Guided Faroe Islands

Dear Michael,

Hi Michael, 

Thanks Daina, both Martin and l enjoyed our trip to the Faroes, it all went very smoothly and even the weather behaved itself for most of the time.

Dear Julija,

Many thanks for your welcome e-mail.  It was very kind of you to write and very thoughtful of you to remember that we returned home yesterday (Monday) from our visit to the Faroe Islands.

I'm very pleased to report that all arrangements for the visit to the Faroes worked very well.  Independently, and knowing we had two nights at Hotel Vágar (opposite the airport), we had booked a boat trip which was supposed to show you the spectacular Vestmanna cliffs, in the extreme north-west of the main island, Streymoy, and then to go on to the small, isolated island of Mykines.  Sadly, the Mykines part of the trip was cancelled on the day.  It's a very difficult island to get to, so we'll have to try again sometime!  Everything else worked very much according to plan.  The weather was a bit grim on Thursday - with rain and more rain - but, otherwise, the weather was reasonably kind, ranging from "OK" to "very good".  In "very good" conditions the scenery in the Faroes is simply magnificent!

I think we may have mentioned that we are all members of the Faroe Islands Study Circle, a special-interest society for philatelists (stamp collectors!) interested in the postage stamps and postal history of the Faroes.  (Roger is the Chairman, John the Treasurer, I'm the Secretary and Journal Editor and Sheila is a founder member).  Because of this, one of our highlights was the pre-arranged visit we made to the postal headquarters on Wednesday where we had what was in effect a VIP visit to the postal HQ in Tórshavn, with a guided tour, coffee and cakes and a good chance to chat to two of our friends who work there.

I should also mention the cultural evening in Gjógv which you so kindly arranged for us later that same day.  As you know, we were all disappointed when we knew we wouldn't be staying in Gjógv as it's a beautiful little village in an amazing setting where we had stayed in 1993 and 1996.  I hope our disappointment didn't come across as a complaint as that was never intended.  To have an opportunity to attend the cultural evening was extremely welcome.  The evening itself - a buffet, live music and Faroese chain-dancing - was both interesting and rewarding but so too was the time we spent in the village for a while beforehand.

I have much to do on my return, including a despatch of the latest Study Circle newsletter

 http://faroeislandssc.org/members/newsletter46_da6aa3b4734d79a3def713c772e82100.pdf

but as soon as I've found time to download my photos (and I took rather too many!) I'll put together a montage of photos on one or two A4 sheets and will send them to you.  If it takes a few days to do this I hope you'll accept my apologies.

With thanks, on behalf of Sheila, John, Roger and I, for all the time and effort you put in to arranging our itinerary.  As I said, it all worked perfectly.

Very best wishes,

Norman

HI Inga

We had a fab time, some days more memorable that others. The best day by far was Mykines. WOW - all the birds were a wow, but the puffins - OMG. I could have spent a couple of days there - it was better once most people had gone back to the town, we  could then get closer to the birds & they were more relaxed. 

The 2nd best day was the Vestamma cliffs - the captains ability to get close to the cliffs was wow. Not as close to the birds as we would have liked, maybe needed to do a walking tour from the top - impossible to take any good photos of the birds. Aldo quite foggy that day, which was a nightmare.

The coach trips - the company that ran them, were great -  very impressed. The tour guides were great. If I am honest 1 coach trip would have been enough for us, would have preferred to do other things. 

We would have liked to go to the waterfall that empties into the sea on the cliff.  (On Vager island), cant recall the name. 

And maybe the schooner ship or the rib boat. 

And more walking tours. (if there are companies that do them)?

The coach trips are designed for the more mature people or less mobile clientele, and I know Peter & I are no spring chickens, but we are active & fit, so maybe a mix & match on the different trips would be good. I know some of the people struggled when we went to Mykines as it is about a 7 mile walk. I loved it - my kinda trip. You do need to tell people that the Mykines trips is active. Even the climb from the harbour is too much for some people. 

On the whole the hotel was OK - it gave the basics. 

The Faroes themselves

Lovely, stunning, has the wow factor & not as expensive as I thought, other than alcohol. 

People lovely, and so relaxed. I would love to be there when it is hit by a storm. 

The islands are not really ready for all the tourists, which in one way was is nice, other ways - its sometimes hard to spend any money other than on food or drink. 

Would recommend, but personally we would do different trips - they need to be more active for us. 

If we came again with you, I would be keen that we pick & choose the right trips for us, 8 hours on a coach it too much. I lost the will!!!! :-(

Hope this is useful. 

