Havgrim Seaside Hotel 1948

Havgrim Seaside Hotel 1948

The Faroe Islands are 18 volcanic islands in the North Atlantic, equidistant between Norway, Iceland and Scotland, home to around 55,000 people and one of the most dramatically beautiful landscapes in the world. The islands rise sheer from the sea in cliffs of basalt and grass, their interiors crossed by rivers and waterfalls that appear and disappear through cloud, their coasts punctuated by villages of turf-roofed houses painted in the particular primary colours that seem to intensify under the northern light. The weather changes constantly and dramatically, which is part of the point: the Faroes in full Atlantic storm are as impressive as the Faroes in bright sun, and the light on a clear evening in June, when it barely gets dark, is unlike anything in the rest of Europe. The islands have no mass tourism infrastructure, no resort culture, no beach hotels. What they have is puffins nesting in cliff faces a metre from the path, waterfalls dropping directly into the sea, villages accessible only by helicopter or boat, and a food culture centred on fermentation and preservation and the radical freshness of things caught or gathered that morning. Tórshavn, the capital, is the smallest national capital in the world by population, its old town of Tinganes a jumble of turf-roofed wooden houses on a narrow peninsula that has been continuously inhabited since the Viking Age. Havgrim was built in 1948 on the stony shore of the Nólsoy Fjord, just outside the old town, and served for several decades as the residence of Danish Navy Commodores and their families. It passed to the Faroese government and eventually to its current owners, who restored it carefully, keeping the character of the original building while introducing Nordic contemporary interiors, sustainable materials and geothermal energy. There are 14 rooms, each individually designed, the best looking directly over the fjord toward the island of Nólsoy, the water and the farmsteads on the far shore filling the window in a way that makes it difficult to leave the room. The breakfast room has the same view, and the buffet of local and house-made produce is the best meal the hotel serves, which is appropriate: breakfast in a window overlooking an Atlantic fjord in the Faroe Islands is a sufficient reason to stay here. This is not a hotel where the property itself is the point. There is no evening restaurant, no spa, no pool, no grand public rooms. Reception is staffed limited hours. The rooms are comfortable but not large. The toiletries are eco-friendly and the energy is geothermal and the sourcing is local and all of this is admirable, but none of it is what you come for. You come for the islands, which are extraordinary, and Havgrim is the most considered and atmospheric base in Tórshavn for the experience of being in them. The old town is ten minutes on foot. The whole archipelago is accessible by car, boat and the occasional tunnel bored through the seafloor between islands. The guests are those for whom the destination is entirely the motivation, who booked a flight to the Faroes because they saw a photograph of Sørvágsvatn, the lake that appears to hang above the sea, or Gásadalur, the village with the waterfall, or the puffin colonies of Mykines, and who want somewhere in Tórshavn that is as thoughtfully considered as the trip itself. They are experienced travellers who measure a hotel less by what it offers and more by whether it fits the place it's in, and Havgrim fits the Faroe Islands precisely. The short version: A 14-room boutique hotel in a restored 1948 Danish Navy Commodores' house on the Nólsoy Fjord, ten minutes on foot from the old town of Tórshavn. Individually designed rooms with fjord views, geothermal energy, locally sourced breakfast with one of the great morning views in Northern Europe. No evening restaurant, no spa, rooms on the smaller side. The Faroe Islands are extraordinary and this is the right address in the capital: not a destination in itself, but an admirably considered base for one of the most dramatic landscapes in the world.