Hvalba

About the village

Hvalba is one of the northernmost villages on Suðuroy, located on a spatial plain by the east coast between two mountains. Hvalba access to land has historically secured it as a populous and important agricultural village, and it was also the only settlement with a stationary priest. But as the fishing industry grew in The Faroe Islands, villages such as Vágur and Tvøroyri grew larger and took over as regional centres of Suðuroy.

A well known part of Hvalba are the tunnels connecting Hvalba to the two other villages Trongisvágur and Sandvík. These tunnels are among the oldest in the Faroe Islands and are known to be very small and narrow and depict a much older Faroese society.

Photo: Bjartur Vest, Ólavur Frederiksen