Travel deep dive
Hiking in the Faroe Islands: Cairns, Fees and Old Paths
Walking is the way most visitors see the Faroe Islands, and the network is older than tourism: many routes follow the paths villagers once used to reach the next settlement over the hill, marked across open ground by lines of stone cairns. Much of that ground belongs to someone, and several of the best-known walks come with a landowners' fee or can only be done with a guide, so a Faroese hiking plan starts with knowing which is which.
Updated 2026-09-19
Old paths between villages
The classic Faroese walk links two places rather than climbing to a summit and back. Until a tunnel opened in 2004, the only overland route between Gásadalur on Vágar and the rest of the island was the path over the mountain to Bøur, walked by villagers for errands, doctors and supplies, and it still makes a walk with a purpose. On Streymoy, the path from Saksun over to Tjørnuvík follows another of these old connections between neighbouring villages, one valley to the next.
What marks these routes is the cairn, a stack of stones set within sight of the next one across the hillside. In clear weather the line of cairns is the route; in fog it is the thing to stay close to. The islands' own advice is not to set out in fog at all, and if cloud comes down on the way, to keep to the cairns and, where the next one cannot be seen, to stop and wait by one until it lifts.
Private land: fees and guided-only routes
Many of the most photographed walks cross private land, and the landowners set the terms. Some charge a hiking fee that pays for the upkeep of the path, toilets and other facilities; others open their land only to guided groups. The walk to Trælanípan on Vágar is the clearest example of the first: it runs along a lake that the people of Sørvágur call Sørvágsvatn and the people of Miðvágur and Sandavágur call Leitisvatn, out to the cliff where the lake appears to hang above the ocean, and it starts at a car park in Miðvágur where every walker checks in at the landowners' reception.
On Kalsoy, the walk to the Kallur lighthouse starts from the village of Trøllanes at the northern end of the island and carries its own fee. Getting there is part of the day: a small ferry crosses from Klaksvík to Syðradalur, with limited room for cars, and a local bus timed to the ferry runs up the island. The Drangarnir sea stacks off Vágar are an example of the second kind, a route walked only on scheduled guided tours. Fees, opening seasons and booking rules are set locally and change, so check them for each walk before the day.
Slættaratindur: the highest summit
Slættaratindur, in the north of Eysturoy between Eiði, Gjógv and Funningur, is the highest mountain in the Faroe Islands. The short way up is the steep path from the mountain pass road at Eiðisskarð; the long way starts in Gjógv and takes several hours. No technical climbing is involved, and in clear weather the flat top gives a view over the whole archipelago, but it is exactly the kind of exposed summit where cloud arrives fast, which makes the forecast part of the route.
Before any walk
The Faroese habit is simple: tell your accommodation which route you are walking and when you expect to be back, check the forecast even when the morning looks fine, and turn back early rather than late when the weather shifts. The islands' specific hazards, from fog and cliff edges to wind, are why those three rules are the local habit.