A boat trip to Hestur, Koltur and a concert in the caves

This is an excursion from Tórshavn to the islands of Hestur and Koltur I would highly recommend. I heard about it from a local, enquired at the Tourist information office and went down to the harbour to locate the schooner called Norðlýsið.

Tickets

This delightful old vessel sold tickets on board and soon set sail (or rather ignited its engine) for the island of Hestur to the southwest. This island is otherwise only reached by ferry. The purpose of my trip was to visit the caves on the far side of the island – unreachable by any other means than boats. There are two trips a week during the summer season.

The route

It was an easy and slow way to go. We went due south and soon turned west around the southern end of Hestur. There are caves located on the western side of the island. The caves go deep, very deep and we had to leave the ship and board smaller RIB-boats to be able to move into them. The caves are possible to navigate even deeper in kayaks and by crawling. This particular excursion involved a live concert experience in the Klæmintsgjógv cave.

Unfortunately I had problems with my cameras and have no own pictures to show you. I have borrowed some on Flickr, on a proper license.

Entertainment in a cave

Three musicians on board the schooner were transported in first to set up their equipment, while we made a round-trip in the connecting caves to give them time to prepare. We returned for a most remarkable concert. Precariously perched on the wet and slippery rocks at the far end of a cave, the three musicians gave us a concert out of this world. We, the audience, could hear the sound of the instruments accompanied by the sound of the sea around us under the cathedral-like high ceiling above us.

A foot on land

Back on the schooner we sailed around the neighbouring island of Koltur with its magnificent bird cliffs to the west and previously inhabited parts to the east. (There is only one farm left.) Then back on Hestur we had a short excursion on foot into the village of Hestur before returning to Tórshavn.

A piece of advice: Bring food to eat and warm clothing. 

The large image below is my own, taken from Suderoy and showing Koltur in the horizon. Click to expand.

Panoramic view from Oyggjarvegur on Streymoy with the island of Koltur in the distance

What to explore on the Faroes?

The map below is to be explored. You may zoom in and out, click the markers for some more information. I made it before going to the islands and then added more sites and attractions as my four days and nights in 2016 went by. 

Lexical information about the archipelago is found on Wikipedia. Tourist information is available at Visit Faroe Islands, Faroe Islands Tourist Guide, and on international websites like Lonely Planet and Wikitravel. 

This series from the Faroe Islands consists of several posts.

(1) Introduction

(2) Tórshavn, the nicest little capital in the world

(3) Medieval Faroese history at Kirkjubøur

(4) A boat trip to Hestur, Koltur and a concert in the caves (THIS)

(5) Attractions on Eysteroy, Borðoy and Viðoy islands

(6) Attractions on Streymey and Vágar islands

There is also a video from this visit in 2016.