is a town in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Ulstein Ulstein is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre region. The commercial and administrative centre of Ulstein is the town of Ulsteinvik. The municipality occupies the western half of the island of Hareid ...

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; en, Møre and Romsdal) is a county in the northernmost part of Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the town of Molde, while Ålesund is th ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and th ...

. The town is the commercial and

administrative centre An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

of Ulstein and as such, Ulsteinvik contains 74% of the municipality's population. The town has a population (2018) of 5,788 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPop ...

of . The town of Ulsteinvik is located on the west side of the island of

Hareidlandet Hareidlandet is an island in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The island is divided between Hareid Municipality and Ulstein Municipality. The island has a population of 13,030 (as of 2015). The island is mentioned by Snorri in his reports abo ...

, about southwest of the city of Ålesund.

Ulstein Church Ulstein Church ( no, Ulstein kyrkje) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in the municipality of Ulstein, Møre og Romsdal, Norway. It is located in the town of Ulsteinvik on the western side of the island of Hareidlandet. It is the church f ...

is located in the town, serving the population of the whole municipality. Ulsteinvik received town status on 1 July 2000.

Economy

The town is built in a natural harbour (in fact, the town's name means "Ulstein cove" or "Ulstein inlet"), and has an industry driven largely by

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befo ...

, with two major

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

s: Ulstein Verft and Kleven Verft. The

Ulstein Group Ulstein Group is a group of companies that focus on various marine-related industries, but is mainly known for its shipbuilding and ship design activities. The largest unit is ''Ulstein Verft AS''. The company's head office and primary operations ...

includes the Ulstein Verft shipyard and a growing number of other marine-related companies, the largest of which are Ulstein Power & Control AS and Ulstein Design & Solutions AS. The town has dozens of other maritime-related firms of all sizes, including the global head office of

Rolls-Royce plc Rolls-Royce Holdings plc is a British multinational aerospace and defence company incorporated in February 2011. The company owns Rolls-Royce, a business established in 1904 which today designs, manufactures and distributes power systems for ...

's marine division. The strength of this industry through the middle of the first decade of the 21st century has led to significant expansion and new construction, both residential and commercial. In 2012, Ulsteinvik was the winner of the most attractive town in Norway.

Culture and sports

The Sjøborg theatre, on Ulsteinvik's waterfront, has both film and live theatre venues. It shows a mixture of "global" and Norwegian feature films (3-5 different films at a time over 10-12 showings per week). In addition, it welcomes a mixture of local and touring live acts, including big band, operatic revues, English- and Norwegian-language dramatic productions and stand-up comedy. Ulsteinvik is the home of

IL Hødd Idrottslaget Hødd is a multi-sports club from Ulsteinvik in Møre og Romsdal, Norway. Founded in 1919, it has sections for team handball, gymnastics and football. It is best known for their men's football team, which since 2015 plays at Høddvo ...

, a multi-sport club that includes a

Norwegian First Division The Norwegian First Division, also called 1. divisjon and OBOS-ligaen (named sponsor is property developer OBOS), is the second-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Each year, the top finishing teams in the 1. divisjon are p ...

(as of 2011) football team. The team has a large local following, and generates strong attendance at their stadium, Høddvoll. Hødd also offers several other sports, including

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

and

rhythmic gymnastics Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon. The sport combines elements of gymnastics, dance and calisthenics; gymnasts must be strong, flexible, agile, dexterous and coord ...

. In 2012, Hødd became national cup champions of Norway, beating

Tromsø IL Tromsø Idrettslag is a Norwegian professional football club founded in 1920, based in the city of Tromsø. They play their home games at Alfheim Stadion. Tromsø play in the Eliteserien. Tromsø have won the Norwegian Cup twice, in 1986 and 1 ...

in the final of the

2012 Norwegian Football Cup The 2012 Norwegian Football Cup will the 107th season of the Norwegian annual knockout football tournament. It began with qualification matches in April 2012. The first round was played on 1 May 2012 and the tournament ended with the final on 25 ...

in the

Ullevaal Stadion Ullevaal Stadion () is an all-seater football stadium located in Oslo, Norway. It is the home ground of the Norway national football team, and the site of the Norwegian Cup Final. From its opening in 1926 to 2009 it was the home ground of F ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

. In addition, Ulsteinvik is the home of smaller clubs in each of

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

(Sunnmøre Rugby). It is also the hometown of men's 400m hurdles world record holder and Olympic champion

Karsten Warholm Karsten Warholm (; born 28 February 1996) is a Norwegian sprinter who competes in the 400 metres and 400 m hurdles. He’s the world record holder in the latter event. In July 2021, he broke the 29-year-old world record in 400 metres hurdles ...

