Moi Rana is a busy industrial and commercial town at the east end of the Nordranafjord, dominated by the extensive steelworks and rolling mill of the Norsk Jernverk corporation. The Norwegian National Library is based in Mo. There are conducted tours of the steelworks, to the northeast of the town, during the holiday season.
The most notable "show cave" in Norway is northwest of Moi Rana, while greatest natural attraction is the Svartisen Glacier located north of Moi Rana.
The Grønli Cave (1,200m/1,300yd long) is the best known of the 120 caves which have been discovered in the Moi Rana area. There are conducted tours of the cave (care required: the path is not good).
Above Moi Rana to the south rises the Mofjell (410m/1,345ft; cabin cableway), from which there are fine views (particularly towards sunset) of the town and the Svartisen glacier.
91km/57mi southwest of Moi Rana on E6, at the outflow of the Vefsnelv into the Vefsnfjord, is the attractive little town of Mosjøen (pop. 10,000), with weaving mills and an aluminum plant. It is surrounded by mountains, green hills and forests. The church in the Dolstad district (1734) is the oldest octagonal church in the country. Nearby is an open-air museum with 10 old houses. From the hill of Haravoll there are fine views of the town and the fjord.
Address: Mosjøen Tourist Office, Bus station, Mosjøen , Norway
E 6 runs northeast from the town of Moi Rana, through beautiful scenery, and in 2.5km/1.5mi crosses the Rana. There is a salmon ladder in the river at Reinforshei.
At Røssvoll (13km/8mi from Moi Rana) is a small round wooden church. Here a road goes off on the left, passes Mo airport and comes in 10km/6mi to the village of Grønli, from which there is a footpath (800m/0.5mi) to the farm of Grønli, near the Grønli Cave.
From Mosjøen, Road 78 leads to Leirosen, from which Road 17 runs south to Sandnessjøen, on the island of Alsten; then ferry to the island of Dønna, which has a 12th century stone church with underground passages and a burial vault. From the Dønnesfjell (127m/417ft) there is one of the finest prospects of the varied landscape of the Norwegian west coast - the bird island of Lovund, the Seven Sisters waterfall and the snow-capped peaks on the mainland. The road to the summit of the hill was built by German troops during the Second World War.
In the town center of Moi Rana is the 19th century church, with an altarpiece (1786) from an earlier church. Near the railroad station is the Municipal Museum (history of the town, local arts and crafts, mining, natural history, geology). 10km/6mi outside the town is the Stenneset open-air museum.
The E 6 road from Moi Rana ends in 32km/20mi at the Svartisvatn, above which rear the great Svartisen snowfield and glacier. A motorboat takes visitors to the other side of the lake, from which it is a 45-minute walk to the foot of the massive Svartisen glacier.
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Mosjoen, Norway
Sandnessjoen and Donna, Moi Rana
