Get in
By plane
Kjevik Airport is located 12 km (7 miles) north-east of the city.
SAS Braathens runs 8 daily flights to Oslo, 6 to Bergen and 3 to Stavanger, as well as 3 daily flights to Copenhagen (Denmark) and a weekly flight to Alicante (Spain).
Planes from Dutch airline KLM departs twice daily for Amsterdam (Holland).
There are bus connections to the town centre for every arrival, both airport buses and local buses.
By train
Regional trains connect Kristiansand to other cities and towns along the Southern Railway Line (Sørlandsbanen). Up to 8 trains daily depart for Stavanger, while up to 6 daily trains leave for the country's capital, Oslo. The trip to Stavanger takes about 3 hours and the trip to Oslo between 4 1/2 to 5 hours. Trains both westwards towards Stavanger and eastwards to Oslo follow an inland route, meaning that travel to the towns along the coast is quite inconvenient by train. Lots of nice forest views and rural settlements, though.
The train station is situated right next to both the town centre, the ferry terminal and the bus terminal.
By car
Kristiansand sits along the E18 highway from Oslo. The highway changes its name to E39 when it passes Kristiansand on its way to Stavanger. Rv 9 (National route no. 9) starts in Kristiansand and takes you through the natural beauty of the Setesdal Valley to Haukeligrend on the Hardangervidda (Hardanger Plateau).
By bus
The bus-connections to Oslo and the towns along the western shore of the Oslo Fjord is excellent. Nor-Way bussexpress has 9 daily connections to Oslo, Konkurrenten.no 4-7 buses while Lavprisekspressen runs twice daily. You are guaranteed a seat - if the bus is full, the bus company will add an extra bus.
These express busses are usually just as fast as the trains to Oslo. To towns such as Larvik, Tønsberg and Sandefjord you might arrive several hours later if you go by train.
There's also infrequent express bus connections to Stavanger and up along the Setesdal, with connections to cities such as Bergen and Haugesund. Regional buses run frequently along the coast, from Lyngdal and Lista in the west to Arendal in the east, run by several different bus companies.
The bus terminal is located about 100 meters from the main shopping street, right next to the ferry terminal and the train station. There's also a taxi stand here.
By boat
Ferry companies Color Line and Masterferries operate car ferries to Denmark. Color Line sails 4 times each day to Hirtshals, while Masterferries runs 4 times daily to Hanstholm. The trip takes 2 - 2 1/2 hours with the hydrofoil ferries of both companies, while Color Line also have a regular ferry which uses 4 1/2 hours on the crossing. Both Hirtshals and Hanstholm are small ports on the northern part of Denmark, with Hirtshals being the most accessible from the Continent.
Prices soar in the summer, with Color Line the most expensive overall.
The routes to Gothenburg (Sweden) and Newcastle upon Tyne (United Kingdom) close down for good in October 2006.
Get around
Bussen Trafikkselskap AS operates the yellow and white city buses. Eastbound buses depart from the Henrik Wergeland street, while westbound buses depart from the Tollbod street or the bus terminal, but not both. Northbound buses (to Vennesla) leave from the bus terminal.
The main lines going from west to east is called the Metro bus. You can expect a bus every 5 minutes on weekdays. Services elsewhere is quite frequent during daylight hours, but the frequency drops significantly in the evenings and weekends. Night buses operate Fridays and Saturdays.
Currently, the prices are 15 NOK (€1.80, US$2.40, £1.40) for local travel, 25 NOK (€ 3, US$4, £2.20) for suburban routes and 35 NOK (€4.40, US$5.70, £3) for the regional routes. Night buses have their own prices.
The town's center is quite compact, which means that everything is within walking distance. Suburbs is spread over quite a large area. There are dedicated bike lanes along most of the main roads.
Most roads except the highway is just one lane each way - thus rush hour should be avoided. Parking might be difficult in the city centre, try the parking houses. There's a toll booth on all roads leading to town.
See
Do
Each year in July, Kristiansand is the site of the Quart Festival, a multi-day music festival - the largest of its kind in Norway.
