Raet National Park in Arendal

Do you enjoy swimming off delightful beaches, canoeing, boat trips, camping, walking in a unique natural setting, cycling, fishing, diving, birdwatching, visiting idyllic outlying harbours or exploring cultural heritage? If so, welcome to Raet National Park in Arendal, Grimstad and Tvedestrand in Southern Norway.

Raet National Park was created in 2016 to protect the special natural area which extends from the Valøyene islands off Grimstad along the entire Arendal coastal strip to Lyngør in Tvedestrand. The park covers a total of 607 square kilometres of coastal nature and sea. It is a marine park, meaning 90% of the national park is under sea level.

See signs of the ice age

Raet contains visible traces of the ice age around 12,000 years ago. When the enormous glacier that once existed in the area retreated, it left behind huge quantities of stone, sand, gravel and clay which it had picked up during its journey. This process led to the creation of a unique coastal landscape.

How to get to Raet national park

By boat:

In Lyngør: Sørlandets Maritime AS: Telephone +47 37 16 68 88 / +47 976 49 861, www.sorlandetsmaritime.no

In Arendal/Torungene fyr: MS Torungen AS: Telephone +47 90945725, e-post: [email protected]

By car:

Follow road signs to Tromøy then to Hove. Then you can follow Raet nasjonalpark's own raodsigns to the parking lot at Spornes beach.

Film about the national park (6:41 minutes).