Lærdal is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on the south side of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Lærdalsøyri. The old Filefjell Kongevegen road passes through Lærdal on its way to Valdres and later to Oslo.

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Lærdal Municipality Lærdal kommune
Municipality
Leirdal herred  (historic name)
View of Lærdalsøyri
Flag Coat of arms
Vestland within Norway
Lærdal within Vestland
Coordinates: 61°03′04″N 07°35′52″E
Country	Norway
County	Vestland
District	Sogn
Established	1 Jan 1838
• Created as	Formannskapsdistrikt
Administrative centre	Lærdalsøyri
Government
• Mayor (2019)	Audun Mo (Ap)
Area
• Total	1,342.52 km2 (518.35 sq mi)
• Land	1,275.43 km2 (492.45 sq mi)
• Water	67.09 km2 (25.90 sq mi)  5%
• Rank	#71 in Norway
Population  (2023)
• Total	2,129
• Rank	#273 in Norway
• Density	1.7/km2 (4/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	−2.2%
Demonym	Lærdøl[1]
Official language [2]
• Norwegian form	Nynorsk
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-4642[3]
Website	Official website
Data from Statistics Norway

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The 1,343-square-kilometre (519 sq mi) municipality is the 71st largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway (with over half of this area consisting of mountains). Lærdal is the 273rd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,129. The municipality's population density is 1.7 inhabitants per square kilometre (4.4/sq mi) and its population has decreased by 2.2% over the previous 10-year period.^[4][5]

The Lærdal river valley is long, running from Hemsedal (Høgeloft mountain) and the Filefjell mountains in the east to the Sognefjorden in the west. About half of the municipal residents live in the main village of Lærdalsøyri; the rest in the small villages in the surrounding valleys such as Borgund, Ljøsne, Tønjum, Erdal, Vindedalen, Frønningen, and Strendene. The Old Lærdalsøyri village has 161 protected buildings. Some of the houses there date back to the mid-18th century. On the night of 18–19 January 2014, a major fire destroyed at least 30 buildings.^[6]

Lærdal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In the 19th century, the name was sometimes spelled Leerdahl or Leirdal. The municipality of 1838 was created to be identical to the Lærdal parish (prestegjeld) that included the sub-parishes (sokn) of Borgund, Tønjum, Hauge, and Aardal. In 1863, the northeastern sub-parish of Aardal (population: 1,791) was separated from Lærdal to form a separate municipality. In 1864, the eastern sub-parish of Borgund (population: 963) was separated from Lærdal to form its own municipality. This left Lærdal with 2,777 residents.^[7][8]

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Lærdal (population: 1,755) was merged with the municipality of Borgund (population: 492) and the Muggeteigen, Luggenes, and Bergmål farms (population: 11) along the Sognefjorden from the municipality of Årdal. After the merger, Lærdal had a total of 2,258. On 1 January 1992, the Frønningen area (population: 32) of Leikanger Municipality was transferred to Lærdal municipality.^[7][8]

On 1 January 2020, the municipality became part of the newly created Vestland county after Sogn og Fjordane and Hordaland counties were merged.

Lærdal Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.^[13] The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Sogn og Fjordane District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.

Lærdal is located southeast of the Sognefjorden and east of the Aurlandsfjorden. The municipality is centered on the Lærdalselvi River with the Filefjell and Hemsedalsfjell mountain ranges on its east. Lærdal is bordered in Vestland county by the municipality of Aurland to the southwest, Sogndal to the northwest, and Årdal to the north. It is also bordered on the east by Vang (Innlandet county) and Hemsedal (Buskerud county), and in the south by Ål and Hol (both in Buskerud county).

The lakes Eldrevatnet, Juklevatnet, and Øljusjøen are located along the southeastern border, south of the mountain Høgeloft.

Lærdal has long traditions in farming, with the lower region of the valley being great for vegetable crops. Because of its dry climate it was one of the first places in Norway to begin the use of artificial irrigation. Despite having an inland climate, the water in the fjord keeps the winters from getting too cold.

The local Western Norway Regional Health Authority hospital provides medical care for Lærdal itself and seven of the surrounding municipalities. The hospital, together with Opplysningen 1881 (directory assistance company), Østfold Energiproduksjon A/S and Norsk Hydro Aluminium Production Facilities in Årdal, are the major employers in Lærdal. The local government and health authority is trying to close this hospital due to cost cutting, which may have negative effects on the area.

• Peder Hjermann (1754 in Lærdal – 1834), a farmer and representative at the Norwegian Constitutional Assembly
• Anders Olson Lysne (1764 – executed 1803), a farmer who led the Lærdal farmers' rebellion from 1800 to 1802
• Jan Henrik Nitter Hansen (1801–1879), a businessman and politician who was mayor of Lærdal in the 1850s
• Per Lysne (1880 in Lærdal – 1947), a Norwegian-American artist who brought Rosemaling folk art to the USA
• Eivind Blehr (1881 in Lærdal – 1957), a politician who was a government minister in Quisling's government during WWII
• Knut Rumohr (1916 in Lærdal – 2002), a Norwegian painter and printmaker
• Knut O. Aarethun (born 1942 in Lærdalsøyri), a politician who was mayor of Lærdal from 2003 to 2007
• Ragnhild Sælthun Fjørtoft (born 1947 in Lærdal), a Norwegian former TV presenter
• Øyvind Hegg-Lunde (born 1982 in Lærdal), a musician (playing drums and percussion) who was raised in Borgund

• Lærdalsøyri
• Lærdalsøyri
• Old mountain pass from Aurland to Lærdal (above the Lærdalstunnelen)
• Old mountain pass from Aurland to Lærdal (above the Lærdalstunnelen)
• Lærdal
• Lærdal tunnel
• Lærdal tunnel cave
• Store Jukleeggi – Mountain in Lærdal