The Fylke Vestfold and Telemark lies in the east Norway and stretches along the southeastern bank of the Oslofjord. It was created in 2020 as part of a regional reform.
places
Vestfold consists of the following municipalities:
- 1 Andebu
- 2 court
- 3 Holmestrand
- 4 Hoard - the ferry location connects Vestfold with Moss in the Fylke Østfold on the opposite side of the Oslofjord
- 5 Lardal
- 6 Larvik - Port city, whose best-known sons are the explorer and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl and the shipbuilder Colin Archer
- 7 Nøtterøy - Main island of the municipality of the same name with many small archipelago islands between Sandefjord and Tønsberg
- 8 re
- 9 Sandefjord - the city of whaling on the lower Oslofjord
- 10 Stokke
- 11 Svelvik
- 12 Tjøme
- 13 Tonsberg - Administrative center and probably the oldest city in Norway
- 14 Brevik –
- 15 Kragerø –
- 16 Langesund –
- 17 Notodden –
- 18 Porsgrunn –
- 19 Rjukan –
- 20 Skien –
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Other goals
- Borre with the royal tombs from Viking times in Borrehaugen
- Kaupang, the remains of the prehistoric settlement near Sandefjord that was one of the most important trading ports in Viking times
- Åsgårdstrand, former artists' colony and Edvard Munch's home and work place for many years.
background
Vestfold was the second smallest county in Norway and yet a not insignificant region. Vestfold is home to some of the country's important cities, such as Larvik, Sandfjord and Tønsberg, which have played an important role in fishing in the past and now. Even if the heyday of whaling is now over, in which Sandefjord was particularly important as the seat of a large whaling fleet and Larvik as a stronghold of shipbuilding, there are still numerous fishing companies.
A drive through the coastal region of Vestfolds also takes travelers to the roots of today's Norwegian state, for example in Borre near Horten and Kaupang near Sandefjord you can find remains of the early settlements of the Vikings, as well as the first Norwegian king Harald I, called Harald Fairhair * approx. 852; † 933), came from the region.
In the interior of the country, agriculture and the timber industry determine the landscape, and the southern part of the is particularly touristy Numedals with Numedalslågen, which is getting wider and wider, which flows into the Oslofjord at Larvik, interesting.
On the coast there are numerous holiday home areas, hotels and campsites, which still leave enough space for beaches and relatively untouched nature on the water. The coast can be easily explored by bike or on foot, and anyone who wants to travel by train and bus will find a dense network of local transport connections in Vestfold.
Telemark is also called "Norway in miniature". From the coast to the high mountains, all types of landscape are represented here.
language
In the area of Vestfold (as well as in the area of Østfold) is Bokmål official official language, but this will hardly be relevant for travelers, since both forms of language are actually only pronounced in the written language in their pure form. In everyday language, spoken Nynorsk (spoken by 10-15% of the Norwegian population) and spoken Bokmål (spoken by the majority of the population) are so similar that tourists with only rudimentary Norwegian language skills will hardly notice any differences.
getting there
Travelers arriving from other countries reach Vestfold mainly from Oslo, where there is also one international Airport lies. From there, as well as from the city center Oslo, trains run to the region. For example to Larvik, where trains run every hour Norwegian State Railways out Oslo drive. The travel time is 2 hours 8 minutes.
There are also ferry connections from other European countries directly to the Fylke. So come in the ferry port of Larvik the Colorline ferries out Hirtshals in Denmark, who drive twice a day in the summer season and usually once a day for the rest of the year. The journey time is 3:45 hours. Also consists of Sandefjord a Colorline ferry service in Sweden Strömstad. There are four connections a day almost all year round. The journey time is 3.5 - 4 hours.
Car travelers who do not use the deep-sea ferry in Vestfold usually use European route 18, which Oslo also takes Kristiansand connects. Alternatively, there is still the possibility of the E6 from Sweden up Moss in the Fylke Østfold to follow. There is an inner Norwegian Ferry connection to Hoard at the Oslofjord. The journey time is 30 minutes, on weekdays the ferries commute every half hour. When you arrive in Horten there is a connection to the E18.
mobility
Tourist Attractions
- Larvik Sjøfartsmuseum, next to the ferry terminal at the entrance to the Tollerodden peninsula. Exhibitions in particular to the boat builder Colin Archer, who built slim and powerful wooden boats here.
- Not a sensation for Central Europeans, but for Scandinavia it is. Norway's largest contiguous beech forest stretches between the upper outskirts of Larvik and Lake Farrisvann Bøkeskogen along, with hikers' parking lot and viewpoints.
- Hvalfangstmuseet. The whaling museum in Sandefjord shows numerous exhibits from the times when the city was one of the most important whaling ports in Norway. There are also a large number of prepared animals, including from the polar region, to marvel at. Particularly impressive are individual showcases in which whaling ships are shown with all the details of whaling and whale processing. The former whaling ship belongs to the museum Southern Actorwhich is on Brygga in Sandefjord.
- Gokstad. A few kilometers east of Sandefjord is Gokstad, the site of the Viking ship named after the place, which was found under a burial mound by the road as a burial gift from a chief. The mound was backfilled after the ship was salvaged, below you can see a large graphic showing the position of the ship in the mound and photos of the excavation work. The Gokstad ship is now in the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, a reconstruction is the one on Brygga in Sandefjord Gaia.
In Morgedal on the E134 is the cradle of modern skiing. It was here that Sondre Norheim invented the heel pull ski binding, the first controlled cornering and the Telemark style made possible.
The largest, remaining one Stave church Norway supports in Heddal Notodden, on the E134.
From the highest mountain in Telemark, the 1,882 m high Gaustatoppen, one overlooks a sixth of the whole of Norway in good weather. The Gaustatoppn lies south of Rjukan in the commune Tinn.
Rjukan was the scene of heavy water sabotage in World War II. This action by Norwegian underground fighters was intended to prevent Germany from developing an atomic bomb. Exhibitions on this in Vemork Workers Museum. Since 2015, the entire facilities of the industrial complex in Rjukan and in Notodden part of UNESCO world cultural heritage.
activities
The water sports of course has a high priority on the coast, on many beaches there is free access to the water for surfer possible and also swimmers like sun-hungry fans of the Beach life get their money's worth here - provided the weather is appropriate. In the many small towns you can find owners of Sport boats enough berths so that you can explore this region of the Oslofjord from a boat.
kitchen
Norway's only indigenous mineral water comes from the springs of the Farris bottling plant, Møllegata in Larvik
At many alpine farms (norw. "Seter") you can get real goat cheese, ekte geitost, with a sweet, caramel-like taste.
Also worth a taste: a rich, rich sour cream groats (rømmegrøt). It is typically enjoyed with sugar, cinnamon and black currant juice (med sukker, kanel og solbærsaft).
