{{short description|Town in Møre og Romsdal, Norway}} {{Infobox settlement |official_name = Åndalsnes |other_name = Aandalsnes {{no bold|''(historic)''}} |native_name = |nickname = |settlement_type = Town/City<ref name="town">In the Norwegian language, the word ''by'' can be translated as "town" or "city".</ref> |image_skyline = Aandalsnes 04.jpg |image_caption = View of Åndalsnes from the mountain Nebba |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name = Norway |subdivision_type1 = Region |subdivision_name1 = Western Norway |subdivision_type2 = County |subdivision_name2 = Møre og Romsdal |subdivision_type3 = District |subdivision_name3 = Romsdal |subdivision_type4 = Municipality |subdivision_name4 = Rauma Municipality | pushpin_map = Møre og Romsdal#Norway | pushpin_label = Åndalsnes | pushpin_label_position = top |timezone1 = CET |utc_offset1 = +01:00 |timezone1_DST = CEST |utc_offset1_DST = +02:00 |established_title = Established as |established_date = |established_title1 = Town ({{lang|no|By}}) |established_date1 = 1996 |area_footnotes = <ref name="ssb" /> |area_total_km2 = 2.16 |population_as_of = 2024 |population_footnotes = <ref name="ssb" /> |population_total = 2483 |population_density_km2 = 1150 |population_demonym = Åndalsnesing |postal_code_type = Post Code |postal_code = 6300 Åndalsnes |coordinates = {{coord|62.5675|7.6871|region:NO_type:city|display=inline,title}} |elevation_m = 2 |elevation_footnotes = <ref>{{Cite web |title=Åndalsnes, Rauma (Møre og Romsdal) |url=https://www.yr.no/place/Norway/M%C3%B8re_og_Romsdal/Rauma/%C3%85ndalsnes/ |access-date=2019-07-02 |publisher=yr.no}}</ref>}}
{{Audio|Aandalsnes.ogg|'''Åndalsnes'''}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Informasjon om stadnamn |url=https://stadnamn.kartverket.no/fakta/254502 |access-date=2025-03-31 |website=Norgeskart |publisher=Kartverket |language=no}}</ref> is a town<ref name="town" /> in Rauma Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. Åndalsnes is also the administrative center of Rauma Municipality. It is located along the Isfjorden, at the mouth of the river Rauma, at the north end of the Romsdalen valley. The village of Isfjorden lies about {{convert|7|km}} to the east, Veblungsnes lies just to the west across the Rauma river, and the village of Innfjorden lies about {{convert|10|km}} to the southwest via the European Route E136 highway.<ref name="snl">{{Cite SNL|Åndalsnes|Åndalsnes|2025-03-31|Thorsnæs|Geir|2024-11-26}}</ref>
The {{convert|2.16|km2|acre|adj=on}} town has a population (2024) of 2,483 and a population density of {{convert|1150|PD/km2}}.<ref name="ssb">{{Cite web |last=Statistisk sentralbyrå |author-link=Statistics Norway |date=2024-10-01 |title=Urban settlements. Population and area, by municipality |url=https://www.ssb.no/en/befolkning/folketall/statistikk/tettsteders-befolkning-og-areal}}</ref>
Åndalsnes has an association football club, Åndalsnes IF. The local church is Grytten Church, but its actually located across the river in Veblungsnes. The harbour is called "Tindekaia", and is visited every year by many cruise ships.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Offisiell åpning av kai på Åndalsnes 24. mai - Nyheter fra havna - Molde og Romsdal Havn IKS |url=http://www.molde-romsdalhavn.no/nyheter-fra-havna/offisiell-apning-av-kai-pa-andalsnes-24-mai |access-date=2016-11-18 |website=Molde og Romsdal Havn IKS |language=nb-NO}}</ref>
==Geography== Åndalsnes is located at the mouth of the river Rauma, at the shores of the Romsdalsfjord, one of the first Norwegian rivers to host English fly fishermen in the nineteenth century. The river's salmon population is currently undergoing restoration after seeing strong declines in the 1980s following an infestation of ''Gyrodactylus salaris'', a freshwater fish parasite that mainly affects salmon. As with many other infested rivers, the Rauma is experiencing an increase in the population of sea trout.
The river flows through the Romsdalen valley, which features some of the most spectacular scenery in the entire country. Trollveggen (the Troll Wall) one of the cliff formations in the valley, has a vertical drop of more than {{convert|1000|m}}. It was an early launch site for European BASE jumpers.
== Climate == Åndalsnes has an temperate oceanic climate (Cfb in the Köppen climate classification), with relatively mild winters, cool summers and precipitation year round.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Beck |first=Hylke E. |last2=McVicar |first2=Tim R. |last3=Vergopolan |first3=Noemi |last4=Berg |first4=Alexis |last5=Lutsko |first5=Nicholas J. |last6=Dufour |first6=Ambroise |last7=Zeng |first7=Zhenzhong |last8=Jiang |first8=Xin |last9=van Dijk |first9=Albert I. J. M. |last10=Miralles |first10=Diego G. |date=2023-10-23 |title=High-resolution (1 km) Köppen-Geiger maps for 1901–2099 based on constrained CMIP6 projections |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-023-02549-6 |journal=Scientific Data |language=en |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=724 |doi=10.1038/s41597-023-02549-6 |issn=2052-4463 |pmc=10593765 |pmid=37872197}}</ref> Late spring/early summer is the time of the year with the least precipitation, while the winter is the wettest. As Ånsdalsnes is sheltered in the fjord, it receives less precipitation than places further out to the coast like Molde. Ånsdalsnes experiences large temperature swings during the winter. Days with temperatures of below -10°C due to temperature inversions can quickly be followed up by temperatures exceeding 10°C and even 15°C due to Föhn winds from the south-west.
