Top 10 Waterfalls in the Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands pack an extraordinary number of named waterfalls into a land area smaller than many single national parks. Basalt plateaus, cut into steep valleys by glaciers and worn by relentless Atlantic weather, mean that almost every stream in the islands drops somewhere on its way to the sea, and the archipelago's near-constant rain and mist keep them running through the year. Faroese has an entire vocabulary of waterfall names — fossur, foss — that recur across dozens of villages. All ten below are on the map.
1. Múlafossur
At Gásadalur on Vágar, Múlafossur is the single most photographed waterfall in the Faroe Islands, dropping from a green clifftop pasture directly into the Atlantic beside the dramatic sea stack of Tindhólmur. Until a road tunnel was completed in 2004, Gásadalur was reachable only on foot over the mountains or by helicopter, and the village's isolation is part of what makes the image of the waterfall, the cliffs, and the sea together so striking.
2. Bøsdalafossur
Near Lake Sørvágsvatn (also called Leitisvatn) on Vágar, Bøsdalafossur is where the lake itself spills over a sea cliff into the Atlantic, just metres from the ocean. The optical illusion that has made this spot famous online — the lake appearing to float far above the sea from certain angles and photographs — is best appreciated in person, walking the exposed clifftop path along the lake's western shore.
3. Fossá
Near Haldarsvík on Streymoy, Fossá is the tallest waterfall in the Faroe Islands, dropping in two stages down a long, terraced rock face visible from the coastal road, making it one of the easiest of the taller Faroese falls to see without a hike.
4. Skarðsáfossur
Near Vestmanna on Streymoy, not far from the famous Vestmanna bird cliffs, Skarðsáfossur drops through the same steep, weather-beaten basalt terrain that defines the western coast of the island, a landscape shaped as much by wind and rain as by the rock itself.
5. Villingafossur
On Streymoy, Villingafossur adds to the dense scatter of named falls on the island that holds Tórshavn, the Faroese capital — a reminder that even the most populated of the islands is still overwhelmingly cliff, moor, and waterfall outside its towns.
6. Kjalnafossur
Also on Streymoy, Kjalnafossur drops through the steep valleys typical of the island's interior, part of the extraordinarily fine-grained naming tradition that gives nearly every substantial fall in the Faroes its own identity, even where several sit within a few kilometres of each other.
7. Fossurin Stóri
On Suðuroy, the southernmost of the main islands, Fossurin Stóri — "the big waterfall" — carries a name that, while generic in translation, marks it out locally as the most significant fall on an island somewhat overlooked next to Streymoy and Vágar's more visited waterfalls.
8. Bláfossur
The name Bláfossur, "blue waterfall," recurs at more than one site across the islands, a reflection of how often Faroese place names describe the water's appearance rather than a unique feature — one of several reminders that this is a working landscape of small farming and fishing communities as much as a scenic backdrop.
9. Traðafossur
Near Norðragøta and the island of Eysturoy, Traðafossur drops through farmland close to a village, typical of how Faroese waterfalls are woven directly into daily life rather than set apart in wilderness — sheep graze right up to the edge of many falls.
10. Kráaráfossur
On Eysturoy, Kráaráfossur adds to the eastern islands' share of named falls, part of a landscape of steep-sided valleys and fjords that, together with Streymoy and Vágar, hold the great majority of the archipelago's most visited waterfalls.
An archipelago shaped by basalt and rain
The Faroe Islands sit on layered basalt built up by volcanic eruptions around 55 to 60 million years ago, later carved into steep valleys and fjords by glaciers during the ice ages. That combination — hard, flat-lying basalt sheets exposed in cliffs and valley walls, and a climate that delivers rain or drizzle on the majority of days in the year — is what makes nearly every stream in the islands drop somewhere rather than simply flow to the sea. Waterfalls here are less a rare attraction than a constant feature of the landscape, visible from almost any coastal road.
When to visit
The Faroes have no strong dry season, so waterfalls run year round, though flow is generally heaviest in autumn and winter when Atlantic storms are most frequent, and daylight and milder conditions in summer (June to August) make hiking and photography easier. Weather changes fast and without much warning in the islands, and wind in particular can make clifftop paths like the one to Bøsdalafossur genuinely hazardous — checking a forecast immediately before setting out is standard local practice, not overcaution.
Explore on the map
The Faroe Islands' waterfalls, from the iconic sea-facing Múlafossur to the quieter falls of Eysturoy and Suðuroy, are all plotted on the interactive map — use it to plan a Vágar and Streymoy loop covering the most-visited falls, or to find the dozens of smaller, equally named cascades that dot almost every valley in the archipelago.