- Where
- Stranda, Sunnmøre,
Møre og Romsdal, Norway - Coordinates
- 62.11° N
7.09° E (the Seven Sisters) - Length
- Up to 15 km; up to 1.5 km wide
- World Heritage
- 2005, with the Nærøyfjord
- Geiranger
- 215 people (2023)
- Cruise calls
- 140–180 ships a season (Wikipedia)
- Getting there
- Ørsta-Volda airport, about
1 h 50 min by road - Advisory
- Norway Level 1
exercise normal precautions
Mountains so steep that the water below looked poured into a crack, and waterfalls coming off the cliffs in long white ribbons. Halfway up, little grass-roofed farms sat on shelves of rock, and I wondered the length of the voyage who had carried the first churn of milk down from one. Then a cruise ship came round the bend, very slowly, and everything went quiet to watch it pass.
The short answer
The Geirangerfjord is a fjord in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway, lying entirely in Stranda Municipality in the Sunnmøre region, Wikipedia records: up to 15 kilometres long and 1.5 kilometres wide, a branch of the Sunnylvsfjorden, which branches off the Storfjorden. The village of Geiranger sits at its end, where the Geirangelva river runs into it; Ibsen’s mother-in-law, Magdalene Thoresen, described it as “surrounded by some of the steepest mountains on the entire west coast”. In 2005 UNESCO listed it with the Nærøyfjord as the West Norwegian Fjords World Heritage Site; the two areas cover 122,712 hectares, 51,802 of them round the Geirangerfjord.
Why it's worth knowing
Seven sisters and a suitor. About 6.5 kilometres west of Geiranger, just south of the old farm of Knivsflå, the Seven Sisters waterfall falls 410 metres in seven separate streams, the tallest with a free fall of 250 metres, Wikipedia records. Across the fjord is a single fall called the Suitor, Friaren; in the legend the sisters dance down the mountain while he flirts with them from afar.
Farms on a shelf. Skageflå stands about 250 metres above the fjord, Wikipedia records: inhabited from the Middle Ages until 1916, once one of the richer goat farms round Geiranger, with two or three mountain pastures, until a rock slide in 1873 destroyed much of its farmland. It is a walk of two to four hours from Geiranger, or a sightseeing boat to the shore below and a very steep half-hour climb. Knivsflå and Blomberg are reached by boat; the association Storfjordens venner has restored some of the farms.
The field notes
The mountain that is watched
On the fjord’s shore the mountainside of Åkerneset threatens to slide into the water, Wikipedia records, and its collapse would produce a megatsunami that would reach several towns, Geiranger and Hellesylt among them, in about ten minutes; the 2015 film The Wave (Bølgen) is based on it. The seismology institute NORSAR says it has supplied seismic monitoring at the site since 2005, and estimates of the unstable volume differ: a 2009 study gave 30 to 40 million cubic metres, and a 2012 report a worst case of 50 to 60 million (indexed).
Ships in a World Heritage fjord
Geiranger is Norway’s third-biggest cruise port, receiving 140 to 180 ships in a four-month season, Wikipedia records; about 300,000 cruise passengers came in the summer of 2012. Its Seawalk, a floating pier 236 metres long, can take 4,000 passengers an hour from one ship, and a floating quay opened in 2025 lets ships of up to 400 passengers switch off their engines alongside. The fjord’s article says it was “scheduled to require zero-emissions ships in 2026”; reports on the Norwegian Maritime Authority’s rule, adopted in April 2025, say it applies from 1 January 2026 to passenger ships under 10,000 gross tonnes and from 2032 to larger ones (indexed).
A grass-roofed log house at Skageflå, with the Seven Sisters across the fjord, August 2005.
Photograph: Zdenek Svoboda · 7 systrene frå Skageflå · CC BY 2.0 · cropped
The Seven Sisters and the Suitor from the fjord, 2023.
Photograph: Sergei Merzliakov via Unsplash · Unsplash licence · cropped
Skageflå, the farm on its shelf above the Geirangerfjord, August 2013.
Photograph: rheins · Skageflå Farm on the Cliff - 2013.08 · CC BY 3.0 · cropped
A boat's wake on the Geirangerfjord from Ørnesvingen, August 2019.
Photograph: James Rathmell via Unsplash · Unsplash licence
- Go the length of the water by boat and stay out on deck for all of it, whatever the wind does to your ears.
- Climb to one of the ledge farms and turn round at the top. (I put the list down on the old doorstep while I got my breath back. A goat appeared from nowhere, read it upside down, and left looking as though she had heard all of it before.)
