Flåm is a village in the Flåmsdalen valley which is located at the inner end of the

Aurlandsfjorden Aurlandsfjord ( no, Aurlandsfjorden, ) is a fjord in Vestland county, Norway. The fjord flows through the municipalities of Aurland, Vik, and Lærdal. The long fjord is a branch off of the main Sognefjorden, Norway's longest fjord. The fjo ...

, a branch of

Sognefjorden The Sognefjord or Sognefjorden (, en, Sogn Fjord), nicknamed the King of the Fjords ( no, Fjordenes konge), is the largest and deepest fjord in Norway. Located in Vestland county in Western Norway, it stretches inland from the ocean to the sma ...

. The village is located in

Aurland Municipality Aurland () is a municipality in the county of Vestland, Norway. It is located on the south side of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center is the village of Aurlandsvangen. Other villages include Bakka, ...

in Vestland county, Norway. In 2014 its inhabitants numbered 350.

Name

The name ''Flåm'' is documented as early as 1340 as ''Flaam''. It is derived from the plural dative form of the Old Norse word ''flá'' meaning "plain, flat piece of land", and it refers to the flood plains of the Flåm River. ("A plain between steep mountains" is the

toponomy Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

of the encyclopedia '' Store Norske Leksikon''.) 20140629 Norway 0311 Flåm

History

In 1670

Flåm Church Flåm Church ( no, Flåm kyrkje) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Aurland Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Flåm. It is the church for the Flåm parish which is part of the Sogn prosti (deaner ...

was built, replacing an older stave church. In 1923, the construction of the

Flåm Line The Flåm Line ( no, Flåmsbana) is a long railway line between Myrdal and Flåm in Aurland Municipality, in Vestland county, Norway. A branch line of the Bergen Line, it runs through the valley of Flåmsdalen and connects the mainline with ...

railway was financed by the Norwegian Parliament. (In 1908, the decision to build the line was made.) In 1942, regular operation of (steam-powered) trains started on the Flåm Line. "In the 1960s,

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "sho ...

s stayed on the fjord" ithout reaching the port according to Dagens Næringsliv. In 2000, the "new pier" was referred to in a government document. ("The pier was built at the entrance to the new millennium", according to Dagens Næringsliv.)

Transportation

The closest airport is

Sogndal Airport, Haukåsen Sogndal Airport ( no, Sogndal lufthavn; ) is a regional airport serving Sogndal Municipality and the surrounding area in Vestland, Norway. It is situated at Haukåsen, from Kaupanger and from Sogndalsfjøra. It serves the whole Sogn district ...

, approximately from Flåm. The

European route E16 European route E16 is the designation of a main west-east road through Northern Ireland, Scotland, Norway and Sweden, from Derry to Gävle, via Belfast, Glasgow, Edinburgh, previously by ferry to Bergen, Voss, through the Gudvanga Tunnel and t ...

highway between Oslo and

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula ...

runs through Flåm. The village sits about southwest of the municipal centre of Aurlandsvangen, south of the village of Undredal, and east of the village of Gudvangen (through the

Gudvanga Tunnel The Gudvanga Tunnel ( no, Gudvangatunnelen or ) is located in the municipality of Aurland in Vestland county, Norway. The tunnel connects the village of Gudvangen, at the head of the Nærøyfjord, with the Undredalen valley and is part of Europea ...

). The

navvy Navvy, a clipping of navigator ( UK) or navigational engineer ( US), is particularly applied to describe the manual labourers working on major civil engineering projects and occasionally (in North America) to refer to mechanical shovels and ear ...

road,

Rallarvegen Rallarvegen ( en, The Navvy Road) is a construction/access road in central Norway that is now popular as a recreation trail for bicyclists. It was built from 1902 to 1904 in connection with the construction of the Bergen Line. The road is mainta ...

stretches from Myrdal down to Flåm. (Pedestrians and bicyclists still use it.) At Myrdal it connects with the navvy road for the previously built Bergen Line. Flåm is also connected by rail through the

, a branch line of the

Bergen Line The Bergen Line or the Bergen Railway ( no, Bergensbanen or nn, Bergensbana), is a long scenic standard gauge railway line between Bergen and Hønefoss, Norway. The name is often applied for the entire route from Bergen via Drammen to Oslo, wh ...

Tourism

The village of Flåm has since the late 19th century been a tourist destination. It currently receives almost 450,000 visitors a year. Most ride the

between Flåm and Myrdal, one of the steepest railway tracks at 1 in 18 (not counting

rack railway A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with t ...

s) in the world. There are also a few

spirals In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a point, moving farther away as it revolves around the point. Helices Two major definitions of "spiral" in the American Heritage Dictionary are:NOx than all road traffic in Norway combined. In a 2005

Bergens Tidende ''Bergens Tidende'' is Norway's fifth-largest newspaper, and the country's largest newspaper outside Oslo. ''Bergens Tidende'' is owned by the public company Schibsted ASA. Norwegian owners held a mere 42% of the shares in Schibsted at the e ...

article, Kjetil Smørås (a hotel director and chairman of Fjord Norge said that "The cruise traffic pollutes more than several ten thousands of cars, and many of the worst ships sail up here (...) cruise tourists trod down the pristine Norwegian nature, and destroy the foundation for

Vestlandet Western Norway ( nb, Vestlandet, Vest-Norge; nn, Vest-Noreg) is the region along the Atlantic coast of southern Norway. It consists of the counties Rogaland, Vestland, and Møre og Romsdal. The region has no official or political-administ ...

