Holiday tips: 13 experiences to enrich your summer

At Sogn Museum of Cultural History, one of museum worker Hanna’s favourite things are the crown glass windows in the approximately 300-year-old Undredalsstova. Each of the museum’s 44 historical buildings has its own story of people, usage and building practices. Immerse yourself in the stories using the museum’s audio guide!

Have you ever dreamed of rummaging through the drawers of an old general store? Museum educator Nina has opened both a general store and a shoemaker’s workshop at Sunnfjord Museum. Together with a newly restored loft from the 1600s and an exhibition about the museum’s history, these new experiences mark Sunnfjord Museum’s 100th anniversary in 2026.

At the Nordfjord Museum of Cultural History you can see bridal crowns, Nordfjord bunads and national costumes. In the exhibition «Together» we learn how people have lived together – and what they got married in. The exhibition «Attåt» shows how the production of bunads and other textiles has been an important side trade on the farms.

She painted until she was 102 years old, and her specialty was portraits of children. Curator Kristine Kolrud at the Sogn og Fjordane Art Museum in Førde has brought the hardworking Frida Rusti (1861-1963) back from oblivion with this solo exhibition.

Lærdal will never look the same after seeing it through Hans Gjesme’s (1904–1994) green landscape paintings. Curator Ingrid Norum has put together the exhibition «Highlights», where you can also experience selected gems from Gjesme’s architecture, city life, still life, portraits and depictions of illness and loneliness at Gaustad Hospital.

This spring, the garden of artist couple Nikolai and Engel Astrup received the highly coveted Europa Nostra Cultural Heritage Award. A long-term restoration project in Astruptunet has given new life to the green oasis. Here you can experience a variety of plants, stroll along the paths, and rest on the benches. Also, come see our new exhibition «A Creative Home»!

The Eikaas Gallery shows how creative women have made a living in Jølster through looms and other crafts. Olin Steinsvik has helped collect weavings and other crafts from industrious Jølster women, telling a story of hard work and long threads in the exhibition «Lifethread – from home to studio».

With paintings of choppy fjord waves or young girls in national costumes, Hans Dahl inspired European royalty and upper classes to visit Balestrand and Western Norway. In a new exhibition, Guri Våge Mossige at the Norwegian Museum of Travel and Tourism shows how Dahl put Norway on the tourism map.

Holvikejekta has a brand-new museum at Sandane in Nordfjord. The jekt really is unique among our preserved ships, and experts call it the stave church of the sea. Museum guide Ingvild will tell you everything you need to know about the coastal jekt trade in this new museum.

Apart from our Viking ships, Bakkejekta may be one of the oldest preserved boats in Norway. Museum director Annette Langedal Holme explains to visitors that it is about 250 years old, and used to carry goods from Dalsfjorden to Bergen. You can find it in the boat hall of the Sogn og Fjordane Coastal Heritage Museum in in Florø.

At the Sogn Fjord Museum in Kaupanger you can experience three floors filled with boats and fishing gear. Here you will hear the story of the fjord as the lifeblood, thoroughfare and food source for Sogn villages. The Sogn boat has been particularly important. Museum host Anette Uglum Vikdal likes to show off the boat building workshop, where you can learn about the craftsmanship behind it all.