Where to Stay in Molde, Møre og Romsdal

Molde is the chief town of Romsdal. It sits on the fjord in the north of Møre og Romsdal, a working harbour and the place where the trade of the surrounding district gathers. Romsdalsmuseet keeps the folk record of Romsdal.

Nordbyen kirke rises over the centre, the monument of Kongebjørka stands among the trees above the town, and the open-air collection of the museum carries the old buildings of the fjord country down to the working port.

The town's marks run from church to museum. Nordbyen kirke rises over the centre and St. Sunniva kirke stands among the streets, while above the town the open-air Romsdalsmuseet gathers the old fjord buildings of Romsdal with its own chapel of Romsdalsmuseets kapell. A single birch is its best-known monument.

Kongebjørka stands among the trees as a memorial of the district, and the grounds at Molde idrettspark and the indoor Moldebadet carry the sport and the bathing of the town of Møre og Romsdal.

The fjord drew the town. Molde grew on the sheltered shore of the water in the north of Møre og Romsdal, where the trade of the surrounding district of Romsdal found a harbour, and the place rose as the gathering point for the farms and parishes of the fjord country. The water carried it.

The old buildings of that district survive above the town in the open-air Romsdalsmuseet, the folk collection that gathers the timber houses and the chapel of Romsdalsmuseets kapell from across Romsdal, while the churches of Nordbyen kirke and St. Sunniva kirke held the growing centre on the shore below. The monument of Kongebjørka stands among the trees as a memorial of the district's past. In time Molde settled as the seat of its municipality and the administrative centre for the north of Møre og Romsdal, the place where the public business of the fjord country gathered.

The harbour kept its trade. The town still works the water that first drew it, a coastal centre at the head of its own fjord.

Molde lies in western Norway, in the northern part of Møre og Romsdal, along the shore of its fjord. The town strings out on the sheltered water where the channels of the western coast reach inland, the centre gathered on the narrow ground between the fjord and the rising land behind. Steep slopes climb above the harbour.

Romsdalsmuseet stands among the trees on the heights, the open-air collection of Romsdal set back from the quays, and the parishes around the fjord ring the town across the broken coast of the district.

Molde has the wet, mild weather of the western coast, the sheltered fjord keeping the seasons even over the town of Romsdal. Winters stay grey and damp rather than hard, the sea air and the water of the fjord holding the deep frost off the harbour, while the summers run cool and bright under the long northern daylight that lingers late over the quays of Møre og Romsdal. The slopes catch the rain.

Cloud and shower cross the fjord often, sweeping in from the open coast and breaking against the steep ground behind the town.

Ferries cross the fjord to the town. Molde reaches by the coastal road that threads the shore of Møre og Romsdal, crossing the water by ferry and bridge into the harbour, with the coastal steamer and the express boats calling at the quays from along the western coast. An airport sits near the centre.

Flights come in over the fjord to the strip beside the town, the ferries link the broken coast of Romsdal, and drivers reach the harbour by the routes that thread the fjord country.