Roundtrip Norway, July 2003

Selje, Vestkapp and Kråkenes

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Map of this part of my roundtrip

I doubt if a lot of you have heard of Selje before, as it is such an off the beaten path, so I'll start by giving you some idea where Selje exactly is. Selje is located on the west-coast of Norway, 565 km north-west of Oslo, 341 north of Bergen and 381kilometres south-west of Trondheim. Locations that are closer by and where you might think of going yourself on a trip to Norway is Maløy located 46 km to the south; Geiranger is 186 km to the east and Ålesund is 115 km to the north.

Selje is only a tiny little village but a great starting point to explore the area. We did some daytrips to Vestkapp and Kråkenes and enjoyed some fantastic views. As our campground was located next to a golf course we didn't waste the opportunity to play some rounds of golf as well.

The map might make it a bit more clearly for you where Selje is exactly located. The blue line on the map is the route we took, the orange lines on the map indicate the ferry routes and the green dots are the places we stayed overnight.

The road to Selje

I arrived in Selje after a long drive from Ålesund. We decided to do some island hopping to get to Selje, a route that required taking the ferry twice. The total length of the trip was about 115 kilometres long. The first ferry we had to take was from Sulesund to Hared. This ferry takes a bit longer than usual: 25 minutes. Catching the ferry won't be much of a trouble as it goes 35 times a day. A car including driver costs 71 NOK; a passenger 25 NOK.

The second ferry, from Årvik to Koparneset, was a bit shorter and takes 15 minutes. It also goes quite often: 32 times a day. A car including driver costs 43 NOK, a passenger 18 NOK. You can find more info about the ferries in Norway on this website: www.mrf.no

I enjoyed this trip, but the only bad thing is that the weather wasn't so good, so I don't have many pictures of the drive to here. Selje is a real off the beaten path location, but a beautiful area and absolutely worth a visit! If you don't want to do this island hopping (as it is quite time consuming) and want to skip Ålesund (which what I would do a next time) a much easier way to get to Selje is arriving from the west. Just follow the Nordfjord but instead of going to Maløy, head north on the last little bit of the journey and you'll arrive in Selje.

Getting closer to Selje

The closer you get to Selje the more you feel that you are going off the beaten path. It is so quiet here but really picturesque.

The route to Selje follows some fjords, has some really winding roads up and down the mountains and the further you get, the more you doubt there will be civilization at the end of the road. But there is! The area is very sparsely populated, but you will see some houses, sheds and fishing boats on your way over here.

Towards Selje

The village of Selje

Selje is a small village with only 1500 inhabitants, but it is a pleasant little village. Just outside the village is a campground. It is very small and very basic, but it is clean and that is the most important part. There are some stores in Selje that provide you with all you will need during your trip, which is a real plus. Selje also has some beaches, but the only bad thing about it was that I didn't have any great weather to be on the beach ;-) Eeks, too much rain and clouded weather! Although I have to say that the sun did surprise me on one afternoon and made perfect weather for a round of golf. Selje itself isn't the reason why you want to go to this area, as it hasn't that much to offer. It is the beautiful surrounding area and the tranquillity that will attract you to this place.

A main attraction at Selje is the monastery and the church of St Sunniva on Selja Island from the 11th and 12th century. I didn't go here as I didn't have enough time, so I can't tell you that much about it. One point of warning though: you need a ferry to get to Selja Island, and they only go from 25th of June to the 5th of August. You can get more info about the ferry at the tourist office (tel : 57 85 66 06)

View over Selje

It is time to get into the car and explore the area. To get out of Selje you have to follow a winding road to the top of the mountains, it doesn't matter which direction you decide to go to, you have to pass those mountains first. Hahaha, it can make you a bit car sick though, racing up and down the road with all those hairpins. But when you arrive to the top you will have some great views over the village of Selje and its surrounding area. In the middle of the picture you can see with the golf course and camping site.

View from west Stadlandet over the fjords

View from west Stadlandet

We are driving north on the peninsula of Standlandet and the views you have along this stretch of road are fantastic. It is so hard to describe this beautiful landscape in words, but when you look at the photo you'll probably know what I am trying to say. Even on a cloudy (and sometimes rainy) day like this the views amazed me, so tranquil, so beautiful, it took my breath away. I can only dream of how it would look like on a sunny day.

Vestkapp

After a beautiful drive of 32 kilometres from Selje we arrived at Vestkapp. Vestkapp is on the northernmost tip of the Stadlandet peninsula and my travel guide book wasn't joking when it predicted that there would be some fierce winds at this lookout point. When I got out of the car, the car door was almost blown out of my hand because of it. Oops.... it was much windier than I expected! But I caught the car door just in time :-)

There was also a drizzle of rain, and together with the strong winds it felt bitterly cold. So I didn't have to think long to make a run for the little restaurant that is located here, to find some shelter. The restaurant isn't great, but you can get some coffee and simple dishes here. Mmmmm, and a hot cup of tea or coffee tastes delicious on a rainy windy day and like this :-)

Enjoying the views at Vestkapp

After the nice cup of tea it was time to challenge the weather outside. Hahaha, yeah, yeah, I know! You don't need to say it, it is rather strange to wear a miniskirt on a day like this! But when I left Selje it was nice weather and as I was feeling optimistic, so I had hoped it would stay like that ;-) I guess I was out of luck today. But nothing was going to stop me from enjoying the beautiful views here at Vestkapp; not even the weather! I tossed on a sweater grabbed my camera and started hiking down the hill.

I have to admit that the rain was being nice to me and decided to stop falling down for a while. The views were so beautiful that I forgot all about the weather and wandered further down the hill than I intended. Eeks, walking down is fun and easy to do, but climbing back up the steep hill was another story, lol. Hahaha, Åke was more sensible than me and didn't walk that much down the hill. He was patiently waiting for me at the top, smiling at me, while I struggled my way back up the hill. I was puffing out of exhausting, but smiling and feeling so happy. Norway is soooo beautiful!!!