{{Weather box |metric first= yes |single line = yes |location = Ånsdalsnes - Kamshaugen 1991–2020 (3 m) <!-- Mean daily temperature --> |Jan mean C=1.1 |Feb mean C=0.8 |Mar mean C=2.7 |Apr mean C=6.1 |May mean C=9.2 |Jun mean C=12.1 |Jul mean C=14.9 |Aug mean C=14.5 |Sep mean C=11.4 |Oct mean C=7.0 |Nov mean C=3.9 |Dec mean C=1.2 |year mean C= <!-- Total precipitation, this should include rain and snow. --> |precipitation colour= green<!-- Enter "green" for green precipitation colours, remove this line for blue colouring. --> |Jan precipitation mm=123 |Feb precipitation mm=109 |Mar precipitation mm=106 |Apr precipitation mm=67 |May precipitation mm=68 |Jun precipitation mm=84 |Jul precipitation mm=79 |Aug precipitation mm=92 |Sep precipitation mm=130 |Oct precipitation mm=129 |Nov precipitation mm=112 |Dec precipitation mm=149 |year precipitation mm= <!-- Mandatory fields, source --> |source 1= yr.no history<ref>{{Cite web |title=Yr historikk |url=https://beta.yr.no/sme/historihkka/gr%C3%A1fa/1-190429/Norga/M%C3%B8re%20og%20Romsdal/Rauma/%C3%85ndalsnes?q=2025access-date=2026-22-05}}</ref>}}
==Transportation== The European route E136 highway and Norwegian County Road 64 pass through Åndalsnes. County Road 64 heads to the towns of Molde and Kristiansund to the north and the E136 highway heads to the town of Ålesund to the west and to Dombås to the southeast.
Trains on the Rauma Line terminate at the port of Åndalsnes, with bus connections to the nearby towns of Molde and Ålesund.
==History== The village of Åndalsnes was the administrative centre of the old Grytten Municipality from 1838 until 1964, when Grytten was merged with several other municipalities to form the new Rauma Municipality. Åndalsnes then became the administrative centre of the new municipality of Rauma.
During World War II, after the German invasion of Norway in April 1940, British troops landed in Åndalsnes as a part of a pincer movement to take the mid-Norwegian city of Trondheim. The northern arm of the attack was based in Namsos. Lacking control of the air, the forces at Åndalsnes were withdrawn in early May 1940.<ref name="snl" /><ref>Württembergische Landesbibliothek: [https://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/40-05.htm 1940 Mai] (April 2022). Translation: "During the night of 1/2 May, Vice Admiral Layton evacuates 1,500 men with the cruisers Manchester and Birmingham, while the anti-aircraft cruiser Calcutta and the sloop Auckland take almost 1,000 men from the rearguard on board. The destroyer Somali evacuated a combat group from Alesund, while the destroyer Diana transported the Norwegian commander-in-chief, Major General Ruge, to Tromsø."</ref> Margaret Reid, a British intelligence officer who had already been displaced from Berlin, via Copenhagen, was one of those evacuated.{{citation needed|date=October 2025}}
At the waterfront here, rigs were built{{when|date=October 2025}} to develop off-shore oil and gas wells in the North Sea, with the railroad bringing steel, etc.to the water's edge, and the rigs taken out to sea, past Ålesund, through the fjord waters.{{citation needed|date=October 2025}}
In 1996, the municipal council of Rauma Municipality declared Åndalsnes a town ({{langx|no|By}}).<ref name="snl" />
==Media== The newspaper ''Romsdalsbladet'' was published in Åndalsnes from 1947 to 1948.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Moen |first=Eirik |year=1988 |title=Romsdalsbladet og Romsdals reising |journal=Romsdal Sogelag Årsskrift 1988 |location=Molde |publisher=Romsdal Sogelag |pages=48–53}}</ref>
The town's newspaper, ''Åndalsnes Avis'', had a circulation of 4,125 in 2007.<ref name="aviskatalogen">{{Cite web |year=2007 |title=MBL Aviskatalogen - Velg utgave - Velg fylke |url=http://www.aviskatalogen.no/index.asp?section=utgave&item=velg_fylke |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080113025943/http://www.aviskatalogen.no/index.asp?section=utgave&item=velg_fylke |archive-date=2008-01-13 |access-date=2008-04-11 |publisher=Aviskatalogen |language=no}}</ref>
==Notable people== Notable people that were born or lived in Åndalsnes include: * Kitty Lossius, teacher and novelist<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2019 |title=Kitty Lossius |encyclopedia=Store norske leksikon |publisher=Kunnskapsforlaget |location=Oslo |url=https://snl.no/Kitty_Lossius |access-date=January 4, 2021 |language=no}}</ref> * Kílian Jornet Burgada
== Gallery == <gallery mode="packed"> File:Åndalsnes.jpg|Åndalsnes File:Winter in Åndalsnes.jpg|Winter in Åndalsnes File:Aandalsnes fra kjerringplassen.jpg|View of the port area and mouth of the river </gallery>
==See also== *List of towns and cities in Norway
==References== {{reflist}}
{{use dmy dates|date=March 2025}} {{sister bar|auto=y|d=y|commonscat=y|voy=Møre og Romsdal|wikt=Åndalsnes}} {{Møre og Romsdal}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aandalsnes}} Category:Cities and towns in Norway Category:Populated places in Møre og Romsdal Category:Rauma Municipality Category:Romsdal Category:1996 establishments in Norway Category:Populated places established in 1996 Category:Administrative centres of municipalities of Norway