Where to stay in Uggdal
Beds in Uggdal are limited, since this is the small centre of an island district rather than a resort. What lodging there is gathers in and around the village in the Uggdalsdalen valley, near the protected Uggdal kirke and the offices of the municipality, with the rooms and the shop set within easy reach of one another. Stay here for the island.
Travellers touring Tysnes base themselves in these village rooms and rented houses, using Uggdal as the natural hub from which the parishes of the municipality, marked by Tysnes kirke and Onarheim kirke, can be reached. The neighbouring village of Våge, a short way north toward the coast, carries some of the island's services and lodging as well. Rooms tighten in the warm months.
Book ahead for summer, because Uggdal holds no surplus of beds beyond what its small population and the visitors to this corner of western Norway need across the year.
About Uggdal
What is Uggdal known for?
It is the seat of Tysnes. Uggdal serves as the administrative centre of the Tysnes municipality, a village on the west side of the island of Tysnesøya in the south-western part of Vestland. People know it as the hub of an island district, the place that gathers the offices and services of the municipality in the Uggdalsdalen valley.
The protected Uggdal kirke marks the village, one of several old churches across the Tysnes parishes.
What are the main landmarks in Uggdal?
Uggdal kirke is the village church. The protected building stands at the centre in the Uggdalsdalen valley, the chief monument of the seat. Out across the island of Tysnesøya and the wider municipality lie the other old parish churches that Tysnes keeps, the Tysnes kirke and the Onarheim kirke, while the Reksteren kirke serves its own neighbouring island in the district.
Beyond the churches, the appeal is the green island country of Tysnes itself, the valleys and shores around the small centre at Uggdal.
What is the history of Uggdal?
Uggdal grew in its valley. The village rose in the northern part of the Uggdalsdalen valley on the west side of the island of Tysnesøya, in the south-western part of Vestland, where the level ground near the coast gave the island district a natural place to gather. The parishes came early.
Protected churches of the district, the Uggdal kirke at the centre and the older Tysnes kirke, Onarheim kirke, and Reksteren kirke across the island and its neighbours, served the scattered households of Tysnes long before any single village grew large in western Norway. People lived by the land and the water as an island folk had always done. In time Uggdal became the administrative centre of the Tysnes municipality, the seat where the offices and services of the district drew together, with the neighbouring village of Våge a short way north toward the shore.
The place stayed small through it all. It never grew into a town, holding instead to the quiet shape of an island centre in a green valley. Uggdal keeps that role still, the heart of Tysnes and the keeper of its valley church.
Where is Uggdal?
Uggdal sits in a valley. The village lies in the northern part of the Uggdalsdalen valley, on the west side of the island of Tysnesøya in the south-western part of Vestland, near the western coast of the island. Low hills and farmland fill the valley around it.
The settlement runs through the heart of Tysnes, with the neighbouring village of Våge a short way north toward the shore and the green island country spreading around the small centre at Uggdal.
What is the climate of Uggdal?
Uggdal has a mild, wet island climate. Lying near the western coast of Tysnesøya rather than far inland, the village in the Uggdalsdalen valley sees winters kept gentle by the surrounding water and summers that stay cool and green across the island's farmland and low hills. Rain and cloud come through much of the year.
The sheltered valley and the nearness of the sea steady the weather, leaving Uggdal with the damp, even rhythm of a western island in Vestland.
How do you get to Uggdal?
The island sets the route. Uggdal, as the centre of Tysnes on the island of Tysnesøya, is reached by the roads of the island and the boat links that tie it to the mainland of south-western Vestland across the water. The roads run through the valley to the village and on to neighbouring Våge by the coast.
From the island, the larger centres of the region lie east across the water, with the wider road and ferry network of Vestland carrying on toward the coast and the cities beyond.