Drangarnir hike

The Faroe Islands have a handful of stunning places often featured on Instagram and in travel blogs. Most travelers visit the Múlafossur waterfall in Gásadalur, the Sørvágsvatn lake, the Kallur lighthouse on Kalsoy and the island of Mykines known for its large colony of puffin birds.

Fewer visitors find their way to the spectacular Drangarnir sea stacks just off the western shore of the island Vágar. You can see Drangarnir from the scenic road between Bøur and Gásadalur, but to come close you have to make a hike or join a boat tour.

Drangarnir from the viewpoint at the end of the hike.

An alternative way to see Drangarnir - 2024 update

Since I made the hike to Drangarnir and wrote this post some years ago, a new option for seeing the amazing sea stacks has become available. There is now a boat tour to Drangarnir that will bring you to the viewpoint in just 10 minutes. You get to spend around 1.5h on land to enjoy the views of Drangarnir. You don’t have to do the hike from Sørvágur, which can be strenuous for inexperienced hikers. The total time needed for the tour is about 2 hours, leaving time for visiting other sites on Vágar on the same day.

For more information about the tour, see Exciting 2 Hour Combined Boat Tour & Hike to Drangarnir Sea Arch (affiliate link) provided by Guide to Faroe Islands. They offer a wide selection of tours to destinations all over the Faroe Islands.

Drangarnir

Drangarnir is the name of two sea stacks between the island Vágar and the striking islet Tindhólmur. The name of the largest stack is Stóri Drangur and the smaller one is Lítli Drangur. As you might expect, this is Faroese for large and small sea stack. Stóri Drangur with the shape of an open arch is the one known from all photos of Drangarnir.

Drangarnir and Tindhólmur from Bøur.

Drangarnir, together with Tindhólmur, is one of the top sights in Faroe Islands and I highly recommend doing the hike to the sea stacks.

Tindhólmur

Tindhólmur is one of my personal favorites among all the awesome nature sights in the Faroes. Tind is the Faroese word for top, peak or spike and hólmur means islet. Tindhólmur translates to something like the islet of peaks, which makes sense considering its dramatic shape with five pointy spikes. When I see the islet, I think of a Stegosaurus dinosaur. It looks like Tindhólmur with the broad, upright plates on its back.

Tindhólmur.

The names of the five peaks are Ytsti (Farthest), Arni (Eagle), Lítli (Small), Breiði (Broad) and Bogdi (Bent). The islet is uninhabited and its highest point is 262m (860ft). Where there is grass in Faroe Islands, there are sheep, but Tindhólmur seems to be the exception proving the rule.

Drangarnir hike - practical information

Before the 2018 season, you could do the hike to Drangarnir on your own and there are several blog posts describing how to do it. This has now changed, you must join a tour and do the hike with a local guide.

Drangarnir hike route from the starting point at the Effo gas station in Sørvágur.

• The hiking tour runs from April to September on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 11:00. Price of the hike is 550 DKK (2019).
• Meeting point is the Effo gas station in Sørvágur. There are parking spaces at the nearby port. If you don’t have a car, you can take bus line 300 from Tórshavn to Sørvágur. For more information, see the SSL site.
• The hike is around 5–6km one-way to the Drangarnir viewpoint and it is the same way back.
• Weather permitting, boat transport is provided from Drangarnir back to Sørvágur for an additional cost of 100 DKK (bring cash for the payment). The tour description does not mention this, but it was available when we did the hike in July 2018. Ask the guide about the boat already at the meeting point so there is time to make the arrangements. Due to unpredictable weather, there is no guarantee that the boat service is available so you should always be prepared to do the whole hike.
• The hike is supposed to take around 5–6h.
• Book the hike at hiking.fo.

We booked the tour the day before as we wanted to check the weather forecast before deciding on doing the hike or not. I don’t think the tour fills up so it should be ok to book late.

House at Sørvágsfjørður.

How hard is the Drangarnir hike?

It is always difficult to say how hard a hike is as it depends on the weather on the day of the hike, your fitness level and hiking experience.

• The hike about 5–6km one-way so if the boat service is not available, you are looking at walking 10–12km.
• The elevation change during the hike is moderate and there are no steep ascents or descents.
• You must cross a few streams, but it requires no wading, you walk on stones so your boots don’t get wet.
• The first two-thirds of the hike is easy walking on paths and sheep trails along the fjord. The route then leaves the fjord and continues through a green valley to a hilltop. After a photo stop at the top, you follow narrow sheep trails traversing a hill side that people with a fear of heights can feel uncomfortable on as it is slightly steep in some places.
• The hike is rated as Difficult on hiking.fo. I am pretty sure they changed the rating of the hike from Moderate to Difficult after our trip to Faroe Islands.

