Where to stay in Hopen
Most beds in Hopen gather in the village centre on the island of Smøla, where the few guest rooms and holiday houses stand near the shore and Hopen kirke on its flat ground. The centre suits travellers who want the parish, the harbour and the open sea on the doorstep. It is the natural base.
Out toward Smøla museum and the older settlement, cabins and farm stays sit handy for visitors drawn to the fishing heritage and the low coast of the north-eastern part of Møre og Romsdal. Stock thins past the centre. Across the island near Veien stavkirke, holiday lets spread thin among the heath and the fields, a quiet base for those touring this stretch of western Norway by car and ferry.
Reserve well ahead in the warm season, when the fishing and the island roads draw visitors to this corner of Smøla.
About Hopen
What is Hopen known for?
Hopen lies on the low island of Smøla, near the outer edge of the north-eastern part of Møre og Romsdal. The sea is everywhere here. Hopen kirke marks the parish on its flat ground above the shore, while Smøla museum keeps the story of the fishing and farming life of the island, and the small Veien stavkirke stands among the buildings that gather the scattered households of this corner of western Norway.
What are the main landmarks in Hopen?
Hopen kirke marks the parish on the island of Smøla. The listed church stands on the flat ground above the shore and gives the village its fixed point of worship in this corner of Møre og Romsdal. The island keeps its own museum.
Smøla museum holds the story of the fishing and farming families of the low coast, while the small Veien stavkirke stands among the older buildings, the sights that anchor Hopen on the outer edge of western Norway.
What is the history of Hopen?
Hopen grew from the fishing and farming life of the low island of Smøla, near the outer edge of the north-eastern part of Møre og Romsdal. The households spread along the flat shore, and the boats worked the grounds off the open coast that the thin soil could not feed. The sea fed the people.
Hopen kirke rose on the flat ground above the water to serve the island parish, the fixed mark of worship for the scattered farms of this corner of western Norway. The island held to the fishing through the centuries. Boats carried the catch and the trade between the settlements of Smøla, and Hopen gathered the parish around its church and quay.
Smøla museum was raised to keep the memory of that island life, the fishing and the farming and the long winters by the sea, while the small Veien stavkirke stood among the older buildings as a mark of the faith that bound the families of this low corner of Møre og Romsdal.
Where is Hopen?
Hopen lies on the low island of Smøla, in the north-eastern part of Møre og Romsdal, in western Norway. The village stands on flat ground above the shore, where the heath and the fields run out to the open sea, with Hopen kirke marking the parish centre. Water and heath frame the island.
The older settlement around Smøla museum spreads along the low coast, and the channels of the sea divide Smøla from the wider mainland edge of Møre og Romsdal.
What is the climate of Hopen?
Hopen has the cool, wet maritime climate of the outer islands of western Norway. Winters stay mild rather than harsh for the northern reach, the open sea around Smøla holding hard frost and lasting snow off the low ground through most of the season. Summers are cool and breezy.
The exposed coast feeds the wind and gathers cloud under the long northern daylight, while rain and gale off the sea reach this north-eastern corner of Møre og Romsdal in every month of the year.
How do you get to Hopen?
Hopen is reached by ferry and island road in the north-eastern part of Møre og Romsdal. Boats cross the sea to the low island of Smøla, landing a short way from Hopen kirke and the village shore. Most arrive by car and ferry.
The island roads bind the settlements of Smøla, and the regional crossings of western Norway carry those reaching Hopen from the mainland towns of Møre og Romsdal by way of the coastal route.