- The village at the end of the water is somebody’s home. Buy your bread there, say good morning, and keep out of the gardens.
- Drive up the bends above the village early and stop at every turn. The view changes its mind each time.
- Sleep over, and have the water to yourself once the visitors of the day have sailed.
The Seven Sisters. About 6.5 kilometres west of Geiranger, just south of the old farm of Knivsflå and across the fjord from Skageflå, the waterfall comes down the cliff 410 metres in seven separate streams, the tallest with a free fall of 250 metres, Wikipedia records. Directly across the water is a single fall, the Suitor (Friaren); in the legend the sisters dance down the mountain while he flirts with them from afar. Both stay on the cliffs where they fall.
Tally, in the marginI admired the sisters the whole length of the fjord and did not once think to look behind me. Coming back, I saw the single fall across the water at last, facing them and keeping his distance, and felt I had been rude to him all afternoon. I waved, to be on the safe side.
Getting there
How to get there. Ørsta-Volda Airport is about an hour and fifty minutes from Geiranger, Wikipedia records. By road, County Road 63 comes down to the village from the south past Dalsnibba and climbs out to the north by the hairpins of Ørnevegen, which reaches 620 metres, towards Trollstigen; the stretch from Geiranger to Langvatnet, and Trollstigen, are closed in winter and spring, usually from early November to late May. A car ferry, which doubles as a sightseeing trip, runs the length of the fjord between Geiranger and Hellesylt.
When to go. The cruise season is the four summer months. Canada’s travel advice for Norway (updated 11 August 2026) warns that heavy rains in spring and summer can cause flooding and landslides, that weather can change rapidly even in summer, and that some roads can be impassable in winter.
What to arrange ahead. As of 20 October 2026, the ferry operator Fjord1 recommends booking the Geiranger–Hellesylt crossing in the high season, May to September, and a second operator lists its 2026 season as 1 May to 15 December; the private road up Dalsnibba charges a toll, NOK 380 a car on the operator’s page, which does not say for which year (all indexed; the operators’ own pages could not be opened). Book beds in the village ahead for summer.
Safety. The State Department’s advisory for Norway is Level 1, “Exercise Normal Precautions”, dated 6 July 2026. Canada says to take normal security precautions, and warns of avalanches in mountain areas after heavy snow, pointing to the Varsom warnings. Norway’s water and energy directorate, NVE, monitors Åkerneset.
Mark this place
Common questions
Where is the Geirangerfjord?
The Geirangerfjord is in Stranda Municipality, in the Sunnmøre region of Møre og Romsdal, western Norway, a branch of the Sunnylvsfjorden off the Storfjorden, with the village of Geiranger at its head, Wikipedia records.
How long is the Geirangerfjord?
The Geirangerfjord, in western Norway, is up to 15 kilometres long and up to 1.5 kilometres wide, Wikipedia records.
When did the Geirangerfjord become a World Heritage Site?
UNESCO listed the Geirangerfjord, in western Norway, in 2005 together with the Nærøyfjord as the West Norwegian Fjords World Heritage Site, Wikipedia records.
How tall is the Seven Sisters waterfall?
The Seven Sisters waterfall on the Geirangerfjord, Norway, is 410 metres tall in seven separate streams, the tallest with a free fall of 250 metres, about 6.5 kilometres west of Geiranger, Wikipedia records.
What is Skageflå?
Skageflå is an old farm on a ledge about 250 metres above the Geirangerfjord, Norway, inhabited from the Middle Ages until 1916, Wikipedia records; it is a walk of two to four hours from Geiranger.
What is Åkerneset?
Åkerneset is a mountainside on the Geirangerfjord, Norway, that threatens to slide into the water; Wikipedia records that its collapse would produce a megatsunami reaching Geiranger and Hellesylt in about ten minutes, and the site is monitored.
Can cruise ships still sail into the Geirangerfjord?
Yes. Geiranger, at the head of the Geirangerfjord in Norway, receives 140 to 180 cruise ships a season, Wikipedia records; reports on the Norwegian Maritime Authority’s rule say ships under 10,000 gross tonnes must be zero-emission there from 1 January 2026, and larger ships from 2032.
How do you get to Geiranger?
By road on County Road 63, whose stretch from Geiranger to Langvatnet is usually closed from early November to late May, or by the car ferry from Hellesylt along the Geirangerfjord, Norway; Ørsta-Volda Airport is about an hour and fifty minutes away, Wikipedia records.