Things to do in Ålesund
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Atlantic Ocean Park
At the peninsula’s western extreme, sitting 3km from the centre, the Atlantic Ocean Park can merit a whole day of your life. It introduces visitors to the North Atlantic’s undersea world with glimpses of the astonishing richness of coastal and fjord submarine life. Children will wow at the ‘snails, seashells and weird marine animals’ section, and can dangle a line for crabs or feed the fish in the touch pool while the whole family will gasp at the enormous four-million-litre aquarium. Be there at 1pm (also 3.30pm, June to August) when the largest ocean fish thrash and swirl as they’re fed by human divers.
There’s also a sanctuary for orphaned seals and the groun…
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Hummer & Kanari
Behind the bar sit row upon row of liqueur and spirit bottles for mixers and shakers. Here at the downstairs bistro, you order at the counter. Upstairs, it’s waiter service. But both call upon the same kitchen, which turns out ample portions of pasta (Nkr110 to Nkr130) and pizza (Nkr100). To save the decision-making, simply sit back, put yourself in the cook’s capable hands and go for the best the sea can offer that day, ‘Hummer & Kanari’s selection of fish and shellfish.’ (Nkr245).
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Jugendstil Art Nouveau Centre
Everyone from serious aesthetes to kids out for fun will get pleasure from this art centre. The introductory Time Machine capsule presents ‘From Ashes to Art Nouveau’, a high-tech, very visual story of the rebuilding of Ålesund after the great fire, while the displays offer carefully selected textiles, ceramics and furniture of the genre. It’s in and above a renovated chemist’s shop that has retained its magnificent corkscrew staircase and 1st-floor dining room.
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Nomaden
Affiliated to the art gallery next door, this welcoming café, where cool jazz trills in the background, serves sandwiches, gooey cakes and fresh coffee and has its own changing art exhibition.
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Xl Diner
Nothing could be further from your traditional greasy diner than this 1st-floor fish restaurant overlooking the harbour. Bacalao is the house speciality. This quintessentially Norwegian dish is offered with a variety of sauces – Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, even Louisiana, and Bacalao de Mirita Style (sic), served in a zesty lime and mildly chilli sauce. Vegetables, still firm and crunchy, are cooked to perfection. Better not to request one of the tropical display fish that eye you apprehensively from their heated aquarium.
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Fjellstua Kafé
The 418 steps up Aksla lead to the splendid Kniven viewpoint over Ålesund and the surrounding mountains and islands. Follow Lihauggata from the pedestrian shopping street Kongensgata to the start of the 20-minute puff to the top of the hill. There’s also a road to the top; take Røysegata east from the centre, then follow the Fjellstua signposts up the hill. Up top, the Fjellstua Kafé is a good place to recover your breath while enjoying a drink with a view.
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Aksla
The 418 steps up Aksla lead to the splendid Kniven viewpoint over Ålesund and the surrounding mountains and islands. Follow Lihauggata from the pedestrian shopping street Kongensgata to the start of the 20-minute puff to the top of the hill. There's also a road to the top; take Røysegata east from the centre, then follow the Fjellstua signposts up the hill.
At the top of Aksla, the Fjellstua Kafé is a good place to recover your breath while enjoying a drink with a view.
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Sunnmøre Museum
Ålesund’s celebrated Sunnmøre Museum is 4km east of the centre. Here, at the site of the old Borgundkaupangen trading centre, active from the 11th to 16th centuries, over 50 traditional buildings have been relocated. Ship-lovers will savour the collection of around 40 historic boats, including replicas of Viking-era ships and a commercial trading vessel from around AD 1000. Take bus 618 or 624.
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Aalesunds Museum
The town museum illustrates the history of sealing, fishing, shipping and industry in the Sunnmøre region, the fire of 1904, the Nazi WWII occupation and the town’s distinctive Art Nouveau architecture. There’s also a collection of boats and ships, including the Uræd lifeboat (piloted across the Atlantic in 1904 by an intrepid Ole Brude), and an 1812 barn, converted into an old-time grocery.