's four entries on Unesco's World Heritage lists". In 2009, Jens Riisnæs (an author and

NRK NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest ...

journalist) said "We have the world's most beautiful nation, we don't need to follow the cruise operators' premises. They can go other places with their polluting ships. It is unwanted noise." In 2009, Dagens Næringsliv said that a report by '' Vestlandsforskning'' says that both "Flåm and

Geiranger Geiranger is a small tourist village in Sunnmøre region of Møre og Romsdal county in the western part of Norway. It is in the municipality of Stranda at the head of the Geirangerfjorden, which is a branch of the large Storfjorden. The nearest ...

are nearing a limit in capacity. It might be an alternative and rather stand forth as a «relaxed», exclusive and somewhat less of a

mass tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism m ...

, cruise destination." In a 2014 Dagens Næringsliv article, a farmer said that "Previously the smell of summer was that of grass that had been cut. Now the smell is of heavy oil". Furthermore, "They retired coupletalk about fish that has disappeared from the fjord. In Norway, cruise ships are permitted to dump overboard their greywater in the postcard-narrow fjord-arms. Furthermore, the news article says that

defecation Defecation (or defaecation) follows digestion, and is a necessary process by which organisms eliminate a solid, semisolid, or liquid waste material known as feces from the digestive tract via the anus. The act has a variety of names ranging fr ...

in public by tourists, is already a problem; the village's train station has the only public toilets, and 200,000 tourists are expected in the summer season. In 2014, tourism professor Arvid Viken said that "it is about time this

ype of Peace River Airport is a municipally owned airport located west of the Town of Peace River, Alberta, Canada. The airport has one runway, which is , and a terminal building, which is . Northern Air is based at the airport and provides schedul ...

tourism is evaluated somewhat more soberly than how it has been done in many municipalities for some years". Furthermore, this tourism "has low profit per tourist, but is often associated with considerable costs for" the municipal administrations.Uvelkomne cruisegjester
nwelcome cruise guests/ref>

People

Flåm was the birthplace of the poet

Per Sivle Per Sivle (6 April 1857 – 6 September 1904) was a Norwegian poet, novelist and newspaper editor. He is known for his novel ''Streik'' from 1891, and for his collections of stories issued between 1887 and 1895, ''Sogor'' (includes the story "Berre ...

In media

Part of the book "

The Ship of the Dead ''The Ship of the Dead'' is a young-adult fantasy novel based on Norse mythology written by American author Rick Riordan. It is the third and final novel in the ''Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard'' trilogy, preceded by '' The Hammer of Thor'' ...

" is set in Flåm.

Media gallery

File:Flåm Church, Flåm, Norway - June 2022.jpg,

, built in 1670 File:Kjosfossen.jpg, The Kjosfoss waterfall along the Flåmsbana, the railway track from Flåm to Myrdal File:Trainstationinflam.jpg, Tourists at the railway station in Flåm. The station has the village's only public toilets File:Flåm 51.jpg, Flåm harbour File:MF Flåm.jpg, A

catamaran A Formula 16 beachable catamaran Powered catamaran passenger ferry at Salem, Massachusetts, United States A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a multi-hulled watercraft featuring two parallel hulls of equal size. It is a geometry-sta ...

in Flåm harbour File:View of the Aurlandsfjord, Aurlandsvangen and Flam from below the Prest Summit.jpg, View of Aurlandsfjord and Flåm from a nearby summit File:Last view on Flåm.jpg, View from Flåm File:Bru over Flåmselvi 1.jpg, View of Flåm bridge with cruise ship behind File:Flam.jpg, Flåm harbour and railway station File:SS Norway in Norway.jpg, The SS Norway in Flåm File:MSC Fantasia in Flåm (1).jpg, The

MSC Fantasia ''MSC Fantasia'' is a ''Fantasia''-class cruise ship owned and operated by MSC Cruises and serves as the lead vessel for the ''Fantasia'' class of ships. She entered service in December 2008 and ushered in a new generation of larger ships for ...

in Flåm File:T199612.jpg,

Ægir Ægir (anglicised as Aegir; Old Norse 'sea'), Hlér (Old Norse 'sea'), or Gymir (Old Norse less clearly 'sea, engulfer'), is a jötunn and a personification of the sea in Norse mythology. In the Old Norse record, Ægir hosts the gods in his hall ...

, a micro brewery and pub in a traditional-style building File:Flåm Norway P&O MV Britannia.jpg, P&O MV Britannia docked in Flåm File:AIDAprima in Flåm, Norway - June 2022.jpg,

AIDAprima ''AIDAprima'' is the flagship of AIDA Cruises, built by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding at their shipyard in Nagasaki, Japan. The cruise ship entered service on April 25, 2016, after suffering several construction delays. She is the first AIDA vessel no ...

in Flåm

References

External links

Flåm webcam

Visit Flåm
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flaam Villages in Vestland Aurland Tourist attractions in Vestland