Tórshavn, on Streymoy Island, is the capital city of the Faroe Islands.
Luxury Holidays to Tórshavn
© Marcel Ardivan
Tórshavn, Designed Around You
Tórshavn is located on the island Streymoy and is the capital of the Faroe Islands. In addition to being the country’s largest city and largest municipality, Tórshavn is also the country’s cultural, traffic and economic centre.
Tórshavn is known for being the smallest capital in the world and the city is known for being a modern and vibrant city, with many cafes, restaurants, music venues and cultural gatherings. The old part of Tórshavn is called ’Úti á Reyni’, where there is opportunity to experience the old black-tarred houses with grass roofs.
The Guidebook
Explore Tórshavn
It’s known for its old town, Tinganes, crammed with wooden turf-roofed houses on a small peninsula. The name Faroe Islands first appeared as Faereyjar (in approximately 1225), which means “Sheep Islands”. This presumably led to the national symbol, which is a ram. This name was given by the Viking age settlers from Norway in the ninth century.
There is so much to see and do in Tórshavn itself; from visiting the Tórshavn Cathedral which is the second oldest church on the islands or perhaps the Mikkeller Tórshavn; a 500-year old wooden house featuring some of the best beers! This is all in addition to exploring the unique landscape with hikes, visiting local families, horse riding or even helicopter rides!
Getting There
Even though the Faroe Islands is remotely located in the North Atlantic Ocean, reaching the islands is much easier than most people think. The Faroe Islands is only a short flight from mainland Europe!
You can fly non-stop to the Faroe Islands from a variety of destinations, such as Copenhagen, Paris, Reykjavik, Edinburgh, and Bergen. There are also seasonal flights from many other places.
Flights from Reykjavik, Edinburgh and Bergen to the Faroe Islands with Atlantic Airways are only one hour long, and flights from Copenhagen with either Atlantic Airways or Scandinavian Airlines last only two hours. Direct flights from Paris to the Faroe Islands with Atlantic Airways last 2 hours and 45 minutes. There are between two to four direct flights from Copenhagen to the Faroe Islands each day, depending on season.
Climate
The islands are generally windy, cloudy and cool throughout the year. Variations in altitude, ocean currents, topography and wind mean the climate differs greatly, even though distances between locations is small. This makes for unpredictable and highly changeable weather. It is not uncommon for one location to experience rain, the next snow, and a third location sun. You can literally experience all four seasons in one day!
Despite the islands’ northern latitude location, summers are cool with an average temperature of 13°C, and winters are mild, with an average temperature of 3°C. Summer days bring long hours of sunlight (19 hours, 45 minutes on the longest day, June 21). In contrast, days during the winter can be as short as 5 hours.
Geography
The Faroe Islands are an archipelago made up of 18 rugged islands, separated by narrow sounds and fjords. These volcanic islands lie in the North Atlantic Ocean at 62º north and 6º47’ west, located about halfway between Scotland and Iceland.
Their total land mass totals at 1,399 square kilometres, with a maritime economic zone covering 274,000 square kilometres and a population of nearly 50,000.
The overall length of the archipelago from north to south is 113 kilometres and 75 kilometres from east to west.
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