Where to Stay in Ålesund, Møre og Romsdal

Ålesund is known for its Art Nouveau streets. The town spreads across the islands of Hessa, Aspøya and Nørve, the administrative centre of Ålesund Municipality and a working fishing port on the western coast. Jugendstilsenteret keeps that Jugendstil heritage. Ålesund kirke rises over the centre, the Atlanterhavsparken draws visitors to the sea life of the outer shore, and the harbour ties the islands of Møre og Romsdal to the open Atlantic beyond.

The town's marks run from museum to sea-park. Jugendstilsenteret holds the Jugendstil heritage of the islands, Ålesund kirke and Volsdalen kirke stand over the centre and the eastern shore, and the Atlanterhavsparken carries the sea life of the outer coast for its visitors. The harbour keeps its history close.

Fiskerimuseet i Ålesund records the fishing trade that built the port, Kunstmuseet KUBE holds the art of the region, and across the islands Valderøy kirke and the football ground at Kråmyra Stadion mark the wider town of Møre og Romsdal.

The sea made the town. Ålesund grew on the low islands of Hessa, Aspøya and Nørve where the fishing fleets of the western coast found shelter, and the place was chartered as a town in 1824, drawing the trade of the surrounding islands of Møre og Romsdal into one harbour. The fish built the port. Fiskerimuseet i Ålesund records that trade, the salt and the stockfish that crossed the water to England and the markets beyond, and the monuments of the harbour still mark the long reach of its sailors.

The Jugendstil core gives the town its face, the close-packed streets that Jugendstilsenteret now keeps as the centre of that Art Nouveau heritage, with Ålesund kirke rising at the heart of the islands. Over time the town reached outward across the water, the newer development spreading onto Uksenøya and the urban edge stretching toward Sula, while the older parishes of Valderøy kirke and Volsdalen kirke held their islands around the growing centre. The administrative centre of Ålesund Municipality settled here.

The port still works the Atlantic, the fishing and the coastal traffic that have carried this island town since its charter.

Ålesund lies in western Norway, in the south-western part of Møre og Romsdal, spread across a cluster of low coastal islands. The centre fills Hessa, Aspøya and Nørve, with the newer ground reaching onto Uksenøya and the urban edge stretching toward Sula across the water. The Atlantic breaks against the outer shore.

Channels and bridges thread the islands of the town together, the open sea on the western side and the sheltered sounds between, where the harbour and the church islands of Valderøy kirke ring the centre of Møre og Romsdal.

Ålesund has the wet, mild weather of the western coast, the open Atlantic keeping the seasons even across the low islands of Møre og Romsdal. Winters stay grey and damp rather than hard, the sea air holding the frost off Hessa, Aspøya and Nørve, while the summers run cool and bright under the long northern daylight that lingers late over the harbour. The wind comes straight off the water.

Rain crosses the islands often, sweeping in from the open sea on the western side and breaking against the outer shore of the town.

Bridges carry the traffic in. Ålesund reaches by the road that threads the islands of Møre og Romsdal, crossing from Sula and the mainland onto Aspøya and Nørve at the centre, with the coastal ferries and the express boats serving the harbour from along the western coast. An airport sits on the outer islands. Flights come in over the water to the strip near the town, the coastal steamer calls at the quay, and drivers reach the centre across the bridges that tie Hessa and Uksenøya into the island knot of Ålesund.