Faroe Islands – Our Best New Year Ever!
Introduction
The new year is almost upon us and we wanted to share the best new year experience we have ever had. Faroe islands is one of the best places to visit on the planet. But while most people travel there during the summers, you should definitely consider traveling there in the winters especially during the New Year. We came here and were simply left spellbound.
The Location
The Faroe Islands are located between Iceland, Norway and Northern Scotland. It is an autonomous territory of the Kindgom of Denmark.
Reasons to Visit
While we will let the pictures speak for themselves here are some things that you will love about the Faroe Islands especially during the New Year
- The Best New Year’s party ever!
- Incredible natural beauty
- The most affordable Helicopter Ride by a long shot
- Great people – very welcoming and warm hearted
- Absolutely no tourist rush (Let’s hope it stays that way) – It is literally a hidden gem
Getting Here
Unless you hold a very powerful passport getting here will require a VISA of a special kind. A Schengen Visa is not enough. You will generally need to approach the Danish embassy and specifically request for an entry permit to Faroe Islands. This VISA has a fairly high rejection rate and we would suggest that you submit your application very carefully. This is the only application we filed where the evaluating officer personally contacted us for additional details. The visa needs to state “Valid for Faroe Islands” like the one shown below.
For such a remote location, Faroe Islands is surprisingly well connected to Europe. Atlantic Airways is the Flagship carrier of Faroe Islands and has non-stop flights from Keflavik (Iceland), Paris (France), Edinburgh (UK), Bergen (Norway) & Copenhagen (Denmark). SAS also has direct flights from Denmark to Faroe Islands. Be careful when planning flights for New Year as Atlantic Airways does not run service everyday. It was a blessing in disguise for us as we were able to enjoy this wonderful place even longer.
A look at Faroe Islands
Faroe Islands has only one airport located on the Island of Vagar. This is such a beautiful place that it needs to be explored at its own pace. While there is a Bus Service on the Island at scheduled intervals, we did not see a single one during our entire Journey. This could be because of the timing (Christmas + New Year) but we strongly recommend that you hire a Car at the Airport.
The short walk to our Car was stressful due to the Snow. After removing some snow from the car we headed off to our first AirBnB experience at Midvagur which was a short distance away. Our Host was very gracious and welcoming. Look at the Stunning Views from our AirBnB. It looked like paradise.
We spent the next two days driving around the beautiful islands. Some of the best views are from towns which are right on the edge of the mountains or right next to the oceans. Despite its remoteness Faroe Islands has a good system of roads. The main roads have two lanes and tolls are automated (You need to pay them everytime you cross the underground tunnels across the main islands). Reaching the most beautiful spots like Gasadalur, Saksun, Tjornuvik requires you to possess good driving skill. The roads are single lane in most of these places with small sections along the road to allow traffic to go from both sides. Some of these roads are extremely narrow and please do not venture there if you are not an experienced driver.
The other thing to worry about is the sheer natural beauty. To be honest, even Iceland pales in comparison and your concentration tends to wander quite a lot. Stop the car at a designated area to appreciate the natural beauty. Get out and explore but be careful while driving. The island has lots of sheep and dogs. While the sheep were not very friendly to me, the dogs certainly wagged their tails for me. They seem to have a sixth sense to identify animal lovers. These kids were just running around in the opposite direction and i just jumped out of the car to grab them.
This place is dotted with small islands that look so picturesque. It is also possible to visit quite a few of them via a helicopter. Our Schedule was a bit tight so we could not manage a helicopter ride to Mykines which is a great place for birdwatching especially Puffins. The helicopter rides are heavily subsidised and run by Atlantic Airways. Well, something had to be left for next time.
Two of our favourite places on the island were Saksun & Tjornuvik. The ride to these places is an experience in itself and the destination is just as impressive.
The Random New Year Plan
Our Initial Plan was to stay 2 days at Midvagur at the AirBnB and then stay for 3 days at the Hotel Foroyar which offers stunning views of the capital city of Torshavn and is one of the best hotels on the island. While chatting with our host he mentioned about this big new years party and the locals had taken approvals for fireworks. He mentioned that its a yearly tradition and is a must visit.
While our hotel were prebooked, this new years party was happening at a different island. Suduroy is the southernmost of the Faroe Islands and requires a ferry. It would have been impossible to enjoy the new years party knowing that the only place we had to crash was our car. We requested our hotel to refund us a night if possible as we had decided to visit the new years party. They kindly denied that request. Probably the only time in our life when we’ve ditched a 4 star hotel in a remote location at the spur of the moment for a random party.
We booked the only Hotel on Suduroy at the last minute for 800 DKK (~$120 / INR 8,400) and set off for the Ferry Terminal. You need to take the Ferry for Route #7 from Torshavn to Tvoroyri and you need to pay only for one way. The Ferry journey was about an hour and if you get as seasick as me avoid going to the top level and stay at the first floor.
