History of the coast

People have lived along the coast of Norway for thousands of years. Learn about the interesting history and rich coastal culture of the coast at the Coastal Museum in Øygarden.

Distance: 48 km
Driving time: 50 minutes
Best time to do it: Check the Coastal Museum’s  (Kystmuseet i Øygarden) opening hours.

Brief description of the trip

Follow the Rv 555 road west from Bergen to Sotra. Turn right in the Kolltveit tunnel and follow the road north towards Øygarden. The Coastal Museum is situated in Ovågen.

Map with details of the trip

Life by the sea

Journey back in time at this exhibition. The story of how the communities along the coast have changed through the ages is told through photos, films, text and artefacts. From the first people settled here after the last Ice Age and up to the present. Society has changed a great deal over the years, from fishermen-farmers to industrial communities to the age of oil and gas. Society keeps changing, and you can learn about some of the changes at the Coastal Museum.

Coastal Museum in Øygarden. Photo: Kystmuseet i Øygarden / Museum Vest.

‘I rowed out to sea’

People fished for their own pots and to sell at the Fish Market in Bergen. There is a long tradition of fishing on the islands out at the ocean’s edge – both as a means of feeding one’s own household and as a source of income. Rich stocks of mackerel and herring in the bay and good fishing only a few miles from their boathouses meant that the people who lived around Ovågen had enough to eat all year round. The tools they used for this traditional kind of fishing were handlines, lines, various nets, sweepnets and creels, which were either made on the farm or bought in Bergen. Learn more at the Coastal Museum about how ‘strilene’, as the people who lived in these parts were known, used to live.

RIB boat trip to Øygarden Aquaculture Centre. Photo: Johan Wildhagen.

RIB boat trip to Øygarden Aquaculture Centre

You can get a unique insight into the aquaculture industry at the Coastal Museum. Take a brisk boat trip and go on a guided tour of a modern aquaculture centre in Øygarden, where you get to see salmon up close. The guide tells you about the aquaculture industry and how it has developed in Norway and in Øygarden. Daily RIB boat trips at 12.00 and 13.00 during the season, May to August. There are also trips on Sundays at 13.00 and 14.00, from April to October. Otherwise by arrangement.

Find more suggestions for day trips by car from Bergen.