The Faroe Islands

Why the Faroes earn the trip

The Faroes are the rare 21st-century destination where the dominant aesthetic — sheer green cliffs descending into Atlantic fog, turf-roofed black houses, sheep on every gradient — was not invented for Instagram. The archipelago has roughly 54,000 humans and 70,000 sheep across 18 inhabited islands. Most of those islands are connected by a network of subsea tunnels (some of them genuinely impressive — the Eysturoyartunnilin has an underwater roundabout) and the more remote ones by a government-subsidized Atlantic Airways helicopter that costs locals roughly $30 a leg and is open to tourists for the same price on a space-available basis.

The Faroes rank #2 on Trepic's 2026 Mindful Travel Index. Silence: 94. Locals-to-tourists ratio: 92. Unphotographed-ness: 96 — the highest score on the entire index. This is the place to go before it's discovered, while it is still possible to walk a coastal path on Vágar and not see another human for three hours.

Where to stay

Trepic does not yet have a hotel partner in the Faroes. Our creators recommend basing in Tórshavn (the capital, walkable old harbor, the two-Michelin-starred restaurant KOKS until it relocated, now ROKS in its place) at Hotel Føroyar or the boutique Hotel Brandan, and adding a remote-village night at Gjáargarður Guesthouse in Gjógv on the north coast of Eysturoy, or Hotel Hvannhagi on Suðuroy. The country is small enough that one Tórshavn base plus one or two nights in a remote village covers most of the archipelago.

The mindful-travel index, for the Faroes

What to actually do

Hike to Drangarnir and Tindhólmur on the west coast of Vágar (guided only — book in advance). Take the helicopter to Mykines for a day with the puffin colonies (June–August). Drive to Saksun on Streymoy — the famously photogenic turf-roofed church and lagoon — early or late to avoid the small day-tripper rush. Visit the Múlafossur waterfall at Gásadalur. Eat at ROKS in Tórshavn for the new-Nordic 17-course tasting, and at Áarstova for the slow-cooked Faroese lamb in a 400-year-old turf-roofed house.

For an unusual day: book a fishing trip out of Klaksvík on a small charter — the Atlantic cod fishery is still working, the captains will gut and bring back your catch, and the experience is closer to documentary than tourism.

When to go & how to arrive

Best season: May through September. Long days (near-midnight light in June), milder weather, and the puffin colonies on Mykines are accessible. Winter has its arguments — northern lights, dramatic storms, prices half — but expect serious weather disruption. Nearest airport: Vágar (FAE), 45 minutes from Tórshavn through the Vágatunnilin subsea tunnel. Atlantic Airways flies from Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Reykjavík, and a handful of seasonal European cities.

How a Trepic creator would frame this stop

The Faroes are a destination where the right guide and the right helicopter timing matter more than the headline hotel. A Trepic creator who has done the country once knows which days of the week ROKS takes walk-ins, which villages have the better remote stays, and which hike requires the local guide and which doesn't. Booking through a creator dispatch on Trepic Stories routes commission of up to 20% to the writer.

Keep reading

The deeper argument lives in our mindful-travel guide and Slow Travel 2026. The Trepic 2026 Mindful Travel Index ranks the Faroes #2. See also our mindful-travel glossary and the related Nordic destination Lofoten.