Learn
Høgskolen i Agder (Agder University College) has its main campus at Gimlemoen just east of the town centre. The new campus was built at an old military camp, and the new building were finished in 2001. There are programs in nursing, teaching, langauges, psychology, literature and arts, sports and health, mathematics and similar subjects, economics and politics. Just a few of the classes are taught in English.
There's also music education (both classical and pop/rock) at Musikkens hus (House of Music) in the town center.
There's also several small, private higher education schools, among them a Christian journalism school at Gimlekollen.
Buy
Markens gate is the main shopping street in the town center. Most of the street is pedestrianized. Most of the shops are now chain stores, but it is still a busy and nice main shopping street. A few independant stores are still here. It's a central gathering place for most locals, and thus more than a shopping street.
Sørlandssenteret is located about 10 minutes' drive east of town, in a industrial area. It is just a run-of-the-mill shopping center, but can be a godsend for shopping when the weather turns nasty.
Eat
Budget
Mid-range
Splurge
Sjøhuset (Østre strandgate 12 A) is Kristiansand's main sea food restaurant. It is situated on a pier near the Nupen park.
Sleep
Budget
Mid-range
Splurge
(earlier Christianssand) is a city and municipality, and the capital of the county of Vest-Agder, Norway.
The city of Kristiansand was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The rural municipalities of Oddernes, Randesund and Tveit were merged with Kristiansand January 1, 1965.
By population, it is the fifth largest city of Norway , and the largest city in the geographical region of Sørlandet. As of January 1, 2006, the municipality had a population of 76,917. The Kristiansand region has a total population of 137,527.
Kristiansand was founded by King Christian IV, who in 1641 said the famous words "here the town shall stand". It was created as a market town to encourage growth in this area of strategic significance, providing a local economic base for construction of fortifications and population for defense of the area. The centre of Kristiansand is called Kvadraturen due to its square gridline of streets.
The zoological garden, Kristiansand Dyrepark (Kristiansand Zoo and Amusement Park) just east of the city, has a wide selection of animals in, for the most part, natural habitats. This includes animals such as wolves, tigers and the lynx. Due to the allocation of areas the combination of zoo and recreational park turns out surprisingly well.
Each year in July, Kristiansand is the site of the Quart Festival, a multi-day music festival - the largest of its kind in Norway.
Kristiansand is also home to Agder Theatre.
Kristiansand is connected to continental Europe by air and sea. The local airport, Kjevik, is located 12 km (7 miles) east of the city and has routes to European and Norwegian cities. From the town centre, the ferry harbour has routes to Hirtshals (Denmark) and Hanstholm (Denmark). There are also buses and trains that connect Kristiansand to other Norwegian cities.
Kristiansand has major shipbuilding and repair facilities that support Norway's North Sea oil industry. Near Kristiansand there is the static inverter plant of the HVDC Cross-Skagerak.
Kristiansand and Sørlandet usually have a lot of summer sunshine compared to most of Norway. There may be heavy snowfall in winter with south-southeasterly winds (snow record at Kjevik is 170 cm), but the snow rarely stays long at the coast; see climate.
Note: Even though the names are clearly different, Kristiansand is often noted as Kristiansand S (S for South) to distinguish it from Kristiansund, also in Norway, in such cases noted as Kristiansund N. The practice originated before postal codes were introduced, as mail sometimes was sent to the wrong city. Occasional mix-ups with the Swedish city of Kristianstad have also been known to happen.
Notable people
Gallery
Image:WnK4 ubt.jpeg
Image:Kristiansand 01 ubt.jpeg
Image:Przystan ks ubt.jpeg|Harbour
Image:AK2 ubt.JPEG|Typical wooden houses
Image:Twierdza1 ks ubt.jpeg|Christiansholm
Image:Norskdomkirke ubt.jpeg|Cathedral
Image:Kr-iv-ks ubt.jpeg|King Christian IV
Image:Olav-v-ks ubt.jpeg|King Olav V
Image:Twierdza3arm2 ks ubt.jpeg|Christiansholm
Image:Twierdza3arm ks ubt.jpeg|Cannons at Christiansholm
Image:AK3 ubt.jpeg|
Image:2004 07 16 - mina morska - Kristiansand, Norwegia ubt.JPG|naval mine
Image:Vindmollegangen Kristiansand Norway.JPG
External links
