Stad or Stadlandet is a peninsula in

Stad Municipality Stad is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Nordfjord. The municipality includes much of the northern shore of the Nordfjorden as well as the Stad peninsula. The administrative centre of the ...

in the northwestern part of the

Nordfjord Nordfjord ( en, Northern fjord—in contrast to Sunnfjord) is a traditional district of Norway. Geography The region is located in the northern part of Vestland county in Western Norway. It centers on the Nordfjorden and it comprises the muni ...

district 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 in

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 peninsula is considered the dividing point between the

Norwegian Sea The Norwegian Sea ( no, Norskehavet; is, Noregshaf; fo, Norskahavið) is a marginal sea, grouped with either the Atlantic Ocean or the Arctic Ocean, northwest of Norway between the North Sea and the Greenland Sea, adjoining the Barents Sea to ...

to the north and the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

to the south. The name is sometimes also written as ''Stadt'', ''Statt'', or ''Statlandet'' (not to be confused with the similar

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

word '' Stadt''), because the

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

pronunciation of the ''d'' in this case is as a ''t''. The name could be translated as "''the land of places''" or ''"the land of towns''". Some of the larger villages on the peninsula include Ervik (northwestern tip), Borgundvåg and

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 ...

(northeastern side), and the village of

Selje Selje (municipality) was a municipality in the old Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway and was located in the traditional district of Nordfjord. The village of Selje was the administrative center this municipality. On 1 January 2020 the municipalit ...

(southwestern side).

Geography

The peninsula is a mountain

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...

topped by the Tarvaldsegga peak. There are several lower valleys on the peninsula, but at the western end, the plateau plunges into the sea in a cliff at ''Kjerringa''. Stad Peninsula has a very harsh, windy

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...

. The highest wind speed in the country is often recorded at this promontory. Located between the cities 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 ...

(to the south) and

Ålesund Ålesund () sometimes spelled Aalesund in English, is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal County, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sunnmøre and the centre of the Ålesund Region. The town of Ålesund is the administrativ ...

(in Møre og Romsdal county to the north), this is the only peninsula of mainland between Stavanger and

Honningsvåg , other_name = , native_name = , nickname = , settlement_type = Town , image_skyline = Honningsvåg-01.jpg , image_caption = View of the city , pushpin_map = Finnmark#Nor ...

that goes out into open sea without any archipelago that breaks waves. Most of the rest of the ship route from Bergen to Ålesund is protected by islands. The Svinøy Lighthouse (''Svinøy fyr'') is located north of the peninsula on a small island in the

. Because of the harsh climate, the peninsula can be an obstacle for ship transport along the coast of Norway. It is one of the main obstacles preventing a fast-boat passenger route from

, a distance of . Current transportation from Bergen-Ålesund is by air via

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

, by car (7–8 hours), by bus (9 hours) or by the

Hurtigruten ''Hurtigruten'' (), formally Kystruten Bergen-Kirkenes ("coastal route Bergen-Kirkenes"), is a Norwegian public coastal route transporting passengers that travel locally, regionally and between the ports of call, and also cargo between ports no ...

coastal ferry (13 hours). As far back as the 1870s there were plans for the construction of a ship

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

. A pilot project was developed in 1985, and the development company founded the same year. Plans are currently well underway to build the

Stad Ship Tunnel The Stad Ship Tunnel ( no, Stad skipstunnel) is a planned canal and tunnel to bypass the Stad peninsula in Stad Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The peninsula is one of the most exposed areas on the coast, without any outlying islands to ...

at the narrowest point connecting the Moldefjorden to the Kjødspollen (the innermost part of the

Vanylvsfjorden Vanylvsfjorden is a fjord in western Norway, on the border of Vestland and Møre og Romsdal counties. The long fjord runs between the mainland of Vanylven Municipality and the Stad peninsula of Stad Municipality, with the islands of Sande Muni ...

) with capacity to take large ships such as the

vessels.

Media gallery

File:Indre Fure, Stadtlandet.jpg, The sea at Indre Fure, in the Stad peninsula File:Stad.jpg, View of the cliffs at the end of Stad File:Mot Fure på Stadlandet.jpg, View of Fure in the distance File:Stadt Årvik.jpg, Årvik File:Stadt Indre Fure.jpg, Indre Fure File:Stadt Honningsvåg.jpg, Honningsvåg File:Stadt Hoddevik.jpg, Hoddevik

References

External links

Selje Municipality

Official travel guide for the Nordfjord region
{{Authority control Peninsulas of Vestland Stad, Norway

Geography

Media gallery

See also

References

External links