relatively short, low elevation hike (the parking lot starts you at the top of the hill), making it perfect for families. This is one of those low-effort high-reward hikes that doesn’t bring in huge crowds. The perfect combination!
If you have time (and visibility!) you can continue on down toward Gjógv after you’ve soaked in all the views at Gongutúrur. This is a super cute and beautiful town where we had lunch and took a bit of time to rest after being literally and figuratively blown away at the top of the pass.
You’ll end your day with a 45 minute drive toward Klaksvik, your new base for the next two nights.
Day 4: Klaksvik
This was my favorite town to stay in. It’s super cute, small, and absolutely gorgeous from above.
We stayed at this place right on the water and had the most amazing views from our window. The place was fully equipped, clean and had laundry and parking.
There’s a hike that starts right from Klaksvik, called Klakkur. It was so windy we almost got a free express flight to Norway on this hike, but it was totally worth it! The views are unbeatable from here and it’s a relatively easy hike, assuming you’re not constantly fighting for your life with the crazy winds. Definitely leave enough margin for error with weather for this as it is not to be missed!
The town is super cute with lots of cafes and great restaurants, so spend the day exploring the surroundings.
Day 5: Kalsoy
Today is the most epic day on the itinerary – visiting Kallur Lighthouse!
There’s a decent amount of logistics to get there but it’s absolutely worth it and not actually that bad since everything is quite streamlined.
You do have the option of staying overnight on Kalsoy island and we actually had a really cool place booked here. But like most things on this trip – nothing went according to plan, and our baby came down with a fever so we rearranged a bunch of plans to be closer to a hospital in case she needed care. Staying on Kalsoy means you’re at the mercy of a ferry that doesn’t run super frequently and we didn’t want to get stuck overnight without access to medical help.
Getting to Kalsoy:
To reach Kalsoy island, you’ll need to buy ferry tickets a couple of days in advance. There’s limited car space (up to 12 cars per ferry) so if you’re planning on bringing your car over make sure to plan ahead. For our day trip, we found it much easier to park our car at the ferry terminal in Klaksvik and travel as pedestrians. The ferry schedule can be found here.
The ferry ride is a scenic 20-minute journey that drops you off in Syðradalur. The waters are much calmer here as they are protected by the Klaksvik bay. From Syðradalur, a dedicated bus will take you directly to the village of Trøllanes, the trailhead to Kallur Lighthouse (the last stop). The bus ride takes about 30 minutes and winds through several dramatic tunnels. Once you arrive, the hike to Kallur Lighthouse beings right from the village of Trøllanes. It is moderate, 40 minute trek that is usually quite muddy, but the views at the end are some of the best on Faroe Islands.
Keep a close eye on kids here as it can get quite slippery. The trail to the lighthouse isn’t too bad, but there’s a section of the trail that goes past the lighthouse that I did not let the kids go on. I had my husband stay with the kids by the lighthouse while I hiked a little bit further and sent the drone up as well.
To get back you’ll need to reverse the steps you took to get here, and make sure you don’t miss the last bus coming back from Trøllanes.
If you prefer to stay on Kalsoy, this is the place we had booked. There are very limited options on this island, all in the village of Mikladalur. The bus conveniently stops there as well, so you can manage without a car the entire time you’re here. The only thing to keep in mind is there’s not much in terms of food, so either bring groceries with you from Klaksvik or be prepared to eat at the very limited options in Mikladalur.
Day 6:
This is a bonus day that I would leave for revisiting any locations you didn’t get a chance to see due to bad weather. Since everything is within a 2-hour driving range, you can just do a day trip to wherever you need to revisit. If you were lucky enough to see everything you wanted in the first 5 days, here are some other options for exploring:
1. Visit the Northernmost point of Faroe Islands
This is just a short 20 minute drive from Klaksvik and will get you the full picture of driving the islands from south to north. There’s a really cool hike at the end – Villingardalsfjall – that is more challenging and not recommended for little kids. This doesn’t usually deter us personally, but make your own choices on this one! We skipped it due to lack of time.
2. Check out Tórshavn
Tórshavn is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. We stayed here for a couple of nights while our daughter was sick because this is the only town with a children’s hospital. While we were waiting for her to get better, we got to explore a little bit of the town and it was super cute! There are lots of great restaurants, amazing children’s playgrounds and plenty of cute shops.
Day 7: Drive back to Sørvágur
Fly out of Sørvágur
After exploring Faroe Islands we continued on to visit Northern Norway on an epic 10 day road trip, followed by hiking some of Norway’s most impressive Fjords!