We drove almost every road in the Faroe Islands during our trip — the switchbacks above Gásadalur, the single-lane shelf roads on Vágar, and yes, all of the paid tunnels. The tunnel system is genuinely impressive: undersea connections that would otherwise require a ferry or a very long detour. But the pricing caught us off guard on our first crossing, and we’ve since talked to enough visitors who got surprise charges to know this is worth explaining properly.

The short version: the Faroe Islands use a tag-based toll system called Umferðargjald. If you drive through a paid tunnel without registering your vehicle or buying the right pass, you will receive an invoice by mail — including a handling fee that costs more than the toll itself. This guide explains how to avoid that.

Which tunnels are actually paid — and which are free

Not every tunnel in the Faroes charges a toll, and the distinction matters because you’ll drive through many free ones without a second thought. The paid tunnels are a specific subset connecting islands that would otherwise require ferries.

The three paid tunnels (as of 2026)

• Vágatunnilin — connects Vágar island (where the airport is) to the main island of Streymoy. If you’ve arrived by plane and rented a car, you almost certainly drove through this one on the way out of the airport. It’s a standard road tunnel.
• Norðoyatunnilin — connects Streymoy to Eysturoy and continues to the Northern Islands (Norðoyggjar). This is the main artery for reaching Klaksvík and the northeast.
• Eysturoyartunnilin — the spectacular new roundabout-in-a-tunnel linking Eysturoy to Streymoy. Opened in 2020, it includes an underwater roundabout — genuinely one of the most unusual driving experiences we’ve had anywhere in the world.

Free tunnels and roads

• All other road tunnels and mountain tunnels on the islands are toll-free.
• Ferry routes (to Mykines, Suðuroy, Sandoy, and smaller islands) have their own separate booking and ticketing systems — these are not part of the tunnel toll system at all.
• The causeway roads (bridges and shorter connections between some islands) are also free.

The practical takeaway: if your itinerary involves the airport, Klaksvík, or the underwater roundabout experience, you will encounter at least one paid tunnel. Plan accordingly.

How the Faroe toll system works

The Faroe Islands road authority runs the toll system under the name Umferðargjald (literally “traffic payment”). The system is electronic — there are no toll booths, no barriers, no cash lanes. Cameras read your licence plate as you drive through.

The core mechanism

• Automatic plate recognition: cameras at each paid tunnel entrance and exit capture your registration number on every crossing.
• Registered accounts: if your plate is registered in the system and linked to a valid payment method, the toll is deducted automatically after a few days.
• Unregistered plates: if your plate is not in the system, the authority identifies the registered owner (via vehicle databases), sends an invoice, and adds an administration surcharge. For a rental car this invoice goes to the rental company, which then passes it to you — often weeks later, and with their own additional handling fee layered on top.

The system is clean and efficient from a traffic-flow perspective. What it lacks is any on-road warning to visitors that they are passing through a paid zone without valid registration. Most first-time visitors only discover the problem when a charge shows up on their credit card statement two months after they’re home.

Step-by-step: registering before you drive

The official registration portal is umferdargjald.fo. The site is available in Faroese, Danish, and English. The process is straightforward but has a few nuances worth knowing.

How to register a vehicle for the Faroe tunnel tolls

The whole registration process takes about ten minutes. We’d recommend doing it the evening before you pick up your car, not in the airport car park at 8 am with a queue of other travellers behind you.

What to do if you’re renting a car

Most visitors to the Faroe Islands drive a rental car, and the rental car situation deserves its own section because there is no single standard approach across agencies.

The four most common rental car scenarios

• Toll included in the rental agreement: some agencies (especially those at Vágar Airport) pre-register their fleet and bill tunnel crossings directly to you at cost, with no surcharge. This is the cleanest setup. Read the agreement carefully — it will say something like “road tolls billed at cost” or “toll pass included.”
• Toll included but with a handling fee: many agencies include a daily or per-trip “toll management fee” in the fine print. This means they handle the registration, but you pay a flat daily charge whether you use the tunnels or not — sometimes €3–5/day extra. If you’re only on Streymoy and never crossing a paid tunnel, this is worth querying.
• Toll not included — you register yourself: some smaller agencies leave tunnel administration entirely to the renter. This is where umferdargjald.fo registration is essential. The agency will give you the licence plate at collection — register it before you drive anywhere.
• Nothing mentioned at all: ask. Specifically ask: “If I drive through a paid tunnel, how is that charged?” An agency that has no clear answer is one where you should register yourself to be safe.