I have attached a few photos. I have hundreds. :-o

Thanks for your email.
We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to the Faroes and our Hotel looking over Torshavn was ideal.
The people were very friendly and helpful – the Tourist Information centre in Torshavn was extremely useful.
 
In terms of the culture and scenery it has it’s own individuality, it’s not Iceland and it’s not Norway or Denmark. The dramatic coastline was very exciting, with many fjords, caves and waterfalls. Unfortunately many of the seabirds had fledged and gone back to sea when we went (beginning of Aug.), but we did have a good trip to see the puffins and the ‘Bridge across the Atlantic’
There were lots of what appeared to be isolated settlements all over the islands and we often wondered how they managed, but they obviously do. The small towns and villages have kept largely to tradition on terms of style and decor, multi-coloured with grass roofs appear everywhere and must brighten life in the winter months!
 
Transport and the road networks were really good. There have been new tunnels built relatively recently to connect islands, some are amazing in their sheer length through solid rock. A few of the islands are only available by ferry, and the two southernmost islands will have to wait until another time.
 
There is plenty to do if you like outdoors, walking, climbing, boat trips etc. We had some trips pre-arranged and we took a couple of boat trips. One to see the spectacular cliffs and massive caves eroded out of the rock. The buses were very useful also.
You could plan your own itinerary, but as this was our first time here we were happy to have some things pre-arranged,
 
From our UK perspective, prices for everything is much more expensive, but we already knew that, but just a warning to take more cash than you might think is required.
Eating out was interesting as they had a few high class restaurants in town, and a number of fast food type outlets, but middle of the range, not much.
Saying that the food was very good, if limited in terms of vegetables, we didn’t starve!
 
We left enough unvisited to want to go back sometime in the future.
 
I have attached a couple of photos and will send in separate emails due to their size.
 
Best wishes
Tom

Hi Daina.

As promised, a few comments on our holiday to the Faroes.

Firstly, we had a really good holiday and thoroughly enjoyed visiting these fascinating and beautiful islands. Thanks to Baltic Travel’s itinerary the balance of guided tours, trips and free time was just right. So, a big thank-you to you and your partners on the Faroes for giving us the opportunity to experience as much of the country as possible in a week.

All our travelling arrangements went smoothly and there were no issues with flights, transfers (minor one on the return airport transfer which was quickly overcome), coach, ferry or schooner trips. They gave us a broad range of island experiences and of how life was and is on the Faroes, and also how it’s developing and changing as part of a natural process. We certainly felt that we were seeing the islands in a developing but as yet, unspoilt light – the very reason why people wish to see the islands.

Sámal Bláhamar was the guide with us on most of the trips and he was just excellent – a man with a true and heartfelt passion and pride for, and in the Faroes, and just pleased to show it all to us in its best light. Sámal and his company, Tora Tourist Traffic, were just right for showing us around. Even on the day of his close friend’s funeral Sámal still met us before and afterwards to make sure everything went smoothly during the day; very much the professional guide.

We generally don’t take guided tours for holidays but for the Faroes this gave us just the right way to see the country and we learnt so much from Sámal with his deep knowledge of all things Faroese. We just wished we could remember all the facts and stories he gave us.

Hotel Havn was just fine for us; perhaps some information in the room about controlling the room heat would be helpful; it was really quite hot. There were no tea/coffee facilities in the room which would have been nice but not at all essential. It was a clean, modern hotel ideally located close to the harbour and as we found, with helpful and considerate staff.

We couldn’t get over how magnificent the scenery was; we were just awed each day by what we saw. As a fellow traveller put it ‘.... you very quickly run out of superlatives to describe what there is to see here’.

We spent a poignant hour in the World War II museum and learnt about the bravery of the Faroese fishermen in supplying the UK with fish during the war and the influence of the British occupation in the 1940s. 

The National Museum in Torshavn is a gem - I don't ever remember visiting such an interesting and well developed exhibition about natural history and human development of an area. Well worth a couple of hours' stay.

Baltic Travel has done us proud and you, in particular, Daina, have been such a key element in making us feel that we were in good, caring and considerate hands and with a company whose hallmark is quality of service. We’d certainly have no hesitation in recommending Baltic Travel to those wishing to visit the Faroes or to Scandinavian.

I hope we will visit the Faroes again but if we don't, it will always have a very special place in our hearts and minds.

With best wishes and once again, our sincere thanks to you and to Baltic Travel

Paul E and Jennifer C