Sandefjord

Sandefjord Municipality Sandefjord kommune
Municipality
Flag Coat of arms
Country	Norway
County	Vestfold
Administrative centre	Sandefjord
Area
• Total	122 km2 (47 sq mi)
Population  (2004)
• Total	40,992
• Density	340/km2 (870/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-{{{idnumber}}}
Website	Official website
Data from Statistics Norway

Sandefjord is a town and municipality in the county of Vestfold, Norway. The town is located in the end of the Sandefjordsfjord, between Tønsberg and Larvik. Two long peninsulas called Østerøya and Vesterøya makes a total of 146 km coast line. This coast line together with beaches, camping and cabin tourists makes this town popular in the summer.

It is well-known for shipping and chemical industry. A museum dedicated to whaling (Hvalfangstmuseet) is situated here. The Gokstad ship was found near the city in 1880, and is now in the Viking Ship Museum of Bygdøy, Oslo. The Gokstad ship copy "Gaia" and restored whale catcher "Southern Actor" currently has Sandefjord as home port.

Sandefjord Airport Torp is located in the municipality, and a ferries connect the town to Strömstad in Sweeden.

Sandefjord has founded it´s various chemical plants on the profits of the recent big shipping industry. Shipping traditions from the viking ships, the later tall sail ships, through steam ships to one of Norway´s biggest whaling fleet. This fleet was what both made income and also delivered the resources to the plants. Later it had a big bulk and tankship fleet.

It was also formerly a famous health resort, with various kind of baths for medicine improvement. Amongst these were salt water sea bath, mud and sulphur baths.

External links

• Sandefjords Blad, local newspaper (in Norwegian)
• Tourist information
• Whaling Museum
• Gaia, the viking ship copy