Faroe Islands

island nation · arctic life · denmark · ocean

Dramatic cliffs and fjords. The Faroe Islands are super rocky and jagged, carved by ancient glaciers into stunning fjords and towering sea cliffs. Almost no trees grow there because of the harsh winds and cold.

The darkest city on Earth. The capital city Tórshavn gets only 840 hours of sunshine per year, making it the city with the least sunshine ever recorded anywhere in the world. In winter, the sun barely rises at all.

Midnight sun and polar twilight. In summer, it never gets fully dark, and you can see a blue-grey glow in the sky all night long. In winter, the opposite happens, and the days are incredibly short.

Warm waters from far away. Even though these islands are near the Arctic Circle, the Gulf Stream ocean current brings warm water from the tropics, keeping temperatures mild and preventing the sea from freezing.

Their own special language. People speak Faroese, a language that sounds a bit like Icelandic and comes from the Vikings who settled these islands long ago.