Leirvik is a
town and the
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
Stord municipality in
Vestland county,
Norway. The town lies along the southern coast of the large
island of Stord, along the
Hardangerfjorden. The town gained "town status" in 1997. The town includes the
Eldøyane peninsula where the large Kværner Stord industrial area is located.

Leirvik is the regional centre of the
traditional district of
Sunnhordland, and has many public services and offices such as the Sunnhordland
District court and the
Sunnhordland Museum, as well as many shops and restaurants.
Stord Church and several schools such as
Stord Upper Secondary School and
Western Norway University of Applied Sciences are all located in the town.
The town has a population (2019) of 14,126 and a
population density of .
The entire municipality has about 18,700 residents in it (2019), so Leirvik has about 75% of the total population of the municipality. Leirvik is also the largest urban area that is located in a municipality where
Nynorsk is the preferred language form.
Transportation
The town lies along the
European route E39
European route E39 is the designation of a north–south road in Norway and Denmark from Klett, just south of Trondheim, to Aalborg via Bergen, Stavanger and Kristiansand. In total, there are nine ferries, more than any other single road in Eu ...
highway, just east of the
Stord Bridge
The Stord Bridge ( no, Stordabrua) is a suspension bridge which crosses Digernessundet between the islands of Stord and Føyno in Stord Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The bridge is long, has a main span of and a clearance below of . ...
which is part of the
Triangle Link which connects a number of islands to the mainland via road bridges and an undersea tunnel. There is a ferry quay at Skjersholmane in the western part of the town which has regular ferry connections to the nearby islands of
Halsnøya,
Fjelbergøya, and
Borgundøya which lie to the east in the
Hardangerfjorden. A regular ferry connection to the nearby island of
Huglo departs just north of Leirvik at the quay at Jektavik. In the main harbour of Leirvik, there are several daily expressboat departures to nearby islands of Halsnøy, Fjellbergøy and Borgundøy as well as the villages of
Husnes,
Skånevik and
Ølen and the county capital of
Bergen.
Stord Airport
Stord Airport ( nn, Stord lufthamn; ) is a municipal regional airport located at Sørstokken in Stord Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. Located from Leirvik and on the island of Stord, it is the only airport with scheduled services in ...
is located approximately 12 kilometers west of Leirvik center close to the village of
Sagvåg. From the main bus terminal of Leirvik, there are local busses, as well as regional express busses towards Bergen to the north and Stavanger to the south.
Media
The newspaper ''
Sunnhordland'' is published in Leirvik, as well as the online newspape
Stord24 NRK also has a local office in Leirvik.
Name
Confusingly, when the municipality of
Stord declared that Leirvik was a town in 1997, they decided to name the town "Stord", with the village of Leirvik being the central part of the town. This was done because the
Norwegian government required a populated place to have at least 5,000 residents in order to be called a
town. Leirvik alone did not have enough residents unless the whole surrounding areas were also included, so the name "Stord" would represent the whole area. Even though this is the official name, the public acceptance of this has been minimal and controversial, and the name of the urban community remains "Leirvik".
The name Leirvik () translates into "clay bay". The word "leire" meaning "
clay" and "vik" meaning "
bay
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...
".
The name comes from the high concentration of clay in the ground. The locals often
colloquially refer to Leirvik by the name "Vikjo", meaning "the bay" in local dialect, rather than "Leirvik".
See also
*
List of towns and cities in Norway
Below is a list of towns and cities in Norway. The Norwegian word for town or city is ''by''. Cities were formerly categorized as ''kjøpstad'' (market town) or '' ladested'' (small seaport), each with special rights. The special trading rights fo ...
References
{{Authority control
Stord
Cities and towns in Norway
Populated places in Vestland
1997 establishments in Norway