The New Year Party
The New Year Party takes place in the city of Vagur which is the second largest city on the Island of Suduroy with a population of around 1,400. Don’t let this number fool you as a lot of people come here to celebrate this special occasion. We stayed at Hotel Bakkin which is the only hotel in the city along with a restaurant and bar at the ground level. The Hotel is located on the main street and just a short distance away from the centre of the party.
The new year celebration is a bit of Viking Style celebration which actually started off as a prank and gained prominence over the years.
We wanted to have something to eat before the party and realized that the Chef was also on leave. They had prepared everything in the morning itself and it was all non-veg. The owner of the hotel was kind enough to give us complete access to the Kitchen. We started making some sandwiches with onion/tomatoes when we bumped into two more people who were vegan. There were only around 10 tourists on the island at that time and 40% of them were vegan. We ended up bonding with them and these are some of the best friends we’ve made till date. We’ve visited every one of them at their home bases across both Europe and the USA in the subsequent years.
We accompanied the group to the bar next door and a lady came to greet the owner and I just started chatting with her. She was just talking about the preparations and I simply expressed my desire to participate in the new year celebration. She was so kind that she took me to her home to get a spare harness. All participants carry a large wooden burning pole to the centre after a long walk around the city. They were really heavy and i just decided to talk along in th end.
Fireworks are all around amidst the long walk and they all gather around the Viking Ship. Everyone sings a song which essentially means “Time flows away like the water in the river”. Its difficult to explain the atmosphere in this blog so we’ve also attached a long video at the end if you are really interested.
At midnight everyone throws the wooden poles into the ship in the centre. There is a dazzling display of fireworks and everyone wishes everyone around. The partying continues till the wee hours in the morning.
Nothing that we type here can do justice to the amount of gratitude we felt for the warm welcome and hospitality of the people there. It simply was an incredible new year night.
The people
While this place is must visit for its natural beauty, We have not encountered more genuinely welcoming people anywhere else in the world. This is after traveling around 35 countries and counting. We still get reminders from people there asking us to visit again and I continue to be in touch with quite a few friends there. This is a small place where everyone knows everyone else. During our dinner we had also met a counsellor from Torshavn whom we were not able to say goodbye. I got in touch with my friend Anny to ask if she knew where he lived. She gave us his address and we ended up visiting him. He was happy beyond words to see us and welcomed us into his house like family. I also made friends with his neighbours cat.
Beauty all around
The northern islands are picturesque but the best part about Faroe islands is that the ocean is never more than 2 kilometres away offering stunning views.
They are so many quaint towns and settlements here that it would take a month to properly explore this gem of a place.
Travel Tips
- Double Check your Visa – Faroe Islands requires a special visa and the remarks need to mention it.
- Hire a Car – This place needs to be explored at your own pace. Soak in the beauty and move on only when you want to
- Drive Carefully – Do not venture onto single lane roads if you are not confident. We had tourists who abandoned their vehicles at the top of hills and crawled (yes, not walked) back. In winters, the largest risk comes from black ice when the temperature is close to zero which makes the road extremely slipperly. Don’t ignore these risks.
- Be mindful of the sheep – There are more sheep than people in Faroe islands. While they generally laze around next to the roads, sometimes they just may come in front of you on the roads. Be careful while driving
- Don’t miss the new years party – This is one experience you do not want to miss. Just take our word for it and you will not be disappointed. We very rarely go to parties and we loved it.
- Get a GPS – Cellphone reception may be difficult and using data may prove to much more costly for navigation when compared to GPS.
What about Vegan/Vegetarians
Finding veg food was a bit difficult to be honest. Our first 2 days in the AirBnB we survived on home cooked food. We did find a few restaurants in Torshavn which serve vegetarian fare (Pizza & Pasta) and that’s about as far as you will get. Hotel Bakkin also served wonderful Pizzas (Suprisingly both places had Indian staff).
Conclusion
This is simply a hidden gem. You need to come here to experience nature at its best. There are 2 videos from our youtube channel on the Islands and the new years party below. Another friend of ours had also made a nice video and we are sharing the same as well. If you still need some convincing do have a look at the videos. This is undoubtedly the best trip we’ve ever had.
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3 Comments
Sage
Curious to know how much will be the expense for a trip from India to Faroe islands?
spedieduck
Hi Sage, Visiting faroe islands is not super expensive. I was able to find fares under INR 55k for a round trip for 1 person from Delhi to Faroe Islands in Economy class. Do note that this will be a long flight with layovers leading to a total time of 20 hours+ but the journey is well worth it.
Vyom
I visited Iceland last year and got a call from danish embassy. This was the first time we were contacted by an embassy for Schengen visa.