Halsnøya or Halsnøy is an

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

Kvinnherad Kvinnherad is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Sunnhordland, along the Hardangerfjorden. The municipality was the 5th in siz ...

municipality in

Vestland Vestland is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The county is located in Western Norway, and its administrative centre is Bergen, where the executive and political leadership is based. The County governor (Norway), County Governor is based in ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The island lies between the

Hardangerfjorden The Hardangerfjord () is the fifth longest fjord in the world, and the List of Norwegian fjords, second longest fjord in Norway. It is located in Vestland county in the Hardanger region. The fjord stretches from the Atlantic Ocean into the mou ...

and Skånevikfjorden. The island has about 2,300 inhabitants (2008) and it is the most populated island in

municipality. Prior to 2008, it was the most populated island in Norway without a direct connection to land, but the Halsnøy Tunnel opened that year, finally connecting it to the mainland by road. There is a regular ferry connection from southern Halsnøy to the neighboring islands of Fjelbergøya and Borgundøya, located just south of Halsnøy.

History

The island was the site of the Halsnøy Abbey (closed in 1536), which once was one of the richest monasteries in Norway. Today it is a highly popular tourist attraction. In 1896, one of the oldest boats recovered in Norway was found in the Toftevåg bay on the north side of the island. It was reconstructed to full-scale in 2006, and a monument was erected at the location of the recovery.

Urban areas and industry

Halsnøy is usually divided into two unofficial zones by its locals: "utøyo" (''the outer island'') and "innøyo" (''the inner island''). The "outer island" district consists of the villages of Sæbøvik and Eidsvik, located on the narrow northwestern part of the island. The "inner island" district is usually considered as the village area of

Høylandsbygd Høylandsbygd is a village in Kvinnherad municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located on the eastern part of the island of Halsnøya. It is one of the largest urban areas on the island, just after Sæbøvik and Eidsvik. Wh ...

and the larger, more rural, and rugged southeastern part of the island. Høylandsbygd is one of Western Norway's shipping capitals.

Tourism and places of interest

Halsnøy is a popular place for

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity on ...

s, especially from

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Some of its most popular tourism attractions include Radiohola, the Halsnøy Abbey, and the Høylandsbygd shipping mural.

Notable residents

Some famous people from Halsnøy include: * Tor Bjarne Bjelland, drummer for

Trucks A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

and Robert Post *

Johannes Eide Johannes Malvin Georgsson Eide (30 October 1937 – 24 June 2025) was a Norwegian businessman and philanthropist. He was one of the founding owners of Eide Marine Services. Biography Eide was born in Høylandsbygd in 1937 as the second of six ...

, shipping magnate and decorated local activist * Bjarte Agdestein, one of the creators of Oscar-winning short film The Danish Poet

References

External links