Nordfjord ( en, Northern fjord—in contrast to

Sunnfjord Sunnfjord ( en, the southern fjord - in contrast to Nordfjord) is a traditional district in Western Norway located in Vestland county. It includes the municipalities of Askvoll, Fjaler, the southernmost parts of Kinn, Sunnfjord, and the souther ...

) is a traditional district of

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 ...

Geography

The region is located in the northern part of

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 A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

in Western Norway. It centers on the Nordfjorden and it comprises the

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

of Selje,

Vågsøy Vågsøy is a former municipality in the old Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It was located in the traditional district of Nordfjord. The municipality's administrative center was the town Måløy. Other population centers in Vågsøy included ...

Bremanger Bremanger is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village of Svelgen is the administrative centre of the municipality. Other villages include Bremanger, Berle, Davik, Isane, Kalvåg, Svelgen, Rugsund, and Ålfoten. Bremanger is the ...

, Eid, Gloppen,

Hornindal Hornindal is a former municipality in the old Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It existed from 1867 until 1965 and then again from 1977 until 2020. It was located in the traditional district of Nordfjord. The administrative centre of the munici ...

, and

Stryn Stryn is a municipality in the county of Vestland, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Nordfjord. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Stryn. The municipality is located along the innermost part of t ...

. The Nordfjord region covers an area of about and is home to a population (2010) of approximately 32,464. The fjord is the sixth longest in Norway stretching from the island of

Husevågøy Husevågøy is an island in Kinn Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The island is mountainous with few trees. The island lies in the mouth of the Nordfjorden, between the islands of Vågsøy and Bremangerlandet. In 2018, there were abou ...

at the mouth to the village of

Loen Loen may refer to: People * Dagfinn Loen * Johann Michael von Loën (1694–1776), German writer and statesman * John van Loen (born 1965), Dutch football player * Maria of Loen-Heinsberg * Sjur Loen (born 1958), Norwegian curler * Youri Loen (b ...

at the other end. The region encompasses the rough coastline of the

Stadlandet Stad or Stadlandet is a peninsula in Stad Municipality in the northwestern part of the Nordfjord district in Vestland county in Norway. The peninsula is considered the dividing point between the Norwegian Sea to the north and the North Sea to th ...

peninsula to the Jostedalsbreen, Europe's largest mainland glacier. The region also includes the lake

Hornindalsvatnet Hornindalsvatnet is Norway's and Europe's deepest lake, and the world's twelfth deepest lake, officially measured to a depth of . Its surface is above sea level, which means that its bottom is below sea level. The village of Grodås lies at ...

, Europe's deepest lake at below sea level. The

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...

Briksdalsbreen Briksdalsbreen ( en, the Briksdal glacier) is one of the most accessible and best known arms of the Jostedalsbreen glacier. Briksdalsbreen is located in the municipality of Stryn in Vestland county, Norway. The glacier lies on the north side of t ...

is particularly scenic. The Stryn area provides year-round

alpine skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether for ...

, and there are numerous old fishing communities along the fjord going back to pre-Viking times.

Population

References

External links

*
Nordfjord promotional web siteNordfjord - official travel guide to Norway
Districts of Vestland {{Vestland-geo-stub