Borgundfjorden round trip

A city tour around the fjord from which mediaeval Ålesund (Borgund) arose.

If you’re in Ålesund this is a good way to get to know this coastal town with its surroundings. The total round is 32 km, and you need to use the passenger boat between Langevåg and the city centre of Ålesund to do the whole circle. Note that the boat is not running on Sundays.

Start anywhere along this route, which will take you around the basin of Borgundfjorden, and through the more or less dense areas which makes up the built part of Ålesund with 50 000 inhabitants. This area goes through two municipalities, and you pass between Ålesund and Sula when you cross the bridge at Vegsund. Except from the streets in the city centre most of the route is on lanes dedicated for cyclists and pedestrians or on quiet roads.

On this route you will get a chance to see more of Ålesund city centre, pass through the NTNU University Campus, see the Viking ship replicas in Sunnmøre Museum or get a closer look at the shipyards in Sula. In Langevåg you might want to see Devoldfabrikken, the old knitwear factory reused for shops, galleries, cafes and even the largest model railway in Norway on display on Saturdays.

If you’re making just one stop, it should be at the site of the mediaeval town Borgund. You’ll find this close to Sunnmøre Museum. Look for the little pavilion by the way to the church. And you will maybe also notice the wooden pillars in the grass showing where the old warehouses used to stand. There may not be much to see today, but this was one of the few little towns in Norway at the end of the Viking age and the early mediaeval period. There used to be four churches here, and the church you can find here today is built on the foundations of the old St. Peter’s Church. The town was probably built around the important cod fisheries in Borgundfjorden. It was also easy accessible on water, either from the deep fjords or the numerous islands on the coast. It was probably also closely connected to the power centre on the island Giske, where the old 12th century chapel still stands.