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Faroe Islands: buses or a rental car?

Last checked: 19 September 2026

The short answer

Take the bus if you are based in Tórshavn, travelling between towns, or visiting Nólsoy, Vestmanna, Klaksvík or Sandoy. Rent a car if Saksun, Gásadalur at a weekend, or several villages in one day are on your list. The network is good at connecting towns and poor at connecting villages, and no amount of planning changes that.

Source: Strandfaraskip LandsinsRoute overview — every scheduled bus and ferry route Tourist Travel Card — prices and conditions

What the buses do well

On the trunk corridors, scheduled transport is genuinely competitive with driving.

The airport connection: route 300 links Vágar Airport with Tórshavn on a service that is not restricted to weekdays.
Town to town: Tórshavn to Klaksvík on route 400 or 401, Tórshavn to Vestmanna on route 100, Tórshavn to Sandoy on route 650.
Island crossings: the ferries are the transport, and a car adds queueing rules rather than freedom.
In Tórshavn itself, the town buses are free, so a car is pure cost.

Source: Strandfaraskip LandsinsRoute 300 Tórshavn – Airport – Sørvágur Route 400 Klaksvík – Tórshavn Route 650 Sandoy – TórshavnTórshavnar kommunaTórshavn by bus — town routes and timetables

Where the buses stop short

The gaps are specific and predictable rather than general.

Saksun has no scheduled bus at all.
The west of Vágar beyond Sørvágur is weekday-only, on route 350, with few trips.
Gjógv exists on the network only as a telephone booking, on request route 201.
Tjørnuvík is weekday and schoolday only, on route 202.
Fitting two villages into one day is often impossible even where both have a service, because the branches connect to the trunk route rather than to each other.

Source: Strandfaraskip LandsinsRoute 350 Tórshavn – Vága Airport – Sørvágur/Bø Route 201 Oyrarbakki – Gjógv Route 202 Oyrarbakki – Tjørnuvík

The middle path

Many visitors do best with neither extreme: use the buses and ferries for the trunk journeys and the island crossings, and hire a car or book a tour for the one or two days that include Saksun, Gásadalur or a string of villages. A Tourist Travel Card covers the bus-and-ferry days without committing you to them for the whole trip.

Source: Strandfaraskip LandsinsTourist Travel Card — prices and conditions

Practical notes if you do drive

Several of the island links are subsea tunnels, some single-track tunnels remain on the smaller islands, and the ferries have their own vehicle queueing rules — vehicles must be queued no later than 15 minutes before departure on the Suðuroy crossing, for example.

Source: Strandfaraskip LandsinsFerry route 7 Suðuroy – Tórshavn Ferry route 56 Klaksvík – Kalsoy

Asked before you go

What people search for

Do I need a car in the Faroe Islands?: Not for Tórshavn, Klaksvík, Vestmanna, Nólsoy, Sandoy or the airport. You do for Saksun, for Gásadalur at a weekend, or for several villages in one day.
Is it better to rent a car or take the bus?: Many visitors do both: buses and ferries for the trunk journeys and island crossings, a car or a tour for the one or two days the network cannot cover.

Next step What the buses and ferries really reach

No signal in the valley? The timetable is already on your phone

Faroe Bus for Android plans SSL bus and ferry trips by place and keeps the timetables on your phone when the signal drops — in the valleys and on the trails, where the tourist board warns coverage can be limited, the bus home is still one tap away.

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