Gudvangen is a village in

Aurland Municipality Aurland () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the Counties of Norway, county of Vestland, Norway. It is located on the south side of the Sognefjorden in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Sogn. The administrativ ...

Vestland Vestland is a county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the city of Bergen, where t ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. It is a popular tourist destination and is located at the end of the

Nærøyfjord The Nærøyfjord (or ''Nærøyfjorden'', ) is a fjord in Aurland Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The narrow fjord is a branch of the large Sognefjord, and it is featured on the "Norway in a Nutshell" daytrips for tourists. The long fjo ...

where the Nærøydalselvi river empties into the fjord. 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 th ...

highway passes by the village. Heading southwest on the highway leads to

Voss Voss () is a municipality and a traditional district in Vestland county, Norway. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Vossevangen. Other villages include Bolstadøyri, Borstrondi, Evanger, Kvitheim, Mjølfjell, Opphe ...

municipality while heading northeast the E16 enters 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 ...

on its way to the villages of

Flåm Flåm is a village in the Flåmsdalen valley which is located at the inner end of the Aurlandsfjorden, a branch of Sognefjorden. The village is located in Aurland Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. In 2014 its inhabitants numbered 350. ...

Undredal Undredal is a small village in Aurland Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The popular tourist destination of Undredal is located along the Aurlandsfjorden which is a branch off the massive Sognefjorden in Norway's "fjord-country." It sits ...

, and

Aurlandsvangen Aurlandsvangen () is the administrative center of Aurland Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located on the east side of the Aurlandsfjorden (a branch of the main Sognefjorden) where the Aurlandselvi river flows into the fjord ...

. The nearby village of Bakka lies about to the north. The

Kjelfossen Kjelfossen ( en, Kjell Falls) is one of the highest waterfalls in Norway. The falls are located near the village of Gudvangen in Aurland Municipality in Vestland county. With a total fall height of , the waterfall is listed as the 18th tallest w ...

waterfall is located just to the southeast of the village.

Name

The name ''Gudvangen'' ( non, Guðvangir) comes from the old farm name. The first element is ''gud'' meaning "god". The ''vang(en)'' refers to the open space in front of a place of worship like

and

Vossevangen Vossevangen or Voss is the administrative centre of Voss municipality in Vestland county, Norway. Location The village lies on the northeastern shore of the lake Vangsvatnet in the central part of the municipality, about east of the city of Berg ...

. In Gudvangen, there have been several places of worship since pre-Christian times.

Media gallery

File:Gudvangen fjord wall.jpg, Gudvangen File:Gudvangen-2005-06-30.jpg, Cruise ship in Gudvangen File:Nærøyfjorden mot Gudvangen.jpg, Looking to Gudvangen from the fjord File:P1000566Gudvangen.JPG, Ferry arriving at Gudvangen

References

Villages in Vestland Aurland {{Vestland-geo-stub