Hestur (Danish: Hestø) is an island in the central Faroe Islands, to the west of Streymoy and the south of

Koltur. Hestur means horse in Faroese.

On the west coast is a guillemot colony. In the north there is moorland with four small lakes, of which
Fagradalsvatn is the largest. At Hælur, Hestur's southernmost tip, there is a lighthouse. The island has
one settlement, a village also named Hestur on the east coast. The village enjoys the view over
Gamlarætt and Velbastaður on Streymoy.

The island has been settled since Viking times; the old settlement was at Hælur, the southern tip of the
island. Due to it being the sunward side of the island, cereal ripened better there than anywhere else on
the island. But due to extreme difficulties in landing boats there, the village was abandoned and the
current village of Hestur was established.

In 1919 a fishing accident resulted in the deaths of one-third of Hestur's men. In an attempt to fight the
depopulation of the village, a swimming pool was built on the island in 1974. On the southern part of
the island by the lake Fagradalsvatn, one can camp. Hestur's postal code is FO 280. Since 1 January 2005
the island has been part of the municipality of Tórshavn.

The coastline of the island has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International
because of its significance as a breeding site for seabirds, especially Atlantic puffins (25,000 pairs),
European storm petrels (5000 pairs) and black guillemots (50 pairs).[1]