Molde

The walk up to Varden for 222 peaks, the rose town below it, and the open-air museum.

Molde is a thin town on a south-facing shore, sheltered enough that roses grow along the streets and cold enough that the sight across the water is eighty kilometres of snow. That view — the Molde Panorama, conventionally counted as 222 peaks — is the town's one great possession, and everything here is arranged around getting a better angle on it. Like Bodø, Molde was burned out in 1940 and rebuilt plainly; unlike Bodø, it kept its trees, and the difference is the whole character of the place.

Going ashore

Ships come alongside on the town front, with the promenade, the cathedral and the main street within five minutes. The Varden path leaves from the top of the town and is walkable from the gangway — no transport needed, which is unusual for a 400-metre viewpoint. The Romsdal Museum is fifteen flat minutes west along the shore. Two things this guide checked and would rather you heard here than at the top of a hill: the café at Varden is not taking drop-in visitors at all in 2026, and the museum on Hjertøya opens only at weekends for nine weeks of the summer.

The walks

1. 01

   Roses, the cathedral and the museum

   4 km · 2 hours · 50 m up

   Torget and the rose beds, the 1957 cathedral with its free-standing tower, the rose garden on the town hall roof, west through Reknes park to the open-air museum of Romsdal farmhouses, and back along the shore. Ten stops; one ticket. Choose this under three hours ashore, or if Varden is in cloud.

2. 02

   Varden — the 222 peaks

   7 km · 4 hours · 400 m up

   Through the town and up: villa streets, then forest path, then the open top at 407 m with the fjord below and the whole Romsdal range across it. Taxi or bus down, or walk. Six stops. Needs a clear top. The default for a five-hour call on a clear day. The reason the ship is here.

3. 03

   The shore east to Retiro

   5.5 km · 3 hours · 20 m up

   Storgata east, the stadium, the shore path along Fannestranda past the old merchant villas, the Moldegård estate and the Retiro garden — a rich man's park of 1870 with the trees he collected. Six stops, level, and the bus back. For a second visit, a wet day, or with A on a long call.

What's inside

Look inside

Pages 1–6 are in the free sample. 38 pages in the full guide.

What the guide covers

• Molde Panorama
• Varden
• Vardestua
• Moldelia
• Torget
• Rosepiken
• Molde domkirke
• Rådhuset
• Hotel Alexandra
• Reknes park
• Romsdalsmuseet
• Krona
• Aker stadion
• Fannestranda
• Moldegård
• Retiro
• Hjertøya
• Fiskerimuseet

3 routes · 30 numbered stops · 38 pages

When to go

Molde's sheltered shore is why the roses grow, and the same shelter is why the panorama is so often behind cloud: the mountains that make the view also make the weather. The Varden path is clear of snow from mid-May to the last ships in early October. Romsdalsmuseet runs Tuesday to Sunday most of the year and daily from 22 June to 31 August; the Hjertøya fishery museum runs weekends only from 14 June to 16 August, plus daily during jazz week, 13 to 19 July. That festival week fills every bed and every table in the town and is worth arriving into for exactly that reason.