, as well as Norway's first-choice

football goalkeeper Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ca ...

in the Beijing Olympics, Erika Skarbø whose father Dag is a director at Rolls-Royce Marine, Ulsteinvik is the birthplace of the

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground ...

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

Øystein Runde.

Media

Ulsteinvik is the headquarters of the local subscription-based newspaper Vikebladet Vestposten (commonly known by only the first name), formed by a 1989 merger of two previously-existing newspapers (Vikebladet & Vestposten). The community is also served by the free regional weekly RegionAvisa and the

Ålesund Ålesund () sometimes spelled Aalesund in English, is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal County, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sunnmøre and the centre of the Ålesund Region. The town of Ålesund is the administrative cen ...

-based daily

Sunnmørsposten ''Sunnmørsposten'' () is a newspaper published by Polaris Media in Ålesund, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northern ...

Transport

Norwegian county road A Norwegian county road ( nb, Fylkesvei or nn, Fylkesveg) is a highway in Norway owned and maintained by the local county municipality. Some of the roads have road signs. The signs are white with black numbers. History In 1931, a system of na ...

Fv 61 runs along the south edge of the town centre, and is the major route connecting Ulsteinvik to points northeast (municipalities of

Hareid Hareid is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative centre is the village of Hareid. The other main population centers are Brandal and Hjørungavåg. The municipality is situate ...

and Sula, with connections to

) and south (the villages of

Eiksund Eiksund is a village in the municipality of Ulstein, in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located on the southern tip of the island of Hareidlandet. The small island of Eika lies just off the shore from Eiksund. The village is located ab ...

and Haddal as well as the municipalities of Herøy, Sande, and others). Since its completion in 2008, the

Eiksund Tunnel The Eiksund tunnel ( no, Eiksundtunnelen) is an undersea tunnel in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway, which runs under the Vartdalsfjorden connecting the municipalities of Ørsta and Ulstein. The tunnel is long and reaches a depth of below sea ...

, the world's deepest

undersea tunnel An underwater tunnel is a tunnel which is partly or wholly constructed under the sea or a river. They are often used where building a bridge or operating a ferry link is unviable, or to provide competition or relief for existing bridges or ferry li ...

, connects Ulsteinvik by road to the mainland via Fv 653. Ulsteinvik is served by one bus company, Vy Buss, with the express route directly to

operated under its

Vy express Vy express, formerly Nettbuss express, is a long distance intercity coach service owned and operated by Vy Buss in Norway and its Swedish subsidiary Vy Travel in Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of ...

brand. Ulsteinvik is from the Ørsta–Volda Airport, Hovden, which has several-daily flights to

Oslo Airport, Gardermoen Oslo Airport ( no, Oslo lufthavn; ), alternatively referred to as Oslo Gardermoen Airport or simply Gardermoen, is the international airport serving Oslo, Norway, the capital city, capital and List of towns and cities in Norway, most populous ...

and

Sogndal Airport, Haukåsen Sogndal Airport ( no, Sogndal lufthavn; ) is a regional airport serving Sogndal Municipality and the surrounding area in Vestland, Norway. It is situated at Haukåsen, from Kaupanger and from Sogndalsfjøra. It serves the whole Sogn district ...

. It is also served by

Ålesund Airport, Vigra Ålesund Airport ( nn, Ålesund lufthamn, ), or alternatively Ålesund Vigra Airport, is an international airport serving the town of Ålesund in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located on the island of Vigra in Giske Municipality and fe ...

, away, which has a broader selection of national and international flights.

References

External links