Iceland and the Faroe Islands by ferry, 12 days

Is it sane? Yes, in summer, for a party that likes the sea and does not mind that the ship, not the driver, sets the calendar. Twelve days gets you Copenhagen to Keflavík with two nights afloat, three full Faroese days and six Icelandic driving days of between 85 and 387 km. The whole thing is 2,519 km on the road and 47 and a half hours on the Norröna. It is not for anyone who wants to be in Iceland by the second morning: that party should fly to Keflavík and keep the Faroes for another year, or fly Keflavík to Vágar for a long weekend instead.

The date is the first decision and the only one that matters. Smyril Line's 2027 timetable runs three patterns. From 29 May to 5 September the Norröna leaves Hirtshals twice a week, Saturday and Tuesday, and goes on to Iceland once a week, Wednesday night out of Tórshavn. That is the only pattern that allows a Faroes stop shorter than a week, and the ledger above is built on it. In spring and autumn, one sailing a week, your Faroes stop is seven nights or nothing. In winter the ship does not go to Iceland at all.

#Days 1–2: Copenhagen to Tórshavn

Hirtshals is at the top of Jutland, 480 km and about five hours from Copenhagen on the E20 and E45. Check-in for the Saturday sailing is in the early afternoon, so either leave the capital at seven or, better, sleep in Hirtshals on Friday and arrive at the port rested. The ship sails at 15.30 and takes 32 hours to Tórshavn, docking at 22.30 on Sunday. Cabins are the sensible choice for a night and a day at sea; the cheapest berths sell first in July.

You are a foot passenger. That one choice is what makes a one-way route possible: your own car would have to come home on the same ship, and the return sailings from Seyðisfjörður add four more days at sea. Foot passengers hire in Tórshavn (the firms are at the harbour and at Vágar airport) and hire again in Iceland.

#Days 3–5: the Faroes in three loops from Tórshavn

Every road day returns to Tórshavn, which keeps the hotel fixed and the driving short. The islands are smaller than they look on the map and larger than they feel on the road, because nothing is straight.

Day 3 goes west through the Vágatunnilin to Vágar: Gásadalur, where the village waterfall drops straight into the sea, and back by the airport for fuel and lunch. Day 4 is Streymoy's north: the single-track road into Saksun, then across to Vestmanna, where the bird-cliff boats sail in summer and the harbour has a café that does not care about the weather. Day 5 is the long one in the ledger only because it ends on the ship: the Eysturoyartunnilin and Norðoyatunnilin to Klaksvík, the second town, with its fish-processing harbour and the ridge walk above it, then back to Tórshavn for an 18.00 departure. Check-in opens well before, and you want to be in the queue early because the car-deck loading is slow.

The sub-sea tunnels are tolled by number-plate camera. Tunnil's published one-way rates without a subscription are 175 kr for the Eysturoyartunnilin and Sandoyartunnilin, and 50 kr for the Norðoyatunnilin and Vágatunnilin, the last two charged in one direction only. Hire firms pass the charges on; ask how yours does it.

#Days 6–8: Seyðisfjörður to Reykjavík by the north

The ship docks at 08.30 on Thursday. The hire car is in Egilsstaðir, 28 km over Fjarðarheiði, and from there Route 1 climbs onto Möðrudalsöræfi, the high desert that separates east from north. It is 194 km to Reykjahlíð on Mývatn, with no fuel worth planning on between Egilsstaðir and the lake. Day 7 is a short 85 km to Akureyri so that the morning belongs to Mývatn and Goðafoss; the Vaðlaheiði tunnel at the end is tolled and paid online afterwards.

Day 8 is the long drive of the route: 387 km from Akureyri to Reykjavík on Vegagerðin's own figure, five and a half hours at the limits. There is no way to make it shorter and no good reason to break it, so start early and stop at Blönduós and Borgarnes.

#Days 9–12: the south, with Höfn as the turning point

From Reykjavík the Golden Circle is a half-day detour on the way to Vík: Þingvellir (paid parking), Geysir and Gullfoss, then Routes 35 and 30 down to the coast. Vík is 295 km in total. Day 10 continues east across Skeiðarársandur to Jökulsárlón and on to Höfn, 260 km; day 11 is the same road back, which sounds like a mistake until you are standing at the lagoon in evening light with nobody in the car park. Day 12 is 225 km to Keflavík, with the hire car returned three hours before the flight.

The new Hornafjörður Ring Road section near Höfn opened in June 2026 and has been tolled since 1 September by camera; Vegagerðin's notice gives ISK 1,500 for a single trip. Whether the older road remains as a free alternative is worth checking on road.is when you book.

#What it costs

Accommodation and food are mid-band in all three countries, and the Faroes are the dearest of the three for a hotel bed. The fees that exist: Faroese tunnel tolls (above); the Vaðlaheiði tunnel; the Hornafjörður section; Þingvellir parking; the one-way drop fee on the Icelandic hire car, which is quoted per firm and is not small. Fuel is computed from the ledger's kilometres at 7.5 l/100 km and each country's dated pump price. Ferry fares are not quoted here: Smyril Line prices by date and cabin, and only its booking site is current.

#What goes wrong

Weather, first. The Norröna sails in most of what the North Atlantic does, but a late arrival in Tórshavn is common in autumn, and a late docking in Seyðisfjörður costs you day 6. Faroese fog closes the Vestmanna boats and hides Gásadalur for whole days; the only cure is the order of the loops, which you can shuffle on the morning. In Iceland the exposed stretch is the south coast past Vík, where safetravel.is posts wind warnings that hire companies' insurance takes seriously.

#Variations

With your own car: sail the same way out and return Seyðisfjörður Thursday 10.30, Tórshavn Friday 03.00, Hirtshals Saturday 12.30, adding four days and a second Faroes stop. Nine days: skip Höfn (days 10 and 11) and drive Vík to Keflavík on day 10. Spring or autumn: the one-a-week pattern gives seven Faroese nights; add Sandoy through its new tunnel and the ferry to Suðuroy, and treat Iceland as a separate 10-day loop from Seyðisfjörður.

#Sources

Smyril Line's 2027 sailing schedule PDF; Tunnil's price page; Vegagerðin's Ring Road page and its Hornafjörður toll notice; veggjald.is; OSRM on OpenStreetMap for every leg not covered by Vegagerðin; safetravel.is and Landsverk for conditions. Ledger checked 1 November 2026.