Sognefjorden - the Sognefjord - is the longest and deepest fjord in Norway and the second-longest in the world after the Scoresby Sound in eastern Greenland. The main fjord runs 205 kilometers inland from the Atlantic at Sognesjøen to its inner head at Skjolden, and reaches 1,308 meters deep at its center - over a thousand meters deeper than the continental shelf it cuts into. It is the spine of western Norwegian travel and the parent fjord of the famous side arms that most international visitors actually see.
The two best-known side arms are the Aurlandsfjord and the Nærøyfjord, both of which branch from the main Sognefjord at Gudvangen. The Nærøyfjord is the narrower and more dramatic of the two - at its tightest point, only 250 meters separate the two cliff walls, which rise more than 1,800 meters above the water. The Nærøyfjord and the Geirangerfjord were jointly designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2005, and remain the two most visited single fjords in the country.
Beyond the famous side arms, the broader Sognefjord landscape is one of the cultural heartlands of Norway. The medieval stave church at Urnes - UNESCO-listed since 1979, dating to approximately 1130, the oldest surviving Norwegian stave church - sits on the Lustrafjord arm of the inner Sognefjord. The Borgund stave church (c. 1180) sits in the Lærdal valley feeding into the inner fjord. The historic Walaker Hotell at Solvorn - in continuous family hospitality use since 1640 - is one of the oldest still-operating hotels in Northern Europe. The architectural Tungestølen mountain cabins by Snøhetta sit on the Veitastrond plateau above the inner fjord.
For travel planning, the Sognefjord is best approached with a route that combines the famous (the Nærøyfjord crossing on the Future of the Fjords electric ferry) with the quieter (a night at Walaker, the Urnes stave church, the inner fjord arms toward Skjolden). The Bergen Railway crosses the high country above the southern fjord at Finse, with the Flåmsbana mountain railway connecting Myrdal down to Flåm at the head of the Aurlandsfjord - together one of the more spectacular rail journeys in Europe. See The narrow fjords.