is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

Rauma Municipality Rauma is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Romsdal. The administrative centre is the town of Åndalsnes. Other s ...

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

county, Norway. Åndalsnes is also the

administrative center An administrative centre 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 the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

of Rauma Municipality. It is located along the Isfjorden, at the mouth of the river Rauma, at the north end of the

Romsdalen Romsdalen is a valley in the western part of Norway. The long valley runs from the Romsdalsfjorden through Rauma Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county and into Lesja Municipality in Innlandet county. It is the valley of the Rauma (river), Rau ...

valley. The village of Isfjorden lies about to the east, Veblungsnes lies just to the west across the Rauma river, and the village of Innfjorden lies about to the southwest via the European Route E136 highway. The town has a population (2024) of 2,483 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), 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 geog ...

of . Åndalsnes has an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club, Åndalsnes IF. The local church is Grytten Church, but its actually located across the river in Veblungsnes. The

harbour A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be Mooring, moored. The t ...

is called "Tindekaia", and is visited every year by many cruise ships.

Geography

Åndalsnes is located at the mouth of the river Rauma, at the shores of the Romsdalsfjord, one of the first Norwegian rivers to host English fly fishermen in the nineteenth century. The river's

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

population is currently undergoing restoration after seeing strong declines in the 1980s following an infestation of '' Gyrodactylus salaris'', a freshwater fish

parasite Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted str ...

that mainly affects salmon. As with many other infested rivers, the Rauma is experiencing an increase in the population of

sea trout Sea trout is the common name usually applied to anadromous (sea-run) forms of brown trout (''Salmo trutta''), and is often referred to as ''Salmo trutta'' morpha ''trutta''. Other names for anadromous brown trout are bull trout, sewin (Wales ...

. The river flows through the

valley, which features some of the most spectacular scenery in the entire country. Trollveggen (the Troll Wall) one of the cliff formations in the valley, has a vertical drop of more than . It was an early launch site for European BASE jumpers.

Transportation

The European route E136 highway and Norwegian County Road 64 pass through Åndalsnes. County Road 64 heads to the towns of

Molde Molde () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town and the seat of Molde Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Pen ...

and

Kristiansund Kristiansund (, ; historically spelled Christianssund and earlier named Fosna) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality on the western coast of Norway in the Nordmøre district of Møre og Romsdal counties of Norway, county. The admin ...

to the north and the E136 highway heads to the town of

Ålesund Ålesund () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of Ålesund Municipality. The centre of the town of Ålesund lies on the islands of Hessa, Aspøya, Ålesund, Asp� ...

to the west and to

Dombås is a village or small town in Dovre Municipality in northern Innlandet county, Norway. The village serves as the commercial centre for the upper Gudbrandsdalen valley. It lies at an important junction of roads with the European route E6 highway ...

to the southeast. Trains on the

Rauma Line The Rauma Line () is a long railway between the town of Åndalsnes (in Rauma Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county), and the village of Dombås (in Dovre Municipality in Innlandet county), in Norway. Running down the Romsdalen valley, the line ...

terminate at the port of Åndalsnes, with bus connections to the nearby towns of

and

History

The village of Åndalsnes was the

administrative centre An administrative centre 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 the administrative language, such as Belgi ...

of the old Grytten Municipality from 1838 until 1964, when Grytten was merged with several other municipalities to form the new

. Åndalsnes then became the administrative centre of the new municipality of Rauma. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, after the German invasion of Norway in April 1940, British troops landed in Åndalsnes as a part of a

pincer movement The pincer movement, or double envelopment, is a maneuver warfare, military maneuver in which forces simultaneously attack both flanking maneuver, flanks (sides) of an enemy Military organization, formation. This classic maneuver has been im ...

to take the mid-Norwegian city of

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

. The northern arm of the attack was based in Namsos. Lacking control of the air, the forces at Åndalsnes were withdrawn in early May 1940. Margaret Reid, a British intelligence officer who had already been displaced from Berlin, via Copenhagen, was one of those evacuated. At the waterfront here, rigs were built to develop off-shore oil and gas wells in the North Sea, with the railroad bringing steel, etc.to the water's edge, and the rigs taken out to sea, past Ålesund, through the fjord waters. In 1996, the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

declared Åndalsnes a

().

Media

The newspaper '' Romsdalsbladet'' was published in Åndalsnes from 1947 to 1948. The town's newspaper, ''Åndalsnes Avis'', had a circulation of 4,125 in 2007.

Notable people

Notable people that were born or lived in Åndalsnes include: * Kitty Lossius, teacher and novelist * Kílian Jornet Burgada

Gallery

File:Åndalsnes.jpg, Åndalsnes File:Winter in Åndalsnes.jpg, Winter in Åndalsnes File:Aandalsnes fra kjerringplassen.jpg, View of the port area and mouth of the river

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aandalsnes Cities and towns in Norway Populated places in Møre og Romsdal Rauma, Norway Romsdal 1996 establishments in Norway Populated places established in 1996