Urnes Stave Church & Viking Shipyard

Visit Norway's oldest and most highly decorated stave church, and learn about the wood crafting techniques at Ornes shipyard.
The church was built around 1130 AD and included on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1979 - as the first site entering the list from Norway. The church's wood carvings are exquisitely designed and executed, making them some of Norway's most distinctive works of art. At Ornes shipyard (est. 1975), the guests get a guided tour at the worksite, and learn about the old and modern shipbuilding techniques that roots back to the Viking era - wood crafting techniques with similarities to building stave churches and traditions that are still kept alive at the shipyard today. The tour goes along "the Romantic Road" on the south side of Lustrafjord, and offers stunning landscapes and picturesque villages. Arriving Ornes, the bus splits in two groups - the stave church & shipyard, and then interchange. This is effected to provide a better guided experience and meet the new restrictions at UNESCO Urnes. After exploring both sites, the bus goes back to Skjolden the same way along the Romantic Road with waterfalls and stories of how the Lustrafjord played a role during the National Romantic era in Norway.