Set on the spectacular Sognefjord, Fjærland is both beautiful and lively with plenty of things to do.
Please speak to us upon arrival if you are interested in any of these activities, and we will happily hand you the information or organize it for you.
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Plassert rett ved den spektakulære Sognefjorden, er Fjærland både vakker og livlig med full av ting å gjøre.
Snakk gjerne med oss ved ankomst dersom du er interessert i aktivitetene, og vi vil gledelige organisere det for deg.
see the glacier
From our hotel
From a kayak or boat
From standing close thanks to a 10-minute drive by car or bus
Cross the glacier (Jostedalsbreen national park)
Flatbreen from Flatbrehytta hike from Supphelle valley (10 min drive, 2 hr hike, 2 hr glacier walk +back)
Haugabreen (45 min drive, 1 hr hike, 2 hr glacier walk +back)
Nigardsbreen (1,5 hr drive, 30 min hike, 2 hr glacier walk +back)
And more
hike the many mountains & valleys
A 0,5-hour light Geitskjelflaten hill tour up to 100 meters
A 2-hour family walk to Mundal valley up to 100-300 meters
A 2-hour medium difficulty Nesehaugen hike up to 665 meters
A 3-hour steeper Flatbrehytta climb up to 1000 meters
And many others…!
Activities and attractions
stroll through the idyllic village
Walk in either direction along the fjord and see the 1861 Fjærland church (3 min), the 1891 Mundal hotel (1 min), shop in the local store (2 min), visit the international Book Town (1-10 min), the Babbis Café (2 min), the Bøyaøyri nature reserve (25 min), the famous Glacier Museum (40 min), and so on.
Cycle in town & in nature
Ask for a regular or electric bike at the hotel or at the Tourist Information and embark on an easy or challenging trip.
Kayak in the fjord
Rent a kayak at the hotel and paddle right to see the two arms of the glacier or left to get closer to the delta. If you’re lucky, you will meet the local eagle, otters, black dolphins (porpoises), and even a seal (late summer) or killer whales (early spring). Guided tours available.
Hire a row boat or a motor boat
A traditional wooden row boat / A small motor boat 5 hp / A big motor boat 150 hp
A range of different boating activities:
Soak up the views and relax
Look for the fauna (see kayak in the fjord above)
Go on a personal fishing trip
Take a guided tour of the isolated and historic farming
villages along the fjord
Take the fjord & glacier cruise between Fjærland and Balestrand
The passenger boat sails between Balestrand and Fjærland in June, July, August, until mid-September and the trip takes about 1,5 hr one way.
Try fishing or collecting MUSSELS
The combination of salty ocean and sweet glacier waters results in an abundance of aqua fauna. Like our chefs, you can catch fish, octopus, mussels, langoustines, crabs, and so on. …Or leave them in peace and soak up the views and tranquility :-)
To see what they caught so far, click here.
Take an ocean+glacier water swim
Use this rare occasion to dip in a mixture of ocean and glacier waters and dare to put your body through this invigorating shock. We sometimes do.
Warm yourself in a Floating sauna
…Which may be a great idea after the swimming (to the left), or just because. Try out ‘‘Dampen’’ owned by Fjærland Guiding
Visit the Glacier Museum
The Norwegian Glacier Museum and Climate Center is known to be highly educating & entertaining. Anyone - kids and adults, geeks and regulars - can easily spend there ten minutes, three hours, or a whole day.
Sift through the book town
An international bibliophile idea. Check the concept out and possibly find your hidden pearl among second-hand books stored in cute little places like shelves, abandoned buildings, et cetera. Makes a great gift. Every summer a festival called "Book night" takes place here.
Experience the Bøyaøyri nature reserve
The Bøyaøyri delta is an extremely important ecosystem, where there up to 100 different species of birds has been observed.
Go skiing (in winter/early spring)
Enjoy a good snow sport and breathtaking white scenery.
Cross-country
Backcountry (off piste)
Slopes of the local ski resorts
Have a daytrip from Fjærland
Balestrand - another lovely village with its renown Ciderhuset, Sognefjord Aquarium and historic Kvikne’s Hotel (1,5 hr by boat)
Astruptunet Museum - former home and studio of a painter Nicolai Astrup (50 min by car)
Urnes Stavkirke - the oldest of the stave churches, part of the UNESCO World Heritage (1,5 hr by car and boat)
Kaupanger Stavkirke - the largest stave church in Sogn og Fjordane county (45 min by car)
Lustrabadet - swimming pool with family fun, spa and wellness (1 hr by car)
…And more!
Relax / work / party
Have a meal, have a drink, have a talk. Enjoy our unique ambiance. Immerse yourself in work, in a book, or just stare at the overwhelmingly beautiful surroundings. Give some love to other humans. Take a selfie, take a nap. Again, we promise we are not very pretentious.
The village
The tiny village of Fjærland is made special by its compactness:
It's very small, but it's been gathering numerous tourists throughout its history, and plenty of nationalities visit it. In our 15-room hotel we tend to have around 30 different nationalities per month. On the other hand, thanks to its small size and capacity, it's not flooded by hoards of mass-tourists like some other places.
It has about 300 inhabitants, and in our humble opinion, the local community is genuine and sweet.
It has mountains, valleys, forests, farms, and above all, it is where the glacier meets the fjord. That has all kinds of lovely effects, like the view from our hotel, the glacier-minerals-sparkling-green color of the water in summer, the access to glacier walks, kayaking, swimming, fishing, and so on.
It has a varied choice of multiple tracks for walks, cycling and mountain hikes depending on the level of activity that one is into.
It's a host to the famous, highly educating & entertaining Norwegian Glacier Museum and Climate Center.
It's a Book Town, with books stored in cute little places, like shelves, abandoned buildings, etc. Every summer a festival called "Book night" takes place here.
Its beautiful castle-like hotel Mundal was financed mostly by the local farmers, designed by a famous Norwegian architect Peter Blix, and started operating in 1891.
It has a nature reserve, delta Bøyaøyri, an extremely important ecosystem, where there up to 100 different species of birds has been observed.
It has typical Norwegian mountain summer farms, called hjemmestølen and fjellstølen, where the cattle graze after the snow is gone, and the local farm girls would stay and make cheese and handcraft in the past.
It was ranked, by The National Geographic Traveler magazine in 2010, as the most interesting place to visit in the world.
It is said to have contained remains of viking settlements.
It's one of the first places where the phenomenon of mass tourism in Norway started in general. That is due to the shortest distance from the shore to the glacier.
It was, until 1986, when the first tunnel was built, accessible only by boat or by walking through the mountains, and thanks to a glacier-minerals-rich soil it has sustained its population throughout centuries.
Its fjord water hardly ever freezes, but thanks to a layer of fresh glacier water it is possible. One can then cross the fjord by walking, skiing, or using a car.
It is characterized by rapid landscape variation, from fjords and lowland to mountains and glaciers. Its area has been shaped through successive ice ages during last 2,5 to 3 million years. Its towering mountains and u-shaped valleys surround large delta areas formed by the accumulation of sediment supplied by the glacier rivers.
Its flora is a great variation in vegetation, with warmth-loving plants in the lowland, alpine vegetation on the mountains, and a mixture of coastal and inland plants.
Its fauna is a varied wildlife, like dear, lynx, weasel, golden eagle, lemming, ptarmigan, etc.
It's a good connecting point between many other places, like Aurland, Geiranger, Loen, etc.
And finally - it provides location to our Fjærland Fjordstove hotel, an important unit that strives to give back to the village.
