Vágar
Vágar is an island in the Faroe Islands, the island is also called Vága in combination with other words.
Understand
Villages
- 1 Bøur - An ancient settlement mentioned in writing as early as 1350 AD.
- 2 Gásadalur – A tiny village of 18 people.
- 3 Sandavágur
– the first village reached with a bright red-roofed church. - 4 Miðvágur – between Sandavágur and Sørvágur. There is a War Museum there.
- 5 Sørvágur – where the ferry runs to the bird island of Mykines.
Other destinations
1 Mykines – The westernmost island. It can be reached by boat from Sørvágur or by helicopter from the airport in Vágar or one of the helicopter places in Tórshavn, Suðuroy etc. Mykines is known for its puffins and charming village with turf roofed houses.
Talk
The Faroese language is descended from Old Norse but apparently only Icelandic offers mutual understanding with it. Visitors are advised never to assume that a place sounds like it is spelled and Vágar is pronounced something like Vau-er with au as in fraud (á is generally pronounced like that, in opposite to a).
Get in
Access from UK, Denmark, Norway and Iceland by air to Vagar Airport with Atlantic Airways, the Faroes own airline. Motor vehicular access by undersea tunnel from Streymoy. Payment is only necessary one way, from Vagar to Streymoy, and must be made at any petrol filling station any time up to three days after travel.
Get around
In order to reach Bøur, follow the road beyond the airport, drive through Sørvágur and continue towards west. Gásadalur is connected to Bøur by a road tunnel.
Sørvágur is reachable by foot from the airport (2 km downhill). If the luggage is not too heavy, you can walk there and see the town and then take the bus to Tórshavn.
See
The views from Bøur of Tindholmur and nearby stacks are as good as anything in the Faroes. In Gásadalur you can watch puffins get the closest mainland view of Mykines and of the tiny but extremely shapely island of Tindholmur and the nearby stacks.
- Pakkhúsið í Bø (Bøur). an interesting old Storage House. Sometimes open as a café.
Do
Buy
There are no shops in Bøur. The nearest shops are in Sørvágur.
Eat
Drink
Sleep
There are a few holiday homes for rent in Bøur. Ask the Tourist Information in Miðvágur, phone +298 333455, e-mail: vagar@vagar.fo, website: www.visitvagar.fo.
Stay safe
Call 112 in case of emergency. There are doctors in Vágar. After normal work hours people need to drive to Tórshavn, if they need medical help. The medical help phone after working hours is: 1870. It is the same for almost all of the country. The local doctor's phone in working hours Mon.-Friday is +298 332413.