Valen is a village in

Kvinnherad Kvinnherad is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sunnhordland, along the Hardangerfjorden. The municipality was the 5th in size in former Hordaland county. The administrative centre of the mu ...

municipality in

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 ...

. The village is located on the mainland coast overlooking the island of

Halsnøy Halsnøya or Halsnøy is an island in Kvinnherad municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The island lies between the Hardangerfjorden and Skånevikfjorden. The island has about 2,300 inhabitants (2008) and it is the most populated island in Kv ...

to the south. The undersea

Halsnøy Tunnel The Halsnøy Tunnel ( no, Halsnøytunnelen) is a subsea road tunnel which connects the island of Halsnøy to the mainland in Kvinnherad Municipality in Vestland county in Norway. The northern end of the tunnel is at Sunde, just south of Husnes ...

connects Halsnøy island to the mainland just to the west of Valen, in the neighboring village of Sunde. The village has a shop, a kindergarten and primary school, and a

mental hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociati ...

. There is also a horseback riding center, a marina, and

Valen Church Valen Church ( no, Valen kyrkje) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Kvinnherad Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Valen. It is one of the three churches for the ''Husnes og Holmedal'' parish which ...

. The village of Valen is grouped together with the neighboring village of Sunde by

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway ( no, Statistisk sentralbyrå, abbreviated to ''SSB'') is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876. Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every yea ...

which calls it the Sunde/Valen "urban area". The urban area has a population (2019) of 2,272 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

of .

References

Villages in Vestland Kvinnherad {{Vestland-geo-stub