Where to Stay in Ørsta, Møre og Romsdal fylke

What is Ørsta known for?

The town sits at the head of its fjord in the south-west of Møre og Romsdal, the gathering point for the farms and slopes of the surrounding district. Ørsta kirke rises over the centre. The old farmstead at Brudavolltunet keeps the rural past of the valley, the ski runs climb the slopes at Ørsta Skisenter, and the sport chapel of Bondalseidet sportskapell stands up on the high pass above the town.

What are the main landmarks in Ørsta?

The town's marks run from church to farmstead. Ørsta kirke rises over the centre, the parish church of the town, while up on the high ground the sport chapel of Bondalseidet sportskapell stands by the mountain pass. The valley keeps its rural past. The old farmstead at Brudavolltunet holds the heritage buildings of inner Sunnmøre as a museum tun, and the ski runs of Ørsta Skisenter climb the steep slopes above the town of Møre og Romsdal.

What is the history of Ørsta?

The valley made the town. Ørsta grew on the farming ground at the head of its fjord in inner Sunnmøre, in the south-west of Møre og Romsdal, where the steep slopes close around the flat land and the water reaches in from the coast. Farms held the valley first. Buildings of that rural past survive at Brudavolltunet, the heritage tun that gathers the timber houses of the district, while Ørsta kirke rose over the growing centre as the parish church of the valley.

A high pass tied the town to its neighbours. The road over Bondalseidet carried people across the mountains between the valleys, and the sport chapel of Bondalseidet sportskapell still marks that high crossing above the town. In time Ørsta became the seat of its municipality, the centre where the trade and the schooling of this corner of Møre og Romsdal gathered under the peaks.

The slopes drew the skiers. Runs at Ørsta Skisenter climb the high ground above, and the town remains a working centre of the valley at the head of its fjord.

Where is Ørsta?

Ørsta lies in western Norway, in the south-western part of Møre og Romsdal, at the head of its fjord in inner Sunnmøre. The town sits on the flat valley ground where the water reaches in and the steep slopes close around the land on every side. Peaks rise sharply above the centre.

The ski runs of Ørsta Skisenter climb those slopes, the road over Bondalseidet crosses the high ground toward the neighbouring valleys, and the farms of the valley spread up from the fjord through the broken country of the district.

What is the climate of Ørsta?

Ørsta has the wet, mild weather of the western coast, the fjord and the high peaks shaping the seasons over the valley of Sunnmøre. Winters bring deep snow to the slopes above, the runs at Ørsta Skisenter and the high pass at Bondalseidet holding it through the cold months, while the fjord keeps the harder frost off the valley floor and the summers run cool and bright under the long northern daylight that lingers late over the water. The mountains catch the rain.

Cloud crosses the peaks often, sweeping in from the open coast of Møre og Romsdal and breaking against the steep ground around the town.

How do you get to Ørsta?

The E39 runs through the village. Ørsta-Volda Airport lies at Hovden, on the southwest side of the village, midway between Ørsta and Volda. A ferry from Festøy, the northernmost point of the municipality, links Ørsta to Sula and Sykkylven. The undersea Eiksund Tunnel, 287 metres below the sea surface at its deepest, links Ørsta to Ulstein, Hareid, Herøy and Sande.