This region boasts rocky shorelines, exciting islands, narrow straits and sheltered lagoons – a holiday paradise just a short distance from home.
Experience idyllic days in a small Southern Norwegian town with whitewashed houses and narrow streets. The region provides excellent hiking opportunities and has many trails to explore. There are also several lookout points where you can admire the scenery, including Vardeheia and Fløresteinen. Enjoy lazy days by or on the sea, then treat yourself to an ice cream on the pier.
Lillesand is a town in Aust-Agder with a population of around 10,000, but this increases substantially in summer. In the surrounding Hisåsen region you can visit soapstone quarries that date back to the Viking Period, or visit the famous Kassenkanalen, a 650-feet canal connecting two arms of a fjord.
A visit to Lillesand by- og sjøfartsmuseum (Lillesand Town and Maritime Museum) will teach you more about the town and the fishing industry in the region, or head to Saltholmen fyr (Saltholmen Lighthouse) –you can even stay overnight to properly experience life in a lighthouse. Make sure to visit the Meta Hansen Sculpture Park, where you can see several works by the famous Norwegian sculptor Bård Breivik.
The region offers plenty of hiking opportunities and the tourist association, Lillesand og Omegn Turistforening, has placed books at key walk points so you can log your visit and enter a prize draw. If you want to experience more of the archipelago, take a trip on one of the liners that run the Blindleia route from Lillesand to Kristiansand.
Lillesand is only 20 miles from Kristiansand and the journey between the two towns takes around half an hour by car. There is no train station in Lillesand, but a regular bus service runs from nearby towns. The closest airport is Oslo Torp Airport, which has flights from the UK – it takes less than two and a half hours to drive to Lillesand from here.
You do not always have to travel far to experience an idyllic holiday. Enjoy exciting days in the archipelago and an authentic Norwegian holiday in Lillesand.
