Streymoy ( da, Strømø) is the largest and most populated island of the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic archipelago, island group and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotlan ...

. The capital,

Tórshavn Tórshavn (; lit. "Thor's harbour"), usually locally referred to as simply ''Havn'', is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the northwest of the city lies the ...

, is located on its southeast coast. The name means "island of currents". It also refers to the largest

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

of the country that also includes the islands of Hestur, Koltur and Nólsoy.

Geography

The island is oblong in shape and stretches roughly in northwest–southeast direction with a length of and a width of around . There are two deeply-indented

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icel ...

s in the southeast: Kollafjørður and Kaldbaksfjørður. The island is mountainous (average height is 337 meter ), especially in the northwest, with the highest peak being Kopsenni (). That area is dominated by over cliffs. The area is known as Vestmannabjørgini, which means Cliffs of Vestmanna. The beaches of Tórshavn, Vestmanna,

Leynar Leynar ( da, Lejnum) is a village in the Faroe Islands, a self-governing overseas administrative division of Denmark. The village is situated on the western coast of the island of Streymoy in the municipality of Kvívíkar. It has a population of ...

, Kollafjørður, Hvalvík (meaning Whale Bay) and Tjørnuvík are officially approved ''grind'' beaches for whaling. Like the rest of the

there are numerous short streams and minor lakes. The main vegetation is grass, with no trees. Some of the villages have planted trees inside or just outside the village. These parks need to have fences around them in order to keep sheep out. Streymoy is separated from the nearby

Eysturoy Eysturoy (pronounced estroimeaning 'East Island') is a region and the second-largest of the Faroe Islands, both in size and population. Description Eysturoy is separated by a narrow sound from the main island of Streymoy. Eysturoy is extremely ...

, the second-largest island of the

, by the sounds of Sundini and Tangafjørður. To the west lies the island of Vágar, and to the south the island of

Sandoy Sandoy ("Sand Island") is the first of the five southern islands that make up the Faroe chain, the fifth biggest of all the Faroe Islands, an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Denmark. It also refers to the region that includes this island alon ...

, separated by the Vestmannasund and Skopunarfjørður respectively. Three additional smaller islands are situated around the southern tip of Streymoy and belong to the Streymoy sýsla: Koltur, Hestur and Nólsoy; all of which are incorporated into

Tórshavn Municipality Tórshavn Municipality (Tórshavnar kommuna) is the municipality of the Faroese capital Tórshavn and its surroundings. The municipality covers the southern half of Streymoy island and adjacent minor islands and has an area of 173 km2. It ...

Important bird area

The north-east coastline of the island has been identified as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Inte ...

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because of its significance as a breeding site for

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same envir ...

s, especially

northern fulmar The northern fulmar (''Fulmarus glacialis''), fulmar, or Arctic fulmar is a highly abundant seabird found primarily in subarctic regions of the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans. There has been one confirmed sighting in the Southern Hemis ...

s (75,000 pairs),

European storm petrel The European storm petrel, British storm petrel, or just storm petrel (''Hydrobates pelagicus'') is a seabird in the northern storm petrel family (biology), family, Hydrobatidae. The small, square-tailed bird is entirely black except for a broa ...

s (2500 pairs),

European shag The European shag or common shag (''Gulosus aristotelis'') is a species of cormorant. It is the only member of the monotypic genus ''Gulosus''. It breeds around the rocky coasts of western and southern Europe, southwest Asia and north Africa, mai ...

s (150 pairs),

great skua The great skua (''Stercorarius skua''), sometimes known by the name bonxie in Britain, is a large seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae. It is roughly the size of a herring gull. It mainly eats fish caught at the sea surface or taken fro ...

s (120 pairs),

black-legged kittiwake The black-legged kittiwake (''Rissa tridactyla'') is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae. This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'' as ''Larus tridactylus''. The English ...

s (9000 pairs),

Atlantic puffin The Atlantic puffin ('), also known as the common puffin, is a species of seabird in the auk family. It is the only puffin native to the Atlantic Ocean; two related species, the tufted puffin and the horned puffin is found in the northeastern ...

s (20,000 pairs) and

black guillemot The black guillemot or tystie (''Cepphus grylle'') is a medium-sized seabird of the Alcidae family, native throughout northern Atlantic coasts and eastern North American coasts. It is resident in much of its range, but large populations from the ...

s (300 pairs).

Population

There are about 24,682 inhabitants on the island (January 2020), which represents more than 45% of the whole population of the

. The majority of them reside in the capital

, which has a population of about 21,000 in the municipality, of whom 13,089 live in Tórshavn, 3,956 in Hoyvík, and 2,110 in

Argir Argir ( da, Arge) is a village in the Faroe Islands. Argir most likely takes its name from Old Irish ''airge'' meaning ''summer pasture''.; several placenames in Faroe carry the same name with this meaning. Once a village south of Tórshavn, Arg ...

. Hoyvík and Argir are suburbs of Tórshavn, but they have grown together. Around 1,202 people live in Vestmanna, and 789 in Kollafjørður. Besides being the seat of the government,

is also the chief port, the seat of the university and the commercial centre of the islands.

