Seven Sisters (Geirangerfjord)

Interesting facts

Until tourism reached Geiranger in the 19th century, the falls were known only as Knivsflåfossen or Knivsflåelvane; the romantic name Seven Sisters came later.

The name is said to come from the way the separate streams, seen from a distance, resemble the long loose hair of seven women.

In spring, the river channels on the plateau above are cleared by hand so that the water can split freely into its separate streams.

When the flow drops in late summer, the water gathers into fewer channels and sometimes only four of the seven sisters can be seen.

The falls are fed by streams draining two high valleys, Ystedalen and Sanddalen, and run strongest in June when snow melts in the mountains.

The farm of Knivsflå above the falls was actually two farms sharing one ledge, inhabited since at least the 1600s.

Knivsflå was abandoned in 1898 because of the constant danger of falling rocks from the mountainside above.

Knivsflå takes its name from a sharp ridge called Kniven, the Knife, combined with an old word for a field on a mountainside.

Measured by total drop, the Seven Sisters rank only about 39th among Norway's tallest waterfalls, despite being among its most famous.

Why it is worth it

Halfway along the Geirangerfjord, on its northern wall, a group of separate streams slides side by side down a cliff of bare rock into the water: the Seven Sisters, known locally as Knivsflåfossen. The streams are fed by the Knivsflå rivers on the plateau above, and together they descend some 410 metres, the tallest of them with a free fall of about 250 metres. The average flow is modest, around two cubic metres a second, so the falls read less as a torrent than as a set of white ribbons laid against the dark rock.

Directly across the water stands a single fall, Friaren — the Suitor, also called Skageflåfossen — and local tradition joins the two in a story. The suitor, the tale goes, courted the sisters one by one and was turned down by all of them; in one version he still flirts with them across the fjord, in another, spurned for good, he took to drink, which is why his waterfall is said to have the shape of a bottle.

The waterfalls are part of the Geirangerfjord landscape inscribed by UNESCO among the West Norwegian Fjords, and much of their charm lies in the human traces around them. High above the Seven Sisters clings the old farm of Knivsflå, and opposite, on a ledge above the Suitor, the farm of Skageflå. Both are historic mountain farms perched on ledges of the fjord wall, long since abandoned, and looking up at them from the boat gives a sense of scale that the waterfalls alone do not.

Getting there

The Seven Sisters lie about 6.5 km west of Geiranger village. The nearest town listed by distance is Molde, about 70 km away as the crow flies, with Molde Airport, Årø (MOL) about 72 km away; by road, most visitors come through Ålesund, whose airport at Vigra lies some 120 km from the fjord. The waterfalls can only be properly seen from the water: the ferry between Geiranger and Hellesylt passes right beside them and covers the length of the fjord in about an hour, and sightseeing boats run round trips from Geiranger in summer. Skageflå farm, with its view straight across to the Sisters, is reached on foot from a boat landing below.

Seven Sisters (Geirangerfjord)

Interesting facts

Why it is worth it

Getting there

Plan your visit

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