Discover Grimstad

In Grimstad, you can include literary history, museums, coastal trails and cycling in your travel plans. If you’re looking for a hotel, it helps to first decide what you want to focus on during your stay: culture, hiking or cycling offer different starting points.

Literature and museums in Grimstad

The Hamsun Museum in Grimstad presents Knut Hamsun’s life and work during his time at the Nørholm estate from 1918 to 1952. The exhibition includes the courtroom rooms on the second floor of Storgaten 44. Court hearings were held there, and several pieces of furniture from that period are also on display. The “The Town of Poets” walking tour follows in the footsteps of Henrik Ibsen and Knut Hamsun and shares stories from the time when Grimstad was their home.

The Ibsen House in Grimstad opened in 1916 and was the first Ibsen museum of its kind. The Ibsen Museum can only be visited with a guide. For 2026, daily guided tours are scheduled for 11 am, 12 pm, 1 pm, 2 pm and 3 pm; each tour can accommodate up to 15 people. Check the times before your visit, as seasonal schedules may vary.

Landscape and culture in the wider Grimstad destination

Raet National Park begins at Hasseltangen in Grimstad Municipality and extends from there to Lyngør in Tvedestrand Municipality. The national park’s habitats include deciduous forests, heathland, wetlands, beach meadows and coastal marshes, as well as marine habitats such as soft-bottom areas, seagrass meadows and kelp forests. The park’s visitor centre is located in the Norsk Hagebruksmuseum in Dømmesmoen. The museum features exhibitions about horticulture and the ecological interplay between nature, bees and people.

The cultural landscape of Dømmesmoen is also among the attractions in the wider Grimstad area: it includes 43 burial mounds dating from 600 to 200 BC. Ibsen’s herb garden in Dømmesmoen contains plants that were used for medicinal purposes in the mid-19th century. Fjære Church is one of Norway’s best-preserved medieval stone churches. At the Bruddet i Fjæreheia cultural arena, nature, stone, stage and audience come together. At Fjæreheia Amfi, theatre performances and concerts take place on a stage set in a granite quarry; the programme may vary.

Coastal trails and routes for hiking and cycling

The Kyststien coastal trail runs through Grimstad Municipality from the border with Arendal to the border with Lillesand and is mostly marked. In the Auesøya Landscape Protection Area, at the southern end of Kaldvellfjord and on the border with Lillesand, a marked hiking trail runs for about 2.4 kilometres through rugged and varied terrain. Binabben is a hiking destination close to the town centre, with sweeping views over Grimstad and the archipelago.

The wider Grimstad area offers a variety of landscapes: Ytre Maløya has a marked hiking trail and small sandy beaches. Østerskogen offers forest paths, swimming spots and fishing opportunities, as well as untouched woodland. At Hasseltangen, paved paths lead to a landing stage on Sømskilen and to a viewpoint overlooking the sea. The destinations described differ in terrain, trail markings and landscape, among other things.

For a cycling trip in Grimstad, consider the waterfront promenade. The “52 sykkelturer” project offers 52 route suggestions on maps with QR codes linking to maps and descriptions; the routes vary in difficulty, and some start in Grimstad Municipality. National Cycle Route 1 runs through Grimstad, mostly on cycle paths. Another route, Vestlandske hovedvei, starts in Vik in the eastern part of Grimstad Municipality and continues to Kaldvell in Lillesand Municipality.

Discover more destinations: Lunden, Homborsund, Fevik.

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