The long trips from this pier all go somewhere else, and every one of them is quicker from another port on your itinerary. What is genuinely close here is the open coast, and the one piece of history that happened in Måløy itself, a short walk up from the harbour.
Måløy sits on the south-east side of Vågsøy, at the mouth of Nordfjord, with about 3,000 people and one of the busiest fishing harbours in Norway. It took 130,951 cruise passengers across just 49 calls in 2025, which is the highest number of passengers per call of any Norwegian cruise port. Big ships, and not many of them. That matters for where you tie up. The port has three cruise quays, and the port authority assigns them by ship length in three bands: up to 180 metres, 180 to 280 metres, and over 280 metres. Only the town-centre quay takes the smaller ships. If yours is one of the big ones you should expect to be berthed away from the middle of town, so check with reception on the morning rather than assuming a two-minute stroll. The thing to understand about the excursions is simpler. Every long trip sold here goes somewhere else, and every one of them is faster from another port. Briksdal is seven and a half hours from this pier and forty-five minutes from Olden. Geirangerfjord is five and a half. The Loen Skylift is five and a half. What is actually close to Måløy is the open coast, and a piece of the Second World War that happened here. Compare Briksdal from every port that sells it.
If this were my port day
Yes, but not for the reasons the tour desk leads with. Måløy is a working coastal town, not a fjord village, and the difference decides your day. The fjord trips are long because the fjords are far. The coast is right here. And the town itself carries a piece of history that no other Norwegian cruise port can claim, because the Allies picked this island and not another one.
The Port-Day Clock
Set your ship's scheduled arrival and all-aboard time. I hold back a 45-minute safety buffer — then show only what fits with real margin.
Drag the two handles to match your ship's arrival and all-aboard times. As you drag, your time ashore updates — and the cards below show what fits.
Drag the handles · snaps to 15 minutes
The same tool, with a port selector, lives on the Port-Day Clock page.
Not sure when to sail? See the best time of year for a fjords cruise.
Browse by what you can actually do
Filter by how you want to spend the day. As you drag the clock above, these re-sort — fjord cruises first, hikes last.
Most of these are GetYourGuide tours, free to cancel up to 24 hours before, so you can book now and still adjust if your ship's schedule shifts.
The whole Maloy decision in one page. A seven-and-a-half-hour bus to a glacier that is 45 minutes from Olden, against the raid that happened in these streets and is a walk from the harbour. Free to read before you book anything.
The one excursion that is better from Måløy than from anywhere else. Out along the coast to the island of Selja and the ruins of the monastery where the St Sunniva legend starts. From Nordfjordeid the same trip runs four hours. From here it is two and a half.
My caution: The crossing is on the exposed Stad coast, which is rough water on a bad day. Weather call. Fjord Guiding sells it direct at NOK 895, which is within a few kroner of the price here.
The cheapest thing on this pier and the one most people take. An hour by minibus out to the Kannesteinen rock at Oppedal and the painted houses at Vågsvåg. Meets at the Måløy Tours stand on the cruise pier.
My caution: One hour means one hour. It is a photo stop and a drive, not an afternoon. If you want more time at the rock, take the two-hour version instead.
The longer Kannesteinen run, with a lighthouse on the outer coast added. Two hours instead of one, for about a third more. If the weather is clear this is the better of the two, because the coast out there is the reason to be at this port.
My caution: Clear weather only. On a grey day you are paying an extra hour to look at cloud, and the one-hour version does the rock just as well.
An hour out into the Stadhavet in an open boat. This is the most exposed water on the Norwegian coast and it does not pretend otherwise. Short enough to leave the town and the Raid Centre still in reach afterwards.
My caution: Open and exposed. Dress far colder than the harbour suggests. Fjord Guiding sells the same hour direct at NOK 995, which is effectively the same price.
Dollar amounts are approximate.
No experiences match that filter yet.
Getting around from the quay
Sometimes, and it depends on your ship. Nordfjord Havn operates three cruise quays at Måløy and allocates them by vessel length, in bands of up to 180 metres, 180 to 280 metres, and over 280 metres. The port says plainly that only the town-centre quay suits the smaller ships. Two of the three take the largest vessels, and those berths sit further along the harbour front. So a 300-metre ship and a 150-metre ship do not get the same walk, and no guide can tell you in advance which you will get. Ask at reception on the morning. The excursion desk is easier: Fjord Guiding, which describes itself as the supplier of shore excursions at the Port of Måløy, has its meeting point and ticket office 100 metres from the cruise gate, and the Måløy Tours stand is on the pier as well. The town itself is small. Around three thousand people, a harbour front, and streets running up the hillside that are mostly numbered rather than named.
Berth assigned by ship length — check on the morning
100 m from the cruise gate — Fjord Guiding ticket office
In the town centre, above the harbour
More than 20 works, most within a walk of the centre
At Oppedal — a short drive, not walkable
Fjord Guiding publishes the timetable on its own site, so this is not a hostile reading. Briksdal from Måløy is a seven-and-a-half-hour day, at NOK 1195 for an adult. That is the same price as the five-and-a-half-hour Geirangerfjord trip, so the two extra hours of coach cost you nothing and gain you nothing. And the glacier at the end is the one you can reach in forty to forty-five minutes from Olden quay, or ninety minutes from Nordfjordeid. Nordfjord Havn runs the cruise quays at Måløy and at Olden. The same port authority sells a seven-and-a-half-hour coach to a glacier that sits three quarters of an hour from its own other port. The same logic applies to the Loen Skylift, five and a half hours from here at NOK 1495 and the most expensive thing on the list, and to the three-hour trip to Nordfjordeid for the Sagastad Viking ship, which is 700 metres from a pier your ship may well be calling at anyway. Check your itinerary before you book any of them. If Olden, Nordfjordeid or Geiranger appear on it, half the desk is selling you your own week.
