Sotra or Store Sotra is the name of a large

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An isla ...

Øygarden Municipality Øygarden is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is an island municipality located in the traditional district of Midhordland, stretching along the west coast of the county. The village of Straume is the administrative centre of the ...

Vestland Vestland is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the cit ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, 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 ...

, located just west of the city of

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, secon ...

. It is part of a pair of islands called '

Sotra Sotra or Store Sotra is the name of a large island in Øygarden Municipality in Vestland county, Norway, located just west of the city of Bergen. It is part of a pair of islands called 'Store Sotra, Sotra' and 'Litlesotra' ('small Sotra') that a ...

' and '

Litlesotra Litlesotra, or sometimes Lille Sotra, is an island in Øygarden Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is part of the Sotra island group which makes up the southern part of a larger archipelago of islands from Fedje south through Øygar ...

' ('small Sotra') that are part of a large archipelago stretching from

Fedje Fedje is an island municipality in the Nordhordland region of Vestland county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Fedje. The traditional economic activity of the inhabitants is fishing. The municipality is ...

southwards along the coast of Norway. The larger island of the two is

Store Sotra Sotra or Store Sotra is the name of a large island in Øygarden Municipality in Vestland county, Norway, located just west of the city of Bergen. It is part of a pair of islands called 'Sotra' and 'Litlesotra' ('small Sotra') that are part of a ...

(also called Sotra), and the smaller (and least populated) of the two is

. Roughly 28,700 (2017) people live on the two islands of Sotra, with the larger island having a population of about 19,100 (2017) and 9,589 (2017) living on the smaller island.

Geography

The main population centres on Sotra include (from north to south) Vindenes,

Ågotnes Ågotnes is a village in Øygarden municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The industrial village is located on northern part of the island of Store Sotra, about west of the city of Bergen. The village of Landro, Vestland, Landro (and Landro C ...

Knappskog Knappskog is a village in Øygarden municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village lies along the northeastern coast of the island of Sotra, about halfway between the villages of Ågotnes (to the north) and Kolltveit (to the south). The isl ...

, Møvik, Tælavåg,

Hammarsland Hammarsland () is a village in Øygarden municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located on the island of Sotra, just east of the village of Skogsvåg Skogsvågen or Skogsvåg is a village in Øygarden municipality in Vestland ...

Skogsvåg Skogsvågen or Skogsvåg is a village in Øygarden municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located on the eastern coast of the island of Sotra in the northern part of the municipality, just northeast of the village of Hammarslan ...

, and Klokkarvik. The island of Sotra is part of an

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arch ...

, so it is surrounded by islands and waterways. To the east of Sotra lies the island of

. The small islands of Bildøy and

Geitung Geitanger or Geitung is an island in Øygarden Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The island is entirely car-free, and the population of the island is very low. See also *List of islands of Norway This is a list of islands of Norway sort ...

lie near Litlesotra. The

Raunefjorden Raunefjorden is a strait (even though it is called a fjord) in Vestland county, Norway. The wide strait flows between the mainland Bergen Peninsula and the island of Sotra. Bergen Municipality is located on the east side on the mainland and Øy ...

(to the east) separates Sotra from the mainland Bergen Peninsula. The small islands of Tyssøyna,

Lerøyna Lerøyna or Lerøy is an island in Øygarden Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The island lies at the south end of the Raunefjorden, between the mainland Bergen Peninsula and the large island of Sotra. The smaller island of Bjelkarø ...

, and Bjelkarøyna lie in the Raunefjorden off the southeastern coast of Sotra. To the south of Sotra lies the island of

Toftøya Toftøya or Toftarøyna is an island in Øygarden Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. Geography The island lies just south of the large island of Sotra Sotra or Store Sotra is the name of a large island in Øygarden Municipality ...

and the Korsfjorden. To the west of Sotra lie a number of small islands including

Algrøyna Algrøyna or Algrøy is an island in Øygarden Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The island lies just west of the large island of Sotra Sotra or Store Sotra is the name of a large island in Øygarden Municipality in Vestland count ...

and Lokøyna. Finally, to the north of Sotra lie the small islands of

Misje Misje is an island (and village) in Øygarden Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The island lies just south of the island of Toftøyna and north of the large island of Sotra. Almost all of the 257 inhabitants (as of 2009) live on the ea ...

, Turøyna, and

Toftøyna Toftøyna or Toftøy is an island in Øygarden municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The island is the southernmost of the main islands of Øygarden. It is connected by bridge to the island of Rongøy (to the north), to the small island ...

. Sotra is connected to the mainland by a series of road bridges across Bildøy and Litlesotra before crossing the

Sotra Bridge The Sotra Bridge ( no, Sotrabrua) is a suspension bridge which crosses Knarreviksundet between Knarrevik in Øygarden Municipality and Drotningsvik on the mainland of Bergen Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It carries two road lanes ...

, the seventh-longest suspension bridge in Norway. The tall Liatårnet is the highest mountain on Sotra. Other mountains on the island include the tall Førdesveten, the tall Gardafjellet, the tall Knappskogfjellet, and the tall Spjeldsfjellet.

Media gallery

File:BildoeySotra.jpg, Boathouses at Bildøy. File:Sotra.jpg, Fishing vessel anchored in a bay. File:PanoramaSotraNese.jpg, View from Liatårnet. File:Sotrabrua_2.jpg, Sotra Bridge.

References

Islands of Vestland Archipelagoes of Norway Øygarden Landforms of Vestland {{Vestland-island-stub