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Condé Nast Traveler
5 days ago
- Condé Nast Traveler
In the Faroe Islands, Nature Rewards Patience
As the Faroes become increasingly popular with international travelers—a trickle of visitors has turned into more of a cascade in recent years, particularly since 2023—there is a greater need for creatively expanding infrastructure, while prioritizing the needs and lifestyle of locals. The Faroese are essentially asking themselves: How can we invite visitors into the home we love, without losing what we love about it? I hoped to find out. In April, my husband and I flew into the airport on Vágar, the third-largest island, with a plan to drive to the Northern Isles before slowly making our way back through Eysturoy and Streymoy. It was a route that would allow us to also travel through those undersea tunnels, while also being conscious of the number of pricey tolls we'd rack up from using them. We hoped to also tap into the Faroese rhythm of daily life. What would it mean to take cues from the people who know these wild landscapes best? On our first day, we beelined for the Visit North tourism office in Klaksvík, a small city of brightly colored houses on a spit of land between the open ocean and a sheltered bay of fishing boats. Reni Heimustovu, who staffs the front desk, smiled when we asked about hiking that day. 'Last time someone wanted to go hiking in weather like this, we told them, 'Choose life!'' she laughed knowingly. Outside, the long grass was blown flat on the surrounding mountains. And so we learned our first lessons of traveling in the Faroes: One must always be adaptable. We climbed back into the car, and ditched the hike, instead driving along a muddy road toward Klakkur Viewpoint, below which the sea yawned expansively. In scenic, rural parts of the islands, which describes just about everywhere in the Faroes, a source of tension with rising tourist numbers has come from the fact that visitors aren't always prepared for sheep on the road. There are so many of the animals here, that in 2016, locals used their ovine population to map areas not yet canvassed by Google Maps' cars; famously, the Faroes have more sheep than people, and their wavy wool provides a living for many locals. New signage on roads like these gently reminds visitors which grazing lands are off limits to hiking and sightseeing: the sheep have the right of way.
The Guardian
26-05-2025
- The Guardian
Country diary 1975: Shetland's unique society could be under threat
SHETLAND ISLES: Ten years ago, when we lived in these northern isles (from where my earliest contributions to this column appeared) Sumburgh airport at the busiest time of the year dealt with only two planes a day – and then only on six days a week. The first aspect of change to strike the returning visitor is the transformation of Sumburgh into a scaled-down version of Heathrow, complete with oil company executive jets, circling helicopters, and all the debris of runway extension. But change is not simply the physical manifestation of the offshore oil industry which will probably, in any case, be restricted to the shore installations at Sullom Voe and the harbour developments in Lerwick. Providing there is no massive oil spillage, once the installations are built, much of the face of Shetland will still be as it was. Spring will, as ever, be indicated by a barely perceptible greening of the grass in late May and the sheep and Arctic skuas will still haunt the bleak hills and clear voes from Foula to Skerries. Peat will still be the islanders' fuel and the long banks will scar the hills. The indefinable change which has already started, and is bound to accelerate as the construction gangs move into the rural outback is a social one. This was a society in which you rarely locked your door unless going on holiday and in which to lock your car was a sign of mild eccentricity. The tiny local constabulary dealt only with occasional roisterings of Norwegian and Faroese deckhands whose boats were in harbour for the weekend. The invasion of international oil money and personnel may not destroy the physical fabric of Shetland but the survival of a unique society is already under threat.