Match the plan to your call length
| Option | Time it needs | Worth it? |
|---|---|---|
| The town and the street art | ~1.5 hours | Yes — free, and it is right there |
| Måløy Raid Centre | 2+ hours | Yes — the reason this port is different |
| Kannesteinen, 1 hour | 1 hour | Yes — cheapest, and enough |
| Kannesteinen + lighthouse | 2 hours | Better, but clear weather only |
| RIB on the Stadhavet | 1 hour | Yes — the coast is what is close here |
| Selja Monastery by boat | 2.5 hours | Yes — closer from Måløy than anywhere |
| Briksdal glacier | 7.5 hours | No — 45 min from Olden instead |
| Loen Skylift | 5.5 hours | No — and the priciest on the desk |
If the weather turns
Måløy is on the outer coast, not inside a fjord, and the difference is real. The town looks out on the Stadhavet, one of the most exposed and roughest stretches of water anywhere along Norway. Wind here is not an occasional inconvenience, it is the normal condition, and it arrives with nothing in the way to slow it down. Take a windproof layer even on a bright morning.
That exposure decides two of the bookings on this page. The RIB runs out into open water and you will be colder and wetter than the harbour suggests. The Selja crossing goes round the Stad peninsula, which is the stretch that ships have been wary of for a thousand years, and it is a genuine weather call rather than a formality. The town, the street art and the Raid Centre are all fine in rain, which is worth remembering when the morning looks poor.
Practical essentials
Three cruise quays, allocated by length: up to 180 metres, 180 to 280 metres, and over 280 metres. Only the town-centre quay suits smaller ships, so a large vessel will berth further from the middle of town. Confirm on the morning rather than planning a short walk in advance.
Fjord Guiding, which describes itself as the supplier of shore excursions at the Port of Måløy, has its meeting point and ticket office 100 metres from the cruise gate. The Måløy Tours stand is on the pier too. Both are hard to miss.
This is unusual, and worth knowing. Fjord Guiding publishes NOK 895 for the Selja boat trip and NOK 995 for the RIB. The booking-site prices land within a few kroner of both. At some Norwegian ports the operator is clearly cheaper direct. At Måløy it is a wash, so free cancellation costs you nothing.
Operation Archery, 27 December 1941: the first Allied operation of the war to combine army, navy and air force under one command, with troops from five countries. Churchill called it a letter to Hitler. The Raid Centre opened in 2018, has three floors including a bunker the Germans built, a lift, and audio guides in six languages. Guided tours are mostly in English.
Prices, timetables and seasonal openings change. Everything here was checked in July 2026. Confirm current details with the operator before you commit to a plan.
Cruise-passenger FAQ
No. Ships come alongside. Nordfjord Havn operates three cruise quays at Måløy and assigns them by vessel length, in bands of up to 180 metres, 180 to 280 metres, and over 280 metres. Two of the three handle the largest ships. The port says the town-centre quay is the one suited to smaller vessels, so how far you walk into town depends on which ship you are on.
It depends on your berth. Måløy is a small town of around three thousand people and nothing in it is far, but the three cruise quays are not in the same place and the biggest ships do not use the town-centre one. Ask reception which quay you are on before you plan a walk. The excursion meeting point is fixed at 100 metres from the cruise gate whichever berth you get.
No, for almost everybody. The operator publishes it as a seven-and-a-half-hour day at NOK 1195 for an adult, which is the same price as its five-and-a-half-hour Geirangerfjord trip. The same glacier is a forty to forty-five minute drive from Olden quay and ninety minutes from Nordfjordeid. If any of those ports are on your itinerary, do it from there.
The boat trip to Selja Monastery, if you have the hours. It runs about two and a half hours from Måløy, against four hours for the same island from Nordfjordeid, so this is the port that reaches it properly. For a shorter call the Kannesteinen minibus is an hour and the cheapest thing on the pier, and the RIB is an hour on the open coast.
Operation Archery, on 27 December 1941. British commandos with troops from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway landed on Vågsøy in the first Allied operation of the war to combine army, navy and air force under a single command. More than five hundred bombs fell in the opening ten minutes and the fighting lasted about six hours. Martin Linge, the Norwegian officer the Linge Company is named after, was killed here. Churchill called the raid a letter to Hitler.
Yes, and give it more time than you think. It opened in 2018, won the local council architecture prize in 2020, and runs over three floors including a bunker the Germans built. Original film, photographs, uniforms, Jack Churchill’s bagpipes and Martin Linge’s pistol are on display. Audio guides are available in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Norwegian, though guided tours are mostly in English. It is wheelchair accessible and there is a lift.
Walk. There are more than twenty street artworks around the town, most of them within walking distance of the centre. The town square holds a monument to local people killed in the war, and there is a separate memorial to Martin Linge. Sør-Vågsøy Church is in town. One small oddity you will notice: most Måløy streets, especially the ones climbing the hillside, are numbered rather than named.
Not really, which is unusual. Fjord Guiding publishes NOK 895 for the Selja Monastery boat trip and NOK 995 for the RIB safari on its own site, and the booking-platform prices sit within a few kroner of both. It also publishes child prices, which most operators do not. At Måløy the difference is small enough that free cancellation is worth having.
I've walked these routes myself and base my timings on operator schedules and official sources, re-checked every season. I'm independent — not a cruise line, port authority, or tour operator. Booking links may be affiliate links; they never change which option I recommend or the order I rank them in. Return-to-ship safety always comes first.
