Malvik, Trøndelag County, Central Norway Region, Norway

🇳🇴 Malvik is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Trondheim Region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hommelvik. Other villages in Malvik include Muruvika, Smiskaret, Sneisen, Vikhammer, and Hundhammeren.

While "Malvik" refers to the municipality as a whole, it also refers to the urban area of Malvik. The villages of Hundhammeren, Vikhammer, Saksvik (all in Malvik), and Væretrøa (in Trondheim) together form an urban area that is also called Malvik. The 2.63-square-kilometre (650-acre) urban area has a population density of 2,642 inhabitants per square kilometre (6,840/sq mi). This area is the most populous urban area in the municipality.

The 168-square-kilometre (65 sq mi) municipality is the 313th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Malvik is the 85th most populous municipality in Norway. The municipality's population density is 89.1 inhabitants per square kilometre (231/sq mi) and its population has increased by 12.8% over the previous 10-year period.

General information The municipality of Malvik was established in 1891 when it was separated from the large municipality of Strinda. On 1 January 1914, a small area of the neighboring municipality of Lånke was transferred to Malvik. On 1 July 1953, a small area of Malvik was transferred to the neighboring municipality of Strinda. On 1 January 2018, the municipality switched from the old Sør-Trøndelag county to the new Trøndelag county.

Name The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Malvik farm (Old Norse: Manvík) since the first Malvik Church was built there. The first element is mǫn (stem form man-) which means "mane", referring to a mountain ridge behind the farm. (Mana which means "the mane" is a common name for many mountains in Norway, where the form of the mountain is compared with the mane of a horse.) The last element is vík which means "inlet".

Churches The Church of Norway has two parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Malvik. It is part of the Stjørdal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Nidaros.

Geography Malvik is just to the east of the city of Trondheim, one of Norway's largest cities. Many people in Malvik have their place of employment in Trondheim, though there is some local industry in Malvik itself.

The northern part of Malvik lies along the Trondheimsfjord, and it is along this coastal section that the vast majority of the population lives, and where schools, and places of employment are located. The municipal centre is Hommelvik, situated about 25 km (16 mi) east of Trondheim, and it has long been the main population area in Malvik. In the last few decades the area around Vikhammer and Hundhammeren (about 10 km or 6.2 miles to the west) has grown larger than Hommelvik. The area has many new housing areas, businesses, and shopping. Collectively, the new area is referred to as the Malvik urban area.

The southern part of the municipality consists mostly of farming and forest areas, with many attractive areas for hiking and cross-country skiing. The Homla river runs north to the Trondheimsfjord. The lake Jonsvatnet lies on the western border of the municipality.

In the south-eastern part of Malvik there is the Jøsås exclaves. Three farmsteads, Øvre Jøsås, Store Jøsås, and Lille Jøsås belonging to Malvik municipality are exclaved inside Stjørdal municipality in two different exclaves. Øvre Jøsås and Store Jøsås are located in one exclave (the western one) while Lille Jøsås is making another exclave (the eastern one). The exclaves only have road access to Malvik municipality even though they are inside Stjørdal's borders. The distance between the two exclaves is very small, only about 8 metres (26 ft) at the nearest.

Government All municipalities in Norway, including Malvik, are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elect a mayor. The municipality falls under the Trøndelag District Court and the Frostating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Malvik is made up of 31 representatives that are elected to four year terms.

Transport To the east of Malvik is the municipality of Stjørdal, which includes Trondheim Airport, Værnes. The airport has frequent connections to many locations in Norway, and a growing range of direct air links abroad (currently including London, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Prague). The proximity of this airport means that Malvik, though a small community in a relatively isolated location, has rather good transport connections very close at hand. The European route E6 highway runs through Malvik and it has several tunnels, the longest of which is the Hell Tunnel.

The Nordland Line runs from Trondheim to Bodø (further north in Norway) and the Meråker Line runs east to Sweden. The railroad winds its way along the coast of the Trondheimsfjord in Malvik, and is a very scenic and pleasant journey. Malvik has two railway stations: Vikhammer Station and Hommelvik Station. The Gevingåsen Tunnel is being built to shorten the rail trip from Trondheim to Stjørdal. A side effect of this is that the scenic attractiveness of the trip will be somewhat reduced, as part of the section along the fjord will no longer form part of the trip. The railway junction where the line splits for Bodø or Sweden is just to the east of Malvik, at a small settlement called Hell. The station is well known to railway enthusiasts from its odd name (for English language speakers). It is indeed possible, in Malvik, to purchase "a single ticket to Hell" or a return "to Hell and back".