Hirtshals is a town on the north shore of the Jutland Peninsula in northern Denmark. Kristiansand is a medium sized city, and capital of Vest-Agder County, in southern Norway. Hirtshals to Kristiansand ferry services are provided by Color Line AS, a leading Norwegian cruise ferry operator.
Color Line AS is one of the Color Group ASA’s subsidiaries. It has a fleet of six modern ships which provide ferry services between Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Germany. Annually, four million passengers travel with Color Line. Color Line AS’ vessels feature fine restaurants and well stocked duty free shops.
Color Line AS operates daily ferries between Hirtshals and Kristiansand with the crossing taking about three hours. Passengers board the ferry at Color Line’s dedicated terminal on Hirtshals’ harbour front, which is just one kilometre from Hirtshalstown centre. Before the harbour was constructed in 1919 Hirtshals was a small fishing hamlet.
Nowadays Hirtshals is a prosperous town and a destination for ferries bringing eager shoppers to the town centre’s many shops. Hirtshals is noted for the Nordsøen Oceanarium, one of Europe’s biggest aquariums containing myriad species of marine life, and Hirtshals Fyr, the town’s lofty 35 metre lighthouse.
Hirtshals is at the Danish end of the E39 motorway from Aalborg. The Hirtshals to Kristiansand ferry provides the link to the Norwegian part of the E39 motorway. Kristiansand is also linked to Norway’s E18 motorway. The two motorways travel up opposite sides of Norway’s rugged coast.
Passengers on the Hirtshals to Kristiansand ferry disembark at the port close to the city centre. Kristiansand’s harbour offers repair and maintenance facilities for the Norwegian North Sea oil industry. Kristiansand features a museum, a historic old quarter, several parks and a zoo and amusement park. Kristiansand has direct train links to Stavanger and to Norway’s capital city, Oslo.
Tags: Denmark, Germany, Hirtshals, Hirtshals Fyr, Jutland Peninsula, Kristiansand, Norway, Sweden