Vigra Airport (AES), Hurtigruten, Rail-Bus Links, and Subsea Tunnels

Despite sitting on an outer archipelago at the mouth of Storfjorden, Ålesund is straightforward to reach year-round by air, sea, and road. As the largest public transport hub in Møre og Romsdal county, handling roughly two million bus and boat boardings annually, the town connects without ferries to its island airport through deep undersea tunnels, welcomes northbound and southbound Norwegian coastal express liners twice every day, and links directly with Norway's mainline railway network via coordinated express coaches along Romsdalsfjorden.

By Air: Ålesund Airport, Vigra (AES) and the Subsea Tunnels

Ålesund Airport, Vigra (IATA: AES) sits on the low island of Vigra in Giske Municipality roughly 18 kilometres north of the town centre. Officially opened on 7 June 1958 to replace the earlier Sørneset seaplane harbour on Aspøya, the airport received a 6,400-square-metre terminal in 1986 (expanded between 2007 and 2010) and a 2,314-metre runway extended in 1995, making it Norway's tenth-busiest airport with over one million passengers a year. SAS, Norwegian Air Shuttle, and Widerøe operate multiple daily non-stop flights from Oslo Gardermoen, Bergen Flesland, and Trondheim Værnes, while KLM Cityhopper flies daily from Amsterdam Schiphol (a route launched in April 2013) and Wizz Air and seasonal carriers connect Gdańsk, Copenhagen, Alicante, and Gran Canaria.

Since the Vigra Fixed Link (Vigrasambandet) opened in 1987 and became toll-free on 25 October 2009, travellers no longer need a car ferry to reach the town. FRAM airport buses (flybuss) timed to every scheduled flight arrival, along with local taxis and rental cars, drive straight from the terminal across Gjøsund Bridge to Valderøya and pass through the 4,222-metre Valderøy Tunnel (descending 137 metres below sea level) and the 3,520-metre Ellingsøy Tunnel (140 metres below sea level) to reach Skateflua, Korsegata, and the central bus station on Nørvøya in 20 to 25 minutes.

By Sea: Hurtigruten, Havila Kystruten, and Skateflua Fast Boats

Every day of the year, vessels of Hurtigruten and Havila Kystruten sailing the historic Bergen to Kirkenes coastal express route (established in 1893) berth at Skansekaia on the northern waterfront of Nørvøya, just five minutes on foot from Kongens gate and Hellebrua. In 2022, Skansekaia was equipped with high-capacity shore-power connections so ships can shut down their auxiliary engines while docked in port.

Northbound ships arriving from Bergen and Florø in the morning spend the entire day in Sunnmøre: during summer they sail inland from Ålesund into UNESCO-listed Geirangerfjorden before returning to Skansekaia in the evening, while in autumn they detour south into the alpine Hjørundfjorden. Southbound ships call at Skansekaia after sailing from Tromsø, Trondheim, and Kristiansund. Across the northern harbour basin at Skateflua on Aspøya, FRAM high-speed passenger catamarans (hurtigbåt) connect central Ålesund with Hareid (for buses to Ulsteinvik, Fosnavåg, and Runde), Langevåg on Sula, Valderøya, and the northern islands of Nordøyane.

By Rail-Bus via Åndalsnes on the Rauma Line

Because steep fjords and island sounds prevented mainline railway construction out to the Sunnmøre coast, Ålesund has no train station of its own. Instead, the nearest railhead is Åndalsnes at the mouth of the Rauma river, 120 kilometres east along European route E136. Regional trains operated by SJ Norge on the scenic Rauma Line (Raumabanen) branch off the Oslo to Trondheim Dovre Line at Dombås and descend past the Verma waterfalls and the vertical rock face of Trollveggen to Åndalsnes station, where coordinated FRAM rail-link coaches (togbuss) wait directly outside the platform for the two-hour highway ride along Romsdalsfjorden and over the Ørskogfjellet pass into Ålesund rutebilstasjon.

By Road Along E136 and E39 and Getting Around on Foot

Drivers approaching from eastern Norway follow the E6 to Dombås and take the year-round E136 highway through Åndalsnes and Sjøholt straight onto Nørvøya, or detour in summer (mid-May to October) over the 11 hairpin bends of Trollstigen on County Road 63. Along the western coast, European route E39 links Bergen and Nordfjord with Ålesund via the frequent Solevågen to Festøya car ferry across Storfjorden, and continues north toward Molde and Kristiansund via the Magerholm to Ørsneset ferry.

Local Buses, Island Bridges, and Walking Across Central Ålesund

Once in central Ålesund, Aspøya and western Nørvøya are compact enough to explore entirely on foot, backed by 18 FRAM local bus lines (including a night line) and 9 regional express bus lines that pass through the central bus station and Korsegata. Local bus routes carry visitors west across Steinvågsbrua (opened on 30 August 1953) to Skarbøvika and Atlanterhavsparken on Hessa, east along Borgundvegen to Sunnmøre Museum at Borgundgavlen and the Moa transport hub, and north through the undersea Ellingsøy and Valderøy tunnels to Valderøya, Giske, and Godøya.

• Ålesund Airport, Vigra (AES): Located 18 kilometres north on Vigra island; linked to central Nørvøya in 20 to 25 minutes by FRAM airport coaches through the Valderøy (4,222 m) and Ellingsøy (3,520 m) subsea tunnels.
• Hurtigruten and Havila Kystruten (Skansekaia): Daily northbound and southbound coastal express ships on the 1893 Bergen to Kirkenes route docking beside the town centre on Nørvøya, equipped with shore power in 2022.
• Rauma Line Rail-Link (Åndalsnes): SJ Norge trains from Oslo and Trondheim via Dombås connect at Åndalsnes with timed FRAM coaches for the 120-kilometre ride along E136 into Ålesund bus station.
• Skateflua Passenger Catamarans and FRAM Buses: Fast ferries from Aspøya to Hareid, Langevåg, Valderøya, and Nordøyane, plus 18 local and 9 express bus routes across Sunnmøre.
• European Routes E39 and E136: Coastal highway E39 via the Solevågen to Festøya and Magerholm to Ørsneset car ferries across Storfjorden (serving warm 1971 MRF sveler), intersecting mountain highway E136 at Spjelkavik.

Because Skansekaia, Ålesund rutebilstasjon, and the Skateflua fast-boat pier all sit within a few hundred metres of Hellebrua, switching between airport buses, regional coaches from Åndalsnes, and island catamarans requires almost no cross-town transfer time. Travellers planning day trips without a rental car can purchase single or multi-zone tickets through the county FRAM transport system, which covers local city buses across Hessa, Aspøya, Nørvøya, and Borgundgavlen as well as regional buses and passenger boats to Hareid, Runde, Øye, and Geiranger. Motorists renting a vehicle at Vigra Airport or in the town centre should note that the subsea tunnels of the Vigra Fixed Link to Valderøya, Ellingsøya, Giske, and Godøya have been completely toll-free since October 2009.