Although the first two days of my trip had been grey, cold, and rainy, the third day graced me with beautiful skies and much-needed sunshine. What better day for a hike to what promised to be a gorgeous natural optical illusion: Lake Sørvágsvatn/Leitisvatn, Trælanípa, and Bøsdalafossur?
Note: Trælanípa is a famous cliff that is part of the optical illusion, and the lake that also participates in this stunning trick of the eye has two names—one favored by one village and the other by another. Bøsdalafossur is the waterfall that runs off the lake and puts the illusion into perspective. Apparently, there is a sea stack, Geitisskoradrangur, that you can also see, but I didn’t know about that, so if I saw it, I had no clue.
One reason that I opted to stay in Sandavágur instead of in Tórshavn is because Sandavágur is the town next to Miðvágur (“mee-vay-gur”. The ð is silent in Faroese.) The hike to Trælanípa begins in Miðvágur, and because Trælanípa was the sight that I most wanted to see, I stayed nearby to make the commute as easy on myself as possible.
Before leaving on my trip, I had been nervous about hiking to Trælanípa alone, so I booked a guide just to be safe. I scheduled he hike for nine o’clock in the morning, which was the earliest I could go with a guide. That also gave me room to figure out the bus.
Well, I didn’t end up taking the bus. The town was only about a twenty or thirty minute walk from where I was staying, and that worked out better for me than taking the bus, so I put the hike entrance into my offline map. Although I could have walked along the main road, I was nervous about cars, so I followed the map around the back route. That ended up walking me through some sort of warehouse area, so on the way home, I did take the main road, and that was perfectly fine. I would take the main road again in future.
The road to the start of the hike started just past one of the churches on the main road. From the direction of Sandavágur, the church was on the left, and the road was up a little further still. The opposite is true if coming from the airport.
I found that with no issue and followed the signs. Boy, was that an uphill walk! I made it, however…and then promptly got confused. I knew that two roads both led to the start of the hike, but I couldn’t figure out which ones they were or which was the shortest. After doubting myself and worrying that I was trespassing on someone’s property, I found the entrance. It was a small gate by a little building.
There is an entrance fee for the hike, which can be dropped in a little box, as I recall. Since I had a guide scheduled, I didn’t have to do that. Oh, but did I feel silly when I saw two older ladies take their dog out on the hike alone! It seemed like I didn’t need a guide, yet I had paid for one. Ah, well. I could get some interesting information out of it, probably.
A man met me at the little office building and apologized because the guide had called out sick or was late for some reason. I don’t remember now. That actually worked out perfectly well for me! I could now go on the hike at my own pace and take pictures without worrying about being rushed or slowing the guide down too much. The man refunded me the additional cost and offered me to have a coffee then or at the end of the hike, as it was included in the hiking fee. I opted for after, took a picture of the posted map (which I promptly forgot about), and set off on the hike.
The hike is a single path for most of the way. It splits right near the end to take you left to Trælanípa and right to Bøsdalafossur. I decided to see the optical illusion at Trælanípa first just in case the waterfall ruined it for me. Also, I wanted to see the cliff and lake while I knew the weather was good and while I had energy still. Cliffs are steep, after all.
Because I went in the morning, the only people around were the two older women who started out ahead of me. Otherwise, it was me and the sheep.
I hiked and hiked, and with all the pictures that I stopped to take, it took me probably an hour or more to get to the cliff. Since the stated time of the hike is 45 minutes one way, that wasn’t too bad.
The hike up the cliff was a little unnerving. Not only was it steeper than I had anticipated, but they seemed to be redoing the path up. They had dug some stairs out and supported them with planks of wood, but the rest of the path was gravel or dirt, and there weren’t any handholds as I recall. Going up took time because I stopped to catch my breath often, and going down took time because I didn’t want to slip and fall.
However, once I made it to the top…
…I was rewarded with the stunning optical illusion.
And seagulls.
Once I had my fill of the optical illusion—which, is that even possible?—I hiked back down and headed to the waterfall. The path was less clear to me on this part of the hike. I think there had originally been three paths out, but they were working on making a single one now. Don’t quote me on that. I’m pretty sure now that I took the incorrect path and came up from the left not the right, so…that’s fun.
Either way, I found my way to the rocks…and promptly got confused again. I walked and backtracked and walked again, until I finally found as good a view of the waterfall as I could get. This would have been the only part of the hike that a guide would have been helpful on. When I came back, the path seemed a little more obvious to me, but even then, I wasn’t certain. So, if you get confused, just guess until you get it right. And be cautious because, of course, you’re on rocks by the ocean.
On the hike back to the entrance, which was around eleven o’clock or so, I saw that the crowds had arrived. Morning had been the best choice, it seemed. I stopped at the entrance for coffee, and another guide had arrived by then. I asked them about where to get food, if the war museum was still in town, and if I could visit a small garden I had passed by earlier. They were very helpful and looked up all the information for me. The garden was open to the public, but the museum had already moved out by the airport and the restaurant wasn’t open yet. The coffee there was good and much-needed, however, and my morning had been amazing, so how could I complain?
With my Faroe Islands bucket list item checked off the list, I walked back to town in search of the garden.
What to Know
You can find information about the hike through this link and its related ones.
The hike cost 200kr at the time of my visit. A guide can be booked online for an extra fee, but one isn’t particularly necessary. Getting to Bøsdalafossur was a little bit confusing, but I still managed on my own.
Bring water and maybe snacks. A coffee or tea was, at the time of my trip, offered at the little office building as included in the hiking fee. However, other food options in town are limited, so be prepared.
Even in June with sunny weather, it was still chilly at times, so be prepared to switch between hot and cold often. Good hiking boots are a must, and I recommend sunglasses, a jacket, gloves, and scarves, but ones that you can layer or remove easily for when you get hot.
If the weather is good, go in the morning. It’s beautiful, and you won’t meet the crowds until your walk back, if even then.
Children went on the hike with their parents, but, of course, use your own discretion.
There are only a couple of benches along the way: two at least, and maybe no more than three or four. Bear that in mind if you think you’ll want to stop and sit often. Additionally, the paths aren’t often wide enough for more than two people—sometimes only one—so passing people could take some quick planning.
The hike is fairly straightforward, and they say it takes 45 minutes one way and is fairly flat. Well, from my experience, that’s perhaps 75% accurate. Of course, the hike up the cliff is not at all flat and is quite a workout. I stopped and took lots of pictures, which added to my total hiking time of about 3 hours. Finally, the path is straightforward but does have numerous ups and downs, some of which are easy and some that aren’t. Additionally, the ground is very uneven in many places, and you have to cross tiny patches of water running down the hills. Once or twice, I wasn’t sure I could cross areas. And the path at Bøsdalafossur was impossible for me to find until the way back, and even then I wasn’t sure I had found it.
Finally, when I went, I think they were redoing the path up the cliff because there were planks of wood along the path, and it was steep without handholds and with stairs only in certain places. That may have changed since then, but either way, be cautious hiking up and down the cliff, especially if it has rained recently.
If you have trouble on uneven ground or have bad knees, this may not be the hike for you. My knees, thankfully, didn’t cause me too much trouble, even on the ups and downs, but that might have been luck more than anything.
All of that said, the hike was the highlight of my trip, so if you are able to go, absolutely don’t skip it.
A Trip Takes Me 
[…] You can hire a tour guide, but it’s not particularly necessary. There is a small entry fee. The hike is on dirt paths with some ups and downs, rocks when seeing the waterfall, and a steep cliff if you […]
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