Adventure & Extreme
North Atlantic
Cliffs that drop into the North Atlantic. Trails with no guardrails. Weather that changes every twenty minutes.
The Forgotten Atlas — Field Report
Cliffs that drop into the North Atlantic. Trails with no guardrails. Weather that changes every twenty minutes.
Eighteen islands in the North Atlantic, halfway between Norway and Iceland. The landscape is unlike anything else in the world: dramatic basalt cliffs that drop hundreds of metres directly into the sea, waterfalls that fall off cliff edges into the ocean below, lakes perched on clifftops above the water, tiny villages of coloured houses with grass roofs clinging to hillsides that look like they might not hold. The light here changes constantly — the clouds move fast off the Atlantic and every twenty minutes the landscape is different. Photographers who come for a week cannot leave.
The Faroe Islands look like someone made a fantasy landscape and then populated it with 54,000 sheep and 52,000 people, in approximately that order of priority.
The Forgotten Atlas
The hiking in the Faroe Islands is extraordinary and almost completely unregulated. Paths lead to cliff edges with no barriers. The Slættaratindur — the highest peak — is a simple upland walk with no technical difficulty but weather that can deteriorate with no warning. The Trælanípa trail ends at a cliff above Lake Sørvágsvatn, which appears from the right angle to float above the ocean — one of the most photographed optical illusions in the world and genuinely as dramatic in person as it is in photographs. Boots, layers, and waterproofs are not optional equipment here.
The Faroes have 52,000 people and a GDP per capita higher than most European countries, sustained by fishing. The capital, Tórshavn, is the smallest capital city in the world and contains the best restaurants in the islands, a medieval old town, and a nightlife that punches well above its weight for a city of 20,000. The tunnels connecting the islands — some of them underwater roundabouts built to connect islands that were previously only accessible by ferry — are among the most extraordinary pieces of infrastructure in the world.
Fly from Copenhagen or Reykjavik. Rent a car — the tunnels make island-hopping easy and the drives are extraordinary. Base in Tórshavn and day-trip.
The capital. The old town (Tinganes) is a cluster of turf-roofed wooden buildings on a peninsula that has been continuously inhabited for 1,000 years.
A village of sixteen people above a waterfall that falls directly from the clifftop into the sea below. One of the most photogenic places in the North Atlantic.
A village built around a natural gorge that opens to the sea. The hiking above it leads to cliffs with views across to the neighboring islands.
The ancient capital. The ruins of the Magnus Cathedral and the Roykstovan farmhouse — still inhabited by the same family for 900 years — are here.
One of the most remote Michelin-starred restaurants in the world. Faroese ingredients — fermented lamb, sea urchin, dried fish — treated with extraordinary skill. Book months ahead.
In Tórshavn. Traditional fermented Faroese food — ræst kjøt, skerpikjøt — in a setting that makes the cuisine approachable. Start here before KOKS.
The most atmospheric restaurant in the old town. Traditional and excellent.
The small grocery shop in every Faroese village sells skerpikjøt (wind-dried mutton). Buy a piece and eat it on a hillside.
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