About Hotel Hafnia

Part of Tórshavn since 1951
When Hotel Hafnia opened on 1 November 1951, the rooms were ready. The furniture was not.

Christian Dahl-Restorff had decided to enter the hotel business, and his first guests needed somewhere to sleep. His childhood friend, master carpenter Verland Johansen, helped put together a temporary solution. Hafnia began with determination, a helping hand and a willingness to make things work.

Since then, the hotel on Áarvegur has been part of life in Tórshavn. People have stayed here, celebrated special occasions and gathered over a good meal. For many visitors, it has also been their first encounter with Faroese hospitality.

Hospitality in the family
The story reaches back to 1848, when baker Martin Christian Restorff arrived in the Faroe Islands from Copenhagen. Old Restorff became a well-known businessman, remembered as much for his generosity as his success. A customer with little money might receive an extra loaf to take home. On festive occasions, he invited people in to eat their fill.

That welcome continued in the family house on Áarvegur. When Johanna Restorff lost her husband in 1916, she was left with seven-year-old Christian. She kept the house by renting out rooms for meetings, celebrations and travellers, who stayed under the name “Private Hotel”.

Its doors were already open to people visiting the capital.

From Tubbak to Hafnia
Christian hoped to become a lawyer, but serious illness interrupted his studies in Denmark. Returning home, he found another path and opened his tobacco business, Tubbak, in 1934. His mother helped him get started by selling part of the family garden.

The shop would later provide the financial foundation for Hafnia.

For many years, Tubbak’s neighbour was the grocery shop Kjøt, run by Heini Jacobsen, known locally as Heini í Kjøt. Opened in 1937, the shop was part of everyday life on Áarvegur until it moved to Tórsgøta in 1963.

When Christian began constructing a new building in 1950, he intended to rent it out. But the economic crisis of 1951 caused tenants to withdraw. Around the same time, Hotel Føroyar on the harbourfront was destroyed by fire, leaving Tórshavn short of hotel rooms.

Christian accepted the challenge. The empty floors found a new purpose, and Hafnia opened its doors.

Cakes, cocoa and a visit to town
The first guests were mainly Faroese, visiting Tórshavn to shop, see a doctor or obtain a driving licence. Sometimes so many came from Vestmanna that Hafnia was affectionately nicknamed “the Vestmanna home”.

The restaurant soon became part of town life. Cakes and hot cocoa were a welcome part of an evening out, perhaps after a walk along the quayside or harbour breakwater.

Behind the scenes, the family kept things running. Christian’s wife Marie handled the hotel laundry in the basement of their home on Hoyvíksvegur. She continued until 1979, when the laundry finally moved into the hotel.

Growing with the capital
Hafnia expanded over the years. Parnass received its name from the Faroese Writers’ Association in 1958. In 1968, Panorama opened with views across Tórshavn.

Christian’s sons Johan and Martin Christian, usually known as M.C., returned from hotel training in Denmark. Together with the family and staff, they continued developing Hafnia. The generational transition was formalised in 1986, followed by extensive bedroom and kitchen improvements in 1988.

Christian still greeted guests outside in the mornings, always happy to talk about music. When he died in 1997, one guest simply said, “He was a gentleman.”

The story continues
Much has changed at Hafnia over the past 20 years. When Osmund Justinussen, his sons Tummas and Gunnar, and Norwegian businessman Per Sævik took over in 2005, they built on the foundations laid by the Restorff family. Significant investment and expansion brought new possibilities to the hotel. Smyril Line acquired Hafnia in 2018, continuing its development. In 2020, P/F Hotel Hafnia also opened Hotel Brandan.

Today, Hafnia has 79 rooms and four cottages. Every hotel room has been fully renovated, and a choice of restaurants and cafés gives guests plenty to explore. Panorama has been developed into a distinctive setting for meetings, conferences and celebrations, with sweeping views across Tórshavn.

Hafnia is now a contemporary four-star conference hotel in the heart of the capital. Comfortable rooms and well-equipped meeting facilities sit alongside acclaimed restaurants, making good food an enjoyable part of every stay.

Much has changed since Christian welcomed his first guests in 1951. Yet the hospitality the Restorff family brought to the house lives on. Successive owners and generations of staff have each added something of their own, giving Hafnia the facilities of a modern hotel while preserving the warmth of its welcome.

Now it is your turn to step inside, settle in and discover Tórshavn.

Welcome to Hafnia.