Vest-Agder

Long coastline

As the crow flows the distance between east and west in Vest- Agder is not very long. However, if you follow the coastline from Åna Sira, next to Rogaland county, to Kvåsfjorden, which marks the border to Aust-Agder, the distance is 709 kilometers. The distance is almost as long as a trip along the highway from Kristiansand to Trondheim. The coast characterizes Vest- Agder. A total of 31 small and large fjords intersect the coastline. Nearly 90 percent of the populations in this county live in the coastal municipalities. That is where we find the towns and the outports near the open sea, and it is easy to see that they are based upon shipping and trade. Many of the traditional houses in these areas have in recent years been preserved by the authorities. That also goes for some other characteristic structures along the coast- the lighthouse. As the first county in this country Vest- Agder in 1992 worked out a plan to preserve the lighthouses and a total of eight were protected by law.