Balestrand (locally called ''Holmen'') is a village in

Sogndal Municipality Sogndal is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The village of Hermansverk is the administrative center of Sogndal municipality. Other villages i ...

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 the ...

. The village is located on the northern shore of the

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 smal ...

, at the mouth of the small

Esefjorden Esefjorden is a fjord arm on the north side of the Sognefjord in the municipality of Sogndal in Vestland county, Norway. The fjord is about long and its mouth is just west of the mouth of the larger Fjærlandsfjord. The village of Balestrand is ...

. It sits about west of the village area of

Leikanger Leikanger () is a former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It was located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center was the village of Hermansverk, which also was the ...

Hermansverk Hermansverk is the administrative centre of Sogndal Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village serves as the seat of the County Governor of Vestland county. Prior to 2020, the village served as the administrative centre of both the ...

and about northwest of the village of

Vangsnes Vangsnes is a village located in the municipality of Vik in Vestland county, Norway. It's located on a relatively flat and fertile peninsula that juts out on the south side of the Sognefjorden, roughly at the midpoint of the fjord which is Norway' ...

(on the southern shore of the Sognefjorden). The small village of

Tjugum Tjugum is a village in Sogndal Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden, at the mouth of the Esefjorden, and near the mouth of the Fjærlandsfjorden. It is located about north of ...

lies less than north of Balestrand, across the Esefjorden. The local

Tjugum Church Tjugum Church ( no, Tjugum kyrkje) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Sogndal Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located just outside the Balestrand (village), village of Balestrand. It is one of two churches for the Balestr ...

is located there, serving the people of the village of Balestrand. The village has a population (2019) of 824 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), 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 ...

of . The village was the administrative centre of the old

Balestrand Municipality Balestrand is a former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It was located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center was the village of Balestrand. Other villages in the ...

until 2020. It is also a major tourist stop since the 1800s with several hotels including the

Kviknes Hotel Kviknes Hotel is a hotel, located by the Sognefjord in Sogndal Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The hotel has 195 rooms in total which are divided between two buildings. The historic building was completed in 1913 and has 25 rooms, while ...

. The Sognefjord Aquarium and

The Norwegian Museum of Travel and Tourism The Norwegian Museum of Travel and Tourism is a museum located in Sogndal in Vestland cou nty, Norway. The main aim of the museum is to exhibit the history of tourism in Norway from the beginning of the boom in the 19th century, and until today. ...

are located in the village. There are ferry routes each summer from Balestrand to the

Fjærlandsfjorden Fjærlandsfjorden is a fjord in Vestland county, Norway. It is a fjord arm that branches off the main Sognefjorden to the north, running through Sogndal Municipality. The long fjord begins at the village of Fjærland in Sogndal, flowing to the so ...

and to the village 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. ...

. There is also fast boat service from Balestrand to the city of

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 o ...

. Balholm AS, a fruit juice processing company is based in Balestrand.

Name

The compounded name ''Balestrand'' was created by the Norwegian writer

Henrik Wergeland Henrik Arnold Thaulow Wergeland (17 June 1808 – 12 July 1845) was a Norwegian writer, most celebrated for his poetry but also a prolific playwright, polemicist, historian, and linguist. He is often described as a leading pioneer in the develop ...

as he traveled in

Sogn Sogn is a traditional district in Western Norway ''(Vestlandet)''. It is located in the county of Vestland, surrounding the Sognefjord, the largest/longest fjord in Norway. The district of Sogn consists of the municipalities of Aurland, Balestr ...

in 1832 and wrote the poem "Framnæs-Balestrand". The first element is the name of the old farm Bale ( non, Bali) and the last element is "strand" ( non, strönd) which means "

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc sh ...

". The name of the farm is identical with the word ''bali'' which means "hillside along a beach". Historically, the village area was also known as ''Balholm'' or simply ''Holmen''.

Media gallery

File:Balestrand 01.jpg, Looking at Balestrand from the mountain above File:Kviknes Hotell.jpg, Kviknes Hotel along the water in downtown Balestrand File:Balestrand 2011.jpg, View of Balestrand, including the English Church File:Holmen Balestrand2.jpg, View from the fjord, looking north File:Onderweg Sogndal.jpg, View of the main road leading through Balestrand

References

{{authority control Villages in Vestland Sogndal