Sotra or Store Sotra is the name of a large
island
An island or isle is a piece of subcontinental land completely surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be ...
in
Øygarden Municipality in
Vestland
Vestland is a 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 city of Bergen, whe ...
county,
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 t ...
, located just west of the city of
Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...
. 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 'Sotra' and 'Litlesotra' ('small Sotra') that are part of a ...
' and '
Litlesotra' ('small Sotra') that are part of a large archipelago stretching from
Fedje 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
Litlesotra.
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,
Ã…gotnes,
Knappskog, 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. The village has a population (2019) of 929 and a population density
Populat ...
,
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 Hammarsland ...
, and
Klokkarvik
Klokkarvik is a village in Øygarden municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located on the southeastern part of the island of Sotra, approximately 40 minutes outside the city of Bergen. It lies along the coast of Sotra, at the ...
.
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 Archi ...
, so it is surrounded by islands and waterways. To the east of Sotra lies the island of
Litlesotra. The small islands of
Bildøy and
Geitung 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 Øyga ...
(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 Bjelkarøyna ...
, 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, along the northern side of the Korsfjorden. The village of Klokkarvik lies abou ...
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 and north of the small island of Lokøyna. There are a series of bridges connecting it to the islan ...
and
Lokøyna. Finally, to the north of Sotra lie the small islands of
Misje,
Turøyna, and
Toftøyna. 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 and ...
, 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