Sunndal, Møre og Romsdal County, Western Norway Region, Norway

🇳🇴 Sunndal is a municipality in the Nordmøre region located in the north-east part of Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sunndalsøra. Other villages include Gjøra, Grøa, Hoelsand, Jordalsgrenda, Romfo, Ålvund, Ålvundeidet, and Øksendalsøra. With an area of 1,713 square km (661 sq mi), it is the largest municipality in Møre og Romsdal county. The important occupations in Sunndal include industry (with Hydro Aluminium Sunndal as the biggest employer), public services, retail, and farming.

The 1,713-square-kilometre (661 sq mi) municipality is the 47th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway and it is the largest in Møre og Romsdal county. Sunndal is the 143rd most populous municipality in Norway. The municipality's population density is 4.2 inhabitants per square kilometre (11/sq mi) and its population has decreased by 3.7% over the previous 10-year period.

General information The parish of Sunndal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 . In 1854, the northern part of the municipality was separated to form the new municipality of Øksendal.

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1960, the neighboring municipalities of Ålvundeid and Øksendal were merged with Sunndal to form a new, larger Sunndal municipality. Both Ålvundeid and Øksendal were historically part of the municipality before 1854. Then, on 1 January 1965, the Ålvund-Ålvundfjorden area of the neighboring Stangvik Municipality was transferred to Sunndal.

Name The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the Sunndalen valley (Old Norse: Sunndalr). The first element is sunnr or suðr which mean "southern". The last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale". Prior to 1870, the name was written Sunddalen (or Sunndalen). Then, from 1870 to 1917 it was spelled Sundalen. Since 1918, it has been spelled Sunndal.

Churches The Church of Norway has four parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Sunndal. It is part of the Indre Nordmøre prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Møre.

Geography Sunndal is bordered on the west by Molde Municipality and Tingvoll Municipality, on the north by Surnadal Municipality, on the east by Oppdal Municipality (in Trøndelag county) and on the south by Lesja Municipality (in Innlandet county).

In the southern part of the municipality lies the Dovrefjell–Sunndalsfjella National Park, home to a plentiful amount of impressive muskox. In the northern part is the Trollheimen and Innerdalen landscape protection areas.

The municipality centres around the Sunndalsfjorden and the river Driva. There are also many towering mountains including: Trolla, Storskrymten, Vinnufjellet (with peaks Dronningkrona and Kongskrona), Innerdalstårnet, Salhøa, Såtbakkollen, Skarfjellet, and Vassnebba. The Vinnufossen and Svøufallet waterfalls both lie near the river Driva.

Government All municipalities in Norway are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality falls under the Møre og Romsdal District Court and the Frostating Court of Appeal.