page_title: Hammerfest
section_title: Economy and tourism
hierarchical_section_title: Hammerfest / Economy and tourism
caption_attribution_description: Español: Estación más septentrional del arco en Fuglenes, Noruega. Deutsch: Der Meridianstein in Hammerfest, Norwegen. Norsk bokmål: Struves meridianbue på Fuglenes, Norge.
context_page_description: Hammerfest is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. Hammerfest is the northernmost town in the world with more than 10,000 inhabitants. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Hammerfest. Some of the main villages in the municipality include Rypefjord, Forsøl, Hønsebybotn, Akkarfjord i Kvaløya, Akkarfjord i Sørøya, and Kårhamn.
  The 2,693-square-kilometre municipality is the 19th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Hammerfest is the 98th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 11,448. The municipality's population density is 4.5 inhabitants per square kilometre and its population has increased by 6.5% over the last decade.
  The municipality encompasses parts of three large islands: Kvaløya, Sørøya, and Seiland. Other small islands such as Håja, Lille Kamøya and Kamøya are also located here. Most of