Where to stay in Askvoll
Beds gather in the harbour village. The rooms in Askvoll sit close to the quay and the white Askvoll kirke, within an easy walk of the ferry berth that connects the municipality to the islands and the wider Sunnfjord coast of Vestland. Stay here for the boats.
Travellers who want the outer skerries push on to Bulandet, the fishing community offshore where Bulandet Fiskeindustri works the catch, and a few rooms can be found among the houses there for anglers and birdwatchers. Inland villages spread the choice further, with quieter lodging near Holmedal and its protected Holmedal kirke and around Stongfjorden, the old industrial hamlet by Stongfjorden bedehuskapell. Rooms are limited everywhere.
Book the warm months well ahead, because this working corner of the Sunnfjord coast keeps only a modest stock of beds for the fishing trade and the summer fjord traffic.
About Askvoll
What is Askvoll known for?
Fishing and small industry run the place. Askvoll is the seat of its municipality in the Sunnfjord district, and the coast here is known for its knife-making at Helle Knivfabrikk, for the fish processing at Bulandet Fiskeindustri out on the islands, and for the old cannery line of Sigurd Løkeland Hermetikkfabrikk. Visitors come for the white Askvoll kirke by the harbour and for the scatter of villages along the shore.
It sits in the north-western part of Vestland.
What are the main landmarks in Askvoll?
Four protected churches mark the shore. Askvoll kirke stands by the harbour in the main village, while the older Holmedal kirke and Vilnes kirke watch over their own settlements along the Sunnfjord coast. Down at the factory hamlet, the small Stongfjorden bedehuskapell recalls the chapel-building days of the early industry there.
These buildings, spread between Holmedal, Stongfjorden, and the islands, trace the line of communities that grew along this stretch of Vestland coast where the sea was the road.
What is the history of Askvoll?
Askvoll grew out of the sea. The settlement took shape on the broken, island-strewn coast of the Sunnfjord district, where the fjords cut deep inland and the open water of the north-western part of Vestland set the whole pattern of life around fishing and the boat. Faith built early along the shore.
Holmedal kirke and Vilnes kirke served the older farm communities, the village gathered around Askvoll kirke, and the little Stongfjorden bedehuskapell rose later when an industrial hamlet sprang up at Stongfjorden. Work came from the water and the rock. The cannery line of Sigurd Løkeland Hermetikkfabrikk and the fish plant at Bulandet Fiskeindustri processed the catch landed along the coast, while Helle Knivfabrikk turned the skill of the place toward making knives, an industry that carried the village's name beyond the fjord.
Out on the skerries, the fishing community of Bulandet held to the far edge of the municipality, reached only by water for much of its history. The villages stayed strung along the coast. Askvoll remains the seat of its municipality, a working stretch of the Sunnfjord shore where the sea, the churches, and the small factories still tell the story.
Where is Askvoll?
Askvoll lies in the north-western part of Vestland, on the broken coast of the Sunnfjord district. The main village sits by a sheltered harbour, while the municipality spreads across a maze of fjords, headlands, and islands that reach out to the open sea. Water divides everything.
The fishing community of Bulandet lies far out on the skerries, the hamlet of Stongfjorden tucks into its narrow fjord arm, and Holmedal and Kvammen hold their own inlets along the mainland shore.
What is the climate of Askvoll?
The open sea governs the weather. Askvoll sits on the exposed Sunnfjord coast of Vestland, so the surrounding water keeps the winters mild and the summers cool, while wind and rain sweep in off the North Sea with little to slow them across the outer islands. Cloud moves through often.
The hamlet of Stongfjorden and the inland inlets around Holmedal sit a touch more sheltered behind the headlands than the exposed skerries of Bulandet out at the edge.
How do you get to Askvoll?
Boats tie the place together. Askvoll sits on the broken Sunnfjord coast where ferries and the express boat link the harbour village to the islands and to the wider routes of Vestland, since the deep fjords make the water the natural road through this part of the coast. Roads thread the mainland villages.
They wind between Holmedal, Kvammen, and the factory hamlet of Stongfjorden, while the offshore community of Bulandet is reached by the longer crossing out to the skerries.