The slope at the fjord is occasionally steep but the first part of the hike is not difficult.

Despite the Difficult rating, you don’t have to be super fit to do this hike. If you are comfortable walking 10–12km on a combination of paths, sheep trails and grass in terrain with moderate changes in elevation, I would not call this a difficult hike unless you have a problem with heights. The final part of the trail traverses a sloping hill side and some passages might feel steep if you have a fear of heights. It is not like walking next to a precipice, but it is definitely not flat either.

Compared to other popular hikes

Hiking to Drangarnir is tougher than other popular hikes on the islands, but again, it depends on the weather and your preferences. The hike to Sørvágsvatn is much easier as it is a good path and shorter distance.

We did a part of the Mykines lighthouse hike in mist and light rain and turned back after crossing the bridge as we couldn’t see anything. It was muddy and slippery on the steepest parts of the trail, but we anyway felt that hike was easier compared to Drangarnir.

I did the hike to the Kallur lighthouse on Kalsoy in a heavy mist with bad sight and soaked shoes. That hike is short and also easier than Drangarnir.

Doing the hike without a guide

As the requirement on doing the hike with a guide is new and not widely known at the time of writing this post (July 2018), people are still doing the hike on their own. Some travelers know about the new rules and ignore them. Before heading out without a guide, consider that the land through which you hike is private property. According to Faroese legislation you need the landowner’s permission to walk in the area. Regardless of whether you think this is right or wrong, you should respect the law and do the hike with a guide.

If the landowners discover you while doing the hike without permission, they will charge you an amount at least equal to the fee of the tour.

Hike description

The good thing with doing the hike with a guide is that you don’t need to bother about finding the best route and you get information about landmarks on the way. The first part of the hike follows the fjord. We cross a few streams by walking on stones and pass several sheep shelters.

Sheep shelter.

The Faroese weather with heavy rains and wet snow in the winter can be too much to bear even for the hardy sheep. When the weather gets too tough, the sheep seek protection in one of the shelters.

Fish farms are common in Faroe Islands, there is one in almost every fjord or bay with suitable conditions. This one contains salmon, but there are also farms producing rainbow trout.

Salmon fish farm in Sørvágsfjørður.

After about 3km, we pass the village Bøur on the other side of Sørvágsfjørður. A scenic road runs from Bøur to Gásadalur, the village with the pretty Múlafossur waterfall. From this road you also have nice views of Drangarnir and Tindhólmur across the fjord.

Bøur village on the other side of Sørvágsfjørður.

We cross a stream and then it is time to leave the fjord as the route goes inland through a beautiful green valley. We must walk with careful steps here, we see several birds brooding their eggs in nests on the ground. The birds can be difficult to discover and we don’t want to disturb them.

View over the valley after leaving the trail along the fjord.

There is no path to follow in the valley, it’s just walking on grass. We are walking towards the hilltop to the right in the photo below. This is the only part of the hike where there is any substantial increase in elevation, but it is a gentle slope and an easy ascent.

View over the valley looking up to the hill where we get the first good view of Drangarnir.

When reaching the crest of the hill we are rewarded with a fabulous panorama over Drangarnir, Tindhólmur and Mykines in the background. You will have ample time here to admire the view and to mount a tripod for taking photos. This view is one of my favorites from the Faroe Islands.

View over Drangarnir and Tindhólmur from the top of the hill.

After the break it’s time for the final part of the hike. We traverse a sloping hill on narrow sheep trails working our way towards Drangarnir. This part can feel uncomfortable for people with a fear of heights as the traverse is made high on the hill side. It feels steeper in real compared to how it looks on the photo.

Looking back on the final part of the trail traversing the sloping hill side.

Before going to the viewpoint closest to Drangarnir, we check out an impressing sea cliff to the south.

Sea cliff.

It is pure joy to walk the last stretch to the Drangarnir viewpoint on the green and soft grass field.

Green and beautiful.

Finally at the goal of the hike, Drangarnir! It is peaceful to sit down here a while just looking at the stunning view and observing the sea birds flying around the sea stacks.

We wanted to go down to the stony “beach” to take photos from the angle where Drangarnir and Tindhólmur line up nicely. The water level was too high on this day so we couldn’t do it.

Drangarnir from the viewpoint at the end of the hike.

It is time to return to Sørvágur after a terrific hike with amazing views. Using the boat service is perfect to save time and energy not having to walk back. As a bonus, you also get to see the sea stacks close from the water and even pass through the arch of Stóri Drangur. A perfect end of the tour.

Drangarnir and Tindhólmur from the boat.

We get a last close look at Drangarnir and Tindhólmur from the boat. The boat ride back to Sørvágur is quick and the whole tour lasted about 4.5h.

Tindhólmur when passing through the Stóri Drangur arch.