Ørje

Ørje is known for historic locks in the Halen Canal

Ørje is a meeting point and trading center in Marker Municipality. Here you will find many pleasant shops, restaurants, petrol stations, hairdressers, fitness centre, bank, pharmacy, library and more. Every year several activities are organized in the city centre, such as the spring market, free market, autumn market and Christmas market.

Ørje is known, among other things, for being one of the lock sites in the historic Halden Canal. Ørje locks have a total lifting height of 10 metres, and the locks are still operated by hand, as when they were opened in 1860. Ørje also has Norway's largest collection of steamboats at the Haldenvassdragets Canal Museum. At the Haldenvassdragets Kanalmuseum you can learn more about the history of timber floating and the construction of the canal, and in a separate part of the museum you can learn more about and the wildlife around the watercourse.

"SOOTspillet" in the lock amphitheater in Ørje has become an annual tradition. The theatre is about the canal builder Engebret Soot and is arranged every year at the end of June.

On Ørje, every Saturday during the summer you can also experience Lørdag i Slusene, a free event with singing and music down in the lock amphitheater by Ørje Brug. Also visit the tourist information office, which is open in summer, and get good tips and ideas for what you can do while you are in the area. If you visit Ørje in summer, you can enjoy a good meal at the Båtcafeen down by the locks. The rest of the year Bakergaarden in Storgata is open. Let yourself be tempted by good homemade dishes, and enjoy lush and modern food in a pleasant and informal atmosphere.