Nordfjordeid: Viking history on the Nordfjord

Viking history, a historic shopping street and the Nordfjord shape Nordfjordeid. The town combines impressive traces of the past with experiences by the fjord and a summit hike that begins in the town centre. If you’re looking for a holiday apartment in Nordfjordeid, you can choose based on whether culture, activity or views of the fjord will be the focus of your trip.

Experience Viking history up close

The Sagastad Viking Centre presents the Viking history of Nordfjordeid. Its themes include stories of kings and power struggles, as well as great voyages, mythology and mystical rituals. The reconstructed Myklebustskipet is also a central attraction: visitors can go aboard the 30-metre-long ship. A VR experience and interactive installations round out the exhibition. This offers different ways to discover the history, not only through stories but also through a range of interpretive formats.

Another trace of the Viking Age is Rundehågjen, a burial mound in Nordfjordeid. A burnt Viking ship, or Viking grave, dating from the late 9th century was found there. The Myklebust ship, in turn, was discovered in 1874 in a burial mound in Nordfjordeid. At Myklebust Farm, visitors can enter an actual Viking burial mound. The approximately 1.5-kilometre-long Sagatrail passes through the area’s cultural history and includes a stop at the King’s burial mound. These sites offer different ways to explore the past: from the historic find site and a route through the area’s cultural history to the reconstructed ship.

Fjord, hiking and horseback trails

Next to Sagastad, Sagaparken has a beach on the Nordfjord. If you’d like to include some time by the water in your travel plans, this is another aspect of the town to enjoy. For an active outing, the hike to the summit of Trollenykjen starts in the town centre at 0 metres and climbs to 898 metres. From the summit, you can see across seven parish districts and the Nordfjord on both sides. This makes the hike quite different from the shorter cultural route of the Sagatrail: here, the focus is on the climb and the views, while the trail explores cultural history and stops at the burial mound.

Horseback riding is another option: Norsk Fjordhestsenter offers rides on bridle paths with views of Nordfjordeid town centre. If you prefer to give your days different focuses, cultural history, a summit hike and a horseback ride are all options to choose from for your trip.

Historic streets and local history

Eidsgata is a historic shopping street in the centre of Nordfjordeid. Its wooden houses define the character of the street; the wooden-house development is listed in the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage’s NB register. The old wooden houses are home to distinctive shops. If you enjoy exploring a historic shopping street, this offers a different way to experience Nordfjordeid than the Viking exhibitions.

After Selja, Eid Church is considered the oldest church site in Nordfjord. The present-day church is over 150 years old and is known as the rose-painted church of Nordfjord. Malakoff is another part of the town’s history: the site was established in 1649 as Norway’s first military training ground. The Malakoff Rock Festival is held every summer at the former training ground. Vouchers for events and cinema at Operahuset Nordfjord can be used there.

Getting here and choosing your trip

Nordfjordeid is on the E39 and easily reached by car from Ålesund, Bergen and Stryn. When choosing a holiday apartment, you can consider which of the town’s features described here matters most to your trip: Viking heritage and local history, the Nordfjord, or activities such as hiking to Trollenykjen. If you’re travelling with children, there is also a Viking-inspired climbing room at Hamna that children can use and that is considered the only one of its kind in Norway.

More pages about the area: Hennebygda, Stårheim, Holmøyane, Heggjabygda, Eid, Haus, Torheim and Kjølsdalen.

Back to the main travel overview: Eid.