The fees — what each crossing actually costs in 2026

The tunnel toll amounts are modest by Nordic standards, but the administration surcharge for unregistered crossings can double or triple your effective cost. Here is what we found on our trip and from the official tariff.

2026 toll rates (approximate — confirm at umferdargjald.fo)

• Vágatunnilin (airport tunnel): approximately 115–130 DKK per crossing for a standard passenger car.
• Norðoyatunnilin (Northern Islands tunnel): approximately 115–130 DKK per crossing.
• Eysturoyartunnilin (roundabout tunnel): approximately 105–120 DKK per crossing.
• Administration surcharge for unregistered crossings: a flat fee added per invoice — often 100–200 DKK on top of the base toll, effectively doubling the cost of a single crossing. Rental agencies may add their own fee on top of this again.
• Motorcycles: discounted rate, typically 50–60% of the car fare.
• Camper vans / larger vehicles: higher tariff — check the official table before your trip if you’re in a camper.

Currency note: the Faroe Islands use the Faroese króna, which is pegged 1:1 to the Danish krone (DKK). Danish krone is also accepted everywhere. EU/Schengen cards work without surcharge at most payment points.

Tips to avoid the most common tunnel fee mistakes

• Register before you leave the airport. The Vágatunnilin is the first road you drive after collecting your car from Vágar Airport. If you haven’t registered by the time you leave the terminal area, you’ll have already made an unregistered crossing. Register the night before or at the airport Wi-Fi before picking up the keys.
• Don’t assume the toll is included. Even from agencies that usually include it, mistakes happen. Get written confirmation in your rental agreement, not a verbal assurance at the desk.
• Keep your licence plate number handy. You need the exact plate to register. Photograph it as soon as you collect the car, before you drive anywhere.
• Check your account after the trip. Log into umferdargjald.fo 2–3 days after returning and verify all crossings are recorded correctly. Errors do happen, and it’s much easier to dispute a charge before you’ve left the islands.
• If you drove unregistered, register retroactively. The system allows you to register and pay outstanding tolls — this is cheaper than waiting for the invoice-plus-surcharge to arrive. Log in, add your plate, and look for any outstanding crossings.
• The underwater roundabout counts as a crossing each way. If you drive through the Eysturoyartunnilin in both directions in a day, that’s two toll crossings, not one. Budget accordingly.
• Don’t confuse the tunnel tolls with ferry tickets. If you want to visit Mykines, Suðuroy, or Sandoy, you need a separate ferry ticket from Strandfaraskip Landsins — this is a completely different booking system with its own schedules. The tunnel toll account covers nothing ferry-related.
• Set a reminder to cancel the account and claim your deposit. Small balances are easy to forget. Put a calendar reminder for three weeks after your return date.

What we got wrong — and what we’d do differently

• We arrived by plane, collected the car, and drove straight out without registering. The first crossing — through the Vágatunnilin — happened before we’d had coffee. We only realised later when we looked up how the system worked. Luckily our rental included toll handling, but it was a closer call than it should have been.
• We assumed “no toll booth” meant “free.” Coming from mainland Scandinavia, we’d driven plenty of electronic toll roads. The Faroes felt different — quieter, smaller — and we mentally filed the tunnels as infrastructure rather than toll roads. That was wrong.
• We drove the Eysturoyartunnilin four times in two days and didn’t track the crossings. It’s genuinely addictive to drive through — the underwater roundabout is surreal enough that you want to do it again. Keep a rough count, because each direction is a separate charge.
• We didn’t read the rental agreement carefully enough. The toll handling clause was in the fine print of page three. It was in our favour, but we only found it when looking for something else entirely. Read the whole thing before you leave the lot.
• We didn’t check the account after the trip. A minor one: we had a small deposit balance that sat for months before we remembered to request the refund. Not a disaster, but unnecessary.
• We told friends “don’t worry about the tunnels” and then they got a bill. Their rental situation was different from ours. Do not assume your experience generalises — check individually every time you rent.

Frequently asked questions