Driving in the Faroe Islands
What is driving here actually like?
Short distances, excellent roads, and a few things — single-lane tunnels, sheep, tolls — that catch people out.
- Distances are small; a long drive is an hour.
- Subsea tunnels are tolled automatically and billed to your rental later.
- Old mountain tunnels are single-lane with passing bays and unwritten right-of-way rules.
Driving is the default way to see the Faroes and the roads are in better condition than most visitors expect. What surprises people is not the difficulty — it is the specific local conventions.
Tunnels
There are three kinds. Modern subsea tunnels are two-lane, well lit and tolled. Modern mountain tunnels are two-lane and free. Older mountain tunnels are single-lane with passing bays, unlit, and often over a kilometre long.
In a single-lane tunnel, the passing bays are usually on one side. The convention is that the vehicle with the bays on its side pulls in. Signage marks it as M — for møtiplass. Do not reverse in a tunnel; if you meet head-on, the one closer to a bay yields.
BEST has no feed from Landsverk and toll rates change. Your rental company will quote the current rate and add it to your final bill.
Sheep
Sheep are unfenced and on the road, particularly at dawn and dusk and after rain. If you hit one you are liable to the owner, and your insurance may not cover it. This is the single most common visitor accident.
Weather
Wind is the real hazard, not ice. Exposed stretches — the Vágar causeway, the road over to Eiði — get crosswinds strong enough to move a small car. Doors have been torn off hinges in car parks; hold them.
Rental agreements routinely exclude wind damage to doors and paint from blowing grit. Read the excess terms before you sign.
Every BEST stay says whether you need a car to use it.
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Read next
Faroese tunnels explained
A reference for the subsea tolls and the older single-lane mountain tunnels that visitors find unnerving.
Faroese weather, and planning around it
Not cold, rarely still, and different on two sides of the same island. Plan flexibly rather than optimistically.
Staying safe
Cliffs without railings, weather that turns fast, and no mobile signal where you need it most.