Faroe IslandsIsland

Koltur

2.3 km² of land in the Norwegian Sea.

N 0.5 km

BeachesPeaks

Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.

In numbers

2.3km²

Area

10km

Coastline

478m

Highest point

Kolturshamar

People

10°C

Warmest sea

August

624km

To the mainland

When to go to Koltur

Good all year round.

The sea is warmest in August (10 °C) and coolest in March (7 °C). The water never reaches 21 °C: bring a wetsuit.

7°6°4°

Jan22

7°6°4°

Feb20

7°6°4°

Mar21

7°7°5°

Apr17

8°8°6°

May15

9°10°8°

Jun13

10°12°10°

Jul17

10°12°10°

Aug17

10°11°10°

Sep19

10°9°8°

Oct21

9°8°6°

Nov21

8°7°5°

Dec23

Sea temperature (the water level) Air: night low to afternoon high Wet days

Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.

Island of the Faroe Islands

Koltur is an island in Faroe Islands. It covers 2.3 km², with 10 km of coastline. Its highest point, Kolturshamar, rises to 478 m. Nobody lives on it. The nearest mainland is 624 km away.

Getting there

Vágar Airport (FAE)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 18 km in a straight lineCar hire at FAE airport (Vágar)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
624 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast

Plan the trip

Ferries, stays and things to do

Car hire at FAE airport (Vágar)Discover CarsSee

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

On the island

What you find on Koltur.

1beaches
2named peaksUppi á Oyggj, Fjallið Mikla

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.

The shape of the land.

On average the island stands 134 m above the sea. 72 % of it is below 200 m.

36 %0–50 m
36 %50–200 m
28 %200–500 m

Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).

Size, for real

Next to islands you may know.

Koltur2 km²

Capri10 km²

2 km

All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).

Month by month

The weather on the island.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Afternoon high (°C)	6	6	6	7	8	10	12	12	11	9	8	7
Night low (°C)	4	4	4	5	6	8	10	10	10	8	6	5
Sea (°C)	7	7	7	7	8	9	10	10	10	10	9	8
Rain (mm)	123	96	95	76	72	68	82	96	110	118	117	130
Wet days	22	20	21	17	15	13	17	17	19	21	21	23
Sun h/day	0.0	0.8	2.5	4.4	5.8	5.8	4.9	4.4	2.9	1.2	0.1	0.0
Wind (km/h)	36	35	33	30	26	22	22	23	28	32	34	36

Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.

Recent years

Warmer and cooler years at sea.

Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2020	−0.1	−0.2	−0.1	+0.2	−0.1	+0.2	+0.1	−0.2	−0.1	+0.1	+0.8	+0.6
2021	+0.1	−0.1	+0.9	+0.3	−0.2	±0.0	+0.1	+0.4	+0.1	+0.2	+0.3	+0.3
2022	−0.1	−0.6	±0.0	+0.2	+0.2	+0.1	−0.1	−0.1	+0.4	+0.6	+0.7	+0.5
2023	−0.2	−0.1	−0.1	+0.3	±0.0	+0.4	+0.2	+0.5	+0.6	+0.4	+0.3	−0.1
2024	±0.0	+0.1	+0.3	+0.3	+0.7	−0.1	+0.2	+0.3	+0.4	+0.2	+0.5	+0.1
2025	−0.1	+0.6	+0.7	+1.1	+1.3	+0.5	+0.9	+1.0	+1.3	+1.5	+1.1	+0.7

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

Photos

Seen by visitors.

Koltur View towards North — EileenSanda · CC BY-SA 3.0

Koltur Faroe Islands the West Cost — EileenSanda · CC BY-SA 3.0

Koltur Island-pjt — Pjt56 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Koltur, Faroe Islands (3) — Erik Christensen , Porkeri ( Contact at the Danish Wikipedia ) · CC BY-SA 3.0

Nearby

More islands nearby.

Streymoy

Faroe Islands373 km²789 m16 km away

Vágar

Faroe Islands176 km²722 m18 km away

Eysturoy

Faroe Islands285 km²880 m26 km away

Hestur

Faroe Islands5.9 km²421 m6 km away

Sandoy

Faroe Islands111 km²479 m18 km away

Nólsoy

Faroe Islands10 km²372 m17 km away

Borðoy

Faroe Islands95 km²755 m35 km away

Skúvoy

Faroe Islands10 km²393 m26 km away

About these numbers

Names, area, population	Wikidata (Q208337) · CC0
Outline	© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Sea temperature	NOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020
Climate	NASA POWER · 1991–2020
Relief, 3D model	Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails	© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Towns	GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Images	EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

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