One Day in Tórshavn: Walking Tour of the Colorful Capital of the Faroe Islands

Tórshavn was our second stop in the Faroe Islands after Kirkjubøur! Tórshavn is the capital of the Faroe Islands, and I loved all the colorful houses and harbors. Even though it’s the capital and a bigger city than most of the villages I visited, it’s still very walkable and you can see a lot in one day in Tórshavn! 🙂

Staying in Tórshavn

Because there are more hotels and Airbnbs in Tórshavn than most places in the Faroe Islands, a lot of people use it as a “home base” during their trip. Since Matt and I were only staying for two nights and were trying to cover a lot of ground, we only spent one night in Tórshavn and stayed in a different place closer to other spots we were going to explore the next night. 

We stayed at the Faroe City View B&B, and it wasn’t anything fancy, but it worked for us for just staying for one night! There are a few different rooms, and the bathroom and other living spaces are shared. They leave breakfast and coffee out in the morning, which was perfect for us since we were leaving before many places opened in the morning. There are bus stops nearby, but it’s also just a short walk down to where most of the stores and restaurants are.

Exploring Tórshavn

After dropping our stuff off, Matt and I went to explore Tórshavn! There are some museums around, but we mostly wanted to walk around and see the city and the harbor so we just created our own walking tour of the city. If you have time to spare, you can take boat or horseback tours, and Visit Tórshavn has some recommendations for activities in the area (and you can always take a quick trip to Kirkjubøur). We started our walk towards the Kongaminnið monument and the fort before heading towards the harbor. 

Yes, that’s a lamb on a leash in someone’s backyard!

You can get some great views of the city on the hill where Kongaminnið is!

Kongaminnið is a monument that commemorates King Christian IX’s visit to the Faroe Islands in 1874

I just loved how people had sheep in their backyards

Skansin also has some great views of the city and the water! It’s a fort from 1580 that was built by Magnus Heinason to protect the city from pirates. It stood until 1677 when French pirates raided, and according to Visit Faroe Islands, they demanded “100 oxen, 200 sheep, 500 pairs of gloves, 1,200 pairs of stockings and 60 nightshirts.” The fort was rebuilt after, and it was actually used by British troops during WWII. The guns around the fort are from the British during WWII as well as from the Danish during the 1700s.

The harbor is made up of Tinganes (the first area of the city that was used, and you can see it in the back with the grass roofs) and a modern port from the early 1900s

Tórshavn Cathedral

This is the shot of the harbor that Tórshavn is known for! It’s so bright and colorful

Tórshavn had the most restaurants and bars out of all the other towns we went to, and when asking around and looking for places to go to, Aarstova and Barbara Fish House were the restaurants people recommended. Aarstova is famous for its lamb and Barbara Fish House is famous for its fish, and we went to Barbara Fish House because we wanted to try some local fish dishes that we can’t get at home. The Faroe Islands aren’t a cheap place to visit and both restaurants are on the higher end, so there are some more affordable restaurants and cafes around if you’re on a budget. Matt and I also brought a lot of snack food, so we just split a dinner so we didn’t have to spend too much money.

Barbara Fish House is known for its king fish dish (kongafiskur) that we weren’t brave enough to try, but we got the monkfish that was delicious! I would recommend making a reservation for Barbara Fish House because even though we barely saw anyone around the town, the restaurant filled up! I made our reservation online a couple weeks in advance just to be on the safe side.

After dinner, we went to Sirkus Bar for a drink to try some local beers. The beers weren’t cheap so we just each got one, but they were really good! We were there on a weeknight, but on the weekends they have live bands. Sirkus is also known for having vegan and vegetarian food if you have any dietary restrictions.

The city may be small, but there’s a lot to see and do in one day in Tórshavn! And if you’re like me, there are tons of colorful buildings and beautiful views of the water to take photos of 🙂

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