Royal village since the Viking age

The royal village of Leikanger

Leikanger has been a royal village by tradition since the Viking age (about 800 AD). The Kings stayed in Leikanger when travelling around the country with their army. On their journey they collected taxes and maintained the loyalty of the local kings.

Leikanger was a royal village because of its strategic location on the fjord, with uninterrupted views to the west and east and with a large production of food that the king needed for his army.

Harald Hårfagre grew up in Leikanger

Norway was brought together as a kingdom by king Harald Hårfagre (850 – 932).
Harald grew up in Leikanger and started his work to unite Norway into a kingdom there.

Counting around 2200 inhabitants, Leikanger has been the administrative capital of Sogn og Fjordane – which is today a part of the Sogndal municipality in Vestland county – from 1862 to 2019.

Leikanger has a good climate

Leikanger, with its splendid southern exposure to the sun and the Sognefjord and with its good climate, warm summer and long warm autumn, has been a good agricultural village for more than 4,500 years.

Today its main cultures are fruits and berries and the breeding of sheep.

The Sognefjord is one of the longest and deepest fjords in the world – over 200 km long and 1308 meters at its deepest. The fjord landscape was created by glaciers that eroded the fjord during the ice ages over a million years ago.

Leikanger – a junction between fjord and land

Leikanger has throughout the years been a junction between fjord and land. This is where the Leikanger Fjord Hotel stands today, having been a staging post and guest house since around 1650. The Lie family took over the hotel in 1920, and the 3rd generation of Lie operated it until 2020, when Unike Hoteller – who are now running the hotel – bought it.

The Strandavegen cultural road

Strandavegen is a walk through old heroes history, viking history and cultural history. Strandavegen follows the fjord to the east from the stairs at Leikanger Fjord Hotel to Leikanger Church.

Along the way you will find:

• The memorial Park of Norway’s first king, Harald Hårfagre (850-932) (100 meters from the hotel)
• Excavations of over 1000 year old burial mounds at the Husabø graveyard. There you will find several antic monuments both from before the Viking Age and from the Viking Age. (About 500 meters from the hotel)
• In the graveyard stands Baldersteinen, Norway’s tallest stone monument (over 8 meters)
  The Leikanger Church is from around 1250. The stone church was later rebuilt several times
• Several exotic trees in the parish garden by the church. (About 900 meters from the hotel)

You will find more information on signs along the road and on:
www.systrondsogelag.no and www.leikanger.kommune.no (pages in Norwegian)