Travel deep dive
Mykines: Puffins at the Western Edge of the Faroes
Mykines sits at the western end of the archipelago, one small village under a high green island whose slopes fill with puffins through the summer. It is also the one day of a Faroese trip that depends on almost everything going right: a small boat that sails only when the sea allows, a helicopter run for islanders rather than visitors, and walking rules the landowners set to protect the colony.
Updated 2026-09-19
Getting across: the boat from Sørvágur and the helicopter
The boat to Mykines leaves from the harbour at Sørvágur on Vágar, a short drive from the airport. Through the summer season it sails daily when conditions allow, with a reduced service in the months either side, and the crossing is open sea, so the boat stays in harbour when it runs rough. Seats are limited and sell out, so the boat is the first thing to book once the travel dates are fixed, and the sensible day to book is one early in the trip, which leaves room to try again if the sailing is called off. That logic is the core of planning a Faroese trip around the forecast.
A helicopter also serves Mykines all year when the weather allows, but it is subsidised public transport for the people who live on the outer islands and for their supplies, not a sightseeing service. Visitors may book single journeys only, never a round trip, so the helicopter can take you one way with the boat bringing you back, not both. Sightseeing flights are a separate product, offered as tours in the peak season.
Walking the island: an approved guide and a landowners' fee
Everything beyond the village is outfield owned by the island's landowners, and under the Mykines protection plan they allow it to be walked only with an approved Faroese guide, with a hiking fee paid to the landowners' association. The fee costs less booked ahead than paid on arrival, and it applies to everyone above a minimum age, so it belongs in the budget alongside the boat ticket. The guided walk climbs from the village onto the slopes where the puffins nest, and the guide sets the pace and the route.
The path onward to the islet of Mykineshólmur and its lighthouse is closed during the nesting season, with everything beyond the viewpoint at á Rógvu off limits. The closure protects the nesting puffins, and it also keeps walkers off a stretch of trail with a real landslide risk. A summer day on Mykines therefore ends at the viewpoint, not at the lighthouse.
When the puffins are there
The best chance of seeing puffins on land runs from mid-May to the end of August. Outside those months the birds are at sea and the slopes are quiet, which is worth knowing before building a trip around the island: a visit after the season finds the burrows empty. Within the season the birds nest in burrows dug into the turf of the slopes, and the guided walk passes close enough to watch them without anyone leaving the path.
Enniberg: the other end of the archipelago
Mykines is the puffin island, but it is not the islands' only great seabird cliff. At the opposite, northern tip of the archipelago, Cape Enniberg on Viðoy drops more than 700 metres straight into the sea, and its ledges hold puffins, guillemots, razorbills and kittiwakes. It can be seen from the water on a boat trip or reached on foot from Viðareiði, but the walk is a demanding one and only for experienced hikers in settled weather.