Experience, play and learn

Clip: Visitor Center Wild Salmon Lærdal and Rick Rosenthal, Wild Logic

Two people looking at an exhibit about large salmon in a museum exhibit with blue walls and information posters.

Experience, explore, play and learn more about wild salmon

Lærdal is home to one of four authorized wild salmon visitor centers in Norway. Here you can experience, explore, play and learn more about wild salmon.

We are open every day from May 1st to September 30th.

You can combine your visit with an art experience at Sogn Art Center and enjoy good local food at Laksen Bakery and Café. Both are located in the same building as us. The center is also a good starting point for a walk along the river or the old protected wooden houses on Lærdalsøyri.

See opening hours and prices

Follow the salmon through its life

The exhibition is self-guided and without a physical guide. Here you walk on your own through the salmon's life cycle - from growing up in the river, via the migration to the open ocean, back through the fjord and up the feeder river until it stops at the waterfall. Along the way you can read, listen, print and test your knowledge with interactive elements and quizzes. The goal is to create reflection and show what wild salmon mean to us.

A lobster on display in a glass case at a museum.

About the salmon

A person looks at display tables in a museum with large images of mountains and landscapes on the walls

Salmon in the wild

Exhibition of older fishing gear and antique objects, two people looking at the exhibition in a museum.

The salmon and the man

Exhibition with information panels about wild salmon under attack in a museum or exhibition space.

Threats and the future

A group of people, including young girls and adults, closely gathered around a water filling of a water trap or unknown equipment, outside in a wooded area with trees and water in the background.

For school classes and kindergartens

We offer schools and kindergartens free visits and guided tours or outdoor nature tours.

Shared building, shared experiences

The building also houses the Laksen bakery and café and the Sogn Art Center. You can go up to the roof, look down at the salmon in the center, enjoy the view of the fjord and river, get an art experience and good local food all in the same place.

More about the building Øyraplassen 14

Lærdalselvi - The King's River

His Majesty King Harald is an experienced angler who started fishing for salmon and sea trout in the Lærdalselvi River. The first time in 1951, later as a regular guest for over 70 years. In 1984, a fishing spot in the river was named "Kronprins Haralds Mur". This is a sign of the King's connection to Lærdal and the river.

More about the King and the Lærdalselvi.

Fishing in a river with several rocks, one of the fish has an open jaw.

The spawning festival in October

The spawning festival combines nature experiences, professional content and culture, right in the heart of the salmon kingdom. The festival runs over three days with activities for all ages, from fly fishing workshops and spawning walks, book baths, professional programs, concerts and dances.