Halsa is one of Northern Møre’s lovliest communities with a luxuriant pine forest right down to the shores of the sheltered fjord arms for which Halsa is so well-known. You will find a wide range of opportunities just about everywhere for fishing, from the sheltered fjords to idyllic lakes. Halsa municipality has approximately 1.670 inhabitants and covers a area of 300,9 km2. Halsa has traditionally been an agricultural and forestry district and has been one of the most important rural municipalities in Northern Møre.

GEIT BOAT

The shipyards here are an important business and are based on literally thousand year old traditions. The special and very characteristic boat of Nordmøre is the “Geitbåten” which is much the same now as it was in the early middle ages. There is also a “Geitbåt” museum in Halsa where these boats are still built by the old methods and they also build models.

Halsa is an important crossroads with one of the county’s biggest ferry routes, and the highway E-39 traverses Halsa right up to the border of Trøndelag. There are several modern tourist accomodations here as well as quite a large number of cabins.

OTNES QUAY

Otnes was the old rural centre of Valsøyfjord, and in the 1860´s, a steamboat quay was built here. At the turn of the century, Otnes handel was opened. The buildings are now restored and equipped as they were in the past.

SVARTISEN

When you come ashore at Svartisen, the Svartisen Tourist Centre is only a fifteen-minute walk away. The Centre faces the glacier, just across the lovely Lake of Engenbrevatnet. The lake is a result of the massive glacier melting that took place in the 1940s. The Tourist Centre also has a cafe with 175 seats, which serves lunch, dinner, light dishes, coffee and cakes. There is also a kiosk and souvenir shop with arts and crafts, including local handicrafts. Send a postcard from the Centre and get it stamped with the Svartisen postmark.

The Tourist Centre offers a panorama view of glacier. When you have come this far, why not walk the extra two km to the foot of the glacier itself to truly experience the color and shape of the massive ice formations? If you think the glacier seems large from a distance, your perspective will change dramatically when the glacier snout looms above you and the massive cliffs of ice are no longer just exotic pictures on a postcard.