Magma Geopark

The Magma Geopark, a UNESCO Global Geopark since 2010, covers about two thousand square kilometres of southwestern Norway underlain by anorthosite, a coarse pale rock that formed deep in the crust nearly a billion years ago and is unusual on Earth while making up much of the light-coloured highlands of the Moon. Where the ice stripped the soil away the result is a rounded grey moonscape of bare domes, hollows and scattered boulders, softened by heather and small lakes. Marked sites across the area explain the geology, and the park runs guided walks, climbing and via ferrata routes. Sokndal's Blafjell mine, the coastal village of Sogndalstrand and the Trollpikken rock formation are among the visitor points.

What you actually see

• The anorthosite domes - bare pale rock scoured smooth by ice.
• The geosites - marked and interpreted points across the region.
• Sogndalstrand - a preserved timber village on the coast.
• The activity routes - via ferrata, climbing and guided geology walks.

When to go

May to September for walking, when the heather and lakes soften the rock; autumn brings strong colour on the moorland. The landscape is bleak and often wet in winter, though snow cover is usually thin at this latitude near the coast.

Honest expectations

The geopark is a large dispersed area rather than a single site, so a car and a plan are necessary, and there is no single entrance or ticket. The interest is geological and can look like empty grey rock to visitors without context. Weather here is wet and windy for much of the year.

Nearby

Egersund town and the Jaeren beaches lie north; Flekkefjord and the southern coast are east.