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Medieval Age Museum
Should you coincide with its restricted opening hours, don't overlook - as many visitors do - its Medieval Age Museum. Displayed around excavations of the old trading centre are well documented artefacts discovered on-site and reproductions of medieval illustrations depicting the way of life of the west Norwegian coastal folk who inhabited this thriving community. A pity that entry hours are so reduced…
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Lyspunket
There are a couple of internet points and free wi-fi for clients at this great-value, great-ambience, youthful place. Loll back in its deep sofas (though you might not want to sit directly beneath the magnificent swirls and pipes of the giant glass chandelier). There are free refills for coffee and soft drinks, and dishes, such as their turkey in a caramelised apple and curry sauce, are creative.
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Invit
Gosh, the style shows at this suave coffee bar, which also serves tasty snacks. Just what you’d expect from a place that runs the accompanying interior design boutique with the very best of creative modern furniture and Scandinavian kitchenware and home appliances. You can also sip your espresso outside on their floating pontoon, where they considerately supply blankets if the wind whips up.
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Kniven viewpoint
The 418 steps up Aksla lead to the splendid Kniven viewpoint over Ålesund and the surrounding mountains and islands. Follow Lihauggata from the pedestrian shopping street Kongensgata to the start of the 20-minute puff to the top of the hill. There's also a road to the top; take Røysegata east from the centre, then follow the Fjellstua signposts up the hill.
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Sukkertoppen
A more challenging hike leading to an even wider-ranging view leads to the summit of Sukkertoppen (314m). It begins on the street Sukkertoppvegen, on the hook of Ålesund's peninsula. The track follows the easiest route, right up the east-pointing ridgeline. Take bus No 618 from town and ask the driver to stop at Hessla school.
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Ta Det Piano
‘Take it Easy’ is just that – a laid-back bar with a steep rear garden (live bands sometimes use its flat roof as a stage). Now in its second decade, it’s the place to meet the town’s younger movers and shakers.
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Ingrids Glassverksted
You’ll find everything from practical and stylish glasses, bowls and ornaments to quirky, multicoloured chickens with spiky coxcombs. Should you pass by out of hours, you can watch Ingrid at work on the DVD that plays in her window.
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Fisheries Museum
The Fisheries Museum, in the 1861 Holmbua warehouse (one of the few to survive the 1904 fire), contains exhibits on fishing through the ages and a special section on drying stockfish and the processing of cod liver oil.
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Lille Løvenvold
Here’s a Jekyll and Hyde of a place. By day an intimate place for a coffee in relaxing surroundings, it morphs each evening into a bar where canned rock is the accompaniment to your beer. Also has free wi-fi.
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Guided Town Walk
To really delve into Ålesund’s Art Nouveau heritage, sign on for the tourist office’s excellent 1½- to two-hour guided town walk, which leaves the office at noon.
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Borgundknarren Boat Tour
For a more exotic sail, join the Borgundknarren Boat Tour, a replica Viking trading ship that leaves Sunnmøre Museum for a one-hour cruise at 13:00 every Wednesday, late June to early August.
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Sjøbua
In a converted wharfside building, stylish Sjøbua is one of northern Norway’s finest fish restaurants, where you can choose your crustacean, wriggling and fresh, from the lobster tank.
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Apoteker’n Café
Within the Jugendstil Art Nouveau Centre and completing a trio of tempting choices on the same street, this stylish, friendly little place rustles up good snacks, tempting cakes and great coffee.
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M/S Keiser Wilhelm Boat Tour
For a different perspective of the town, take the M/S Keiser Wilhelm Boat Tour, which does 1¼-hour tours of the harbour and nearby skerries four times daily.
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Kontoret
‘The Office’, headquarters of the Ålesund chapter of Liverpool supporters club, packs ’em in with its hearty pub atmosphere.
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Brasserie Normandie
This brasserie, the main eating option at the Rica Parken Hotel, runs a short but impressive à la carte menu of local and international dishes.
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