Towns and villages

The other important towns include: Vestmanna, the former ferry port in the west, Kollafjørður at the centre and the picturesque villages of

Saksun Saksun is a village near the northwest coast of the Faroese island of Streymoy, in Sunda Municipality. Geography Saksun lies in the bottom of what used to be an inlet of the sea, surrounded by high mountains. The inlet formed a good deep natura ...

and Tjørnuvík in the north. From a historic point of view the village of

Kirkjubøur Kirkjubøur ( da, Kirkebø) is the southernmost village on Streymoy, Faroe Islands. The village is located on the south-west coast of Streymoy and has a view towards the islands of Hestur and Koltur towards the west, and to Sandoy towards the s ...

near the southern tip of the island is very important as it was an episcopal center during the Middle Ages. List of villages * Tjørnuvík * Haldarsvík *

Langasandur Langasandur ( da, Langesand) is a village located on the Faroese island of Streymoy in the municipality of Sunda. The village was settled in 1938, the name Langasandur means Longbeach. Whaling station In 1894, the first whaling station in t ...

Nesvík Nesvík is a village on the east coast of the Faroese island of Streymoy Streymoy ( da, Strømø) is the largest and most populated island of the Faroe Islands. The capital, Tórshavn, is located on its southeast coast. The name means "island of ...

* Streymnes * Hvalvík *

Hósvík Hósvík ( da, Thorsvig) is a village in the Faroe Islands. It has a population of 335 and is located on a bay on Streymoy Streymoy ( da, Strømø) is the largest and most populated island of the Faroe Islands. The capital, Tórshavn, is located ...

* Kollafjørður * Signabøur *

Kvívík Kvívík ( da, Kvivig) is a village on the west coast of Streymoy in the Faroe Islands, in the eponymous municipality of ''Kvívík''. History Kvívík is one of the oldest settlements in the Faroes and excavations have shown the remains of Vikin ...

* Vestmanna * Kaldbaksbotnur * Kaldbak * Sund * Norðradalur * Hvítanes * Hoyvík *

Syðradalur Syðradalur (, is a village on the island of Kalsoy, one of the Faroe Islands. Syðradalur is the southernmost village on the island, and is in Húsar Municipality. On 1 January 2009, Syðradalur had nine inhabitants, down from 12 in 1985. Bj� ...

* Velbastaður *

Transportation

All the settlements are connected by surfaced roads. The main entry road to

passes through a long tunnel. The connection to the island of

is via

Streymin Bridge The Streymin Bridge ( Faroese: Brúgvin um Streymin; in short Brúgvin), is an important highway bridge in the Faroe Islands. It connects the two biggest and most populous islands of Streymoy to the west and Eysturoy to the east. Crossing the Su ...

over the Sundini sound. Since 2002, the almost long Vágar Tunnel has connected Streymoy to Vágar, thereby completing the road connections of the three "mainland" islands. Since December 2020, the

Eysturoyartunnilin The Eysturoyartunnilin (in English the Eysturoy Tunnel, earlier known as the Skálafjarðartunnilin) is a large undersea road tunnel under the Tangafjørður sound in the Faroe Islands, connecting the island of Streymoy to the island of Eystur ...

has connected southern Streymoy to Eysturoy. One undersea tunnel is currently under construction: the

Sandoyartunnilin Sandoyartunnilin (Sandoy Tunnel) is an undersea road tunnel under construction in the Faroe Islands. It will connect the main island of Streymoy with Sandoy to the south. The length of the tunnel will be 10.8 kilometres. The estimated cost is 86 ...

connecting Streymoy to

(due to open in 2023). Streymoy is connected by regular ferry service to the island of

from the ferry port of

Gamlarætt Gamlarætt is a ferry port in the Faroe Islands. It is situated on the southwestern side of the island of Streymoy, the largest island in the Faroes, between the villages of Velbastaður and Kirkjubøur. It accommodates ferry services to the isl ...

near

, and to the islands of Suðuroy and Nólsoy from the ferry port in

. A scheduled ferry connects

with

Hirtshals Hirtshals is a town and seaport on the coast of Skagerrak on the island of Vendsyssel-Thy at the top of the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark, Europe. It is located in Hjørring municipality in Region Nordjylland. The town of Hirtshals has a ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

and Seyðisfjörður in

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

. The closest airport is Vágar Airport on Vágar island (35 minutes by car); it is the only airport in the Faroe Islands.

Gallery

Sundini at Norðskáli, Faroe Islands.JPG, The

over Sundini Sound connects

to Streymoy. Faroe Islands, Streymoy, Tórshavn (1).jpg, The capital

is on Streymoy. Skælingur and the West Coast of Streymoy Faroe Islands.JPG, West coast of Streymoy. Saksun, Faroe Islands (5).JPG, Mountain scenery near

. Faroe Islands, Streymoy, Oyggjarvegur (road No.10) north of Tórshavn.jpg, The central highlands of Streymoy in winter.

References

External links

* *
Tórshavn and Streymoy
Tourist Information {{Authority control Islands of the Faroe Islands Important Bird Areas of the Faroe Islands