Lerwick, Shetland Isles and Klaksvik, Faroe Islands

[jccruiser]

Hi
We will be on Jewel of Seas 20 June visiting these islands, and we are looking for information from anyone who has been there recently.

We are considering visiting the brewery in Klaksvik, but not sure what else.
Lerwick, we only have an afternoon, but were wondering if there is any hiking from the town?
What do you recommend? Thanks

[3213dev]

Originally Posted by jccruiser

Hi
We will be on Jewel of Seas 20 June visiting these islands, and we are looking for information from anyone who has been there recently.

We are considering visiting the brewery in Klaksvik, but not sure what else.
Lerwick, we only have an afternoon, but were wondering if there is any hiking from the town?
What do you recommend? Thanks

Hi there, we'll also be on this cruise we were looking at the brewery in the Faroe Islands aswell. Looked through a few excursions for the Shetlands but not fully sure, think we'll check the fort out at our own pace

Difficult to get info on these two ports though it seems

[ozscotart]

Originally Posted by 3213dev

Difficult to get info on these two ports though it seems

I haven't been to Shetland for a few years but the local tourist people have a good website http://visit.shetland.org/.

Jarlshof is interesting, and Mousa Broch might also be quite interesting.
Visit Shetland will also post you stuff if you ask.

We have only been to Torshavn : frankly, I thought the Faroes very dull, grim and remote ; my husband did the excursion on a wee boat and loved it. They eat seagulls there you know. But again the Faroese have a good website if you really have to go off the ship :
http://www.faroeislands.com/

You can buy the Sarah Lund jumpers in Torshavn, not sure about elsewhere. Wee bit scratchy though.

[edinburgher]

We were in Klaksvik last August...for a couple of hours.


We had actually arrived into Torshavn for a full day, but the one and only shortish excursion on offer did not appeal to us so we decided to explore the town and also try to see some more of the islands. It was really the journey which interested us rather than the desination.


We took the bus from Torshavn to Klaksvik and back. In Klaksvik, because it was lunchtime we had approx. 2 hours to kill before our return bus left. We found little of interest and were surprised to find that some ships were actually calling there. Maybe we are hard to please. Cynics that we are, we wondered if it was because they could sell tours to Torshavn!


The bus terminus in Klaksvik is centrally located, the one in Torshavn left from the port and is also central, barely 5 mins walk from the harbour and the older part of town. Torshavn is by far the more attractive of the two towns. We had time to do a little sightseeing in Torshavn before our bus to Klaksvik left, also after we returned.

You would find photos of both towns online, also the Faroes in general. What you see is what you get. Depending on the weather (and it can change in minutes) we found the drive interesting and scenic, passing through several small villages along the way and almost always alongside water. The "distance" buses liaise with the smaller minibuses at certain stops along the way. We crossed several bridges and through the new(ish) tunnel which connects Klaksvik. The "artistic light display" within the tunnel was not as artistic as expected! It is a toll route hence the fairly steep price of the ticket. I just now looked. It is still 90K pp each way.

If the idea interests you and your cruise call is long enough, there is bus info online. Never sure which links can be freely given and which are copyright protected, I suggest you look at the strandfaraskip landsins site and click the "for tourists" section. You will get bus routes, timetables etc and you can fill in a from/to section for pricing if you decide to visit other places instead of Torshavn.

We enjoyed our day there. It The Faroes were in some ways similar to other destinations we have visited, but different too.

[jccruiser]

thank you both for the information, it is very helpful.
Not sure about the seagull tasting!!
Fingers crossed for decent weather while we are there!

[timespliters]

is their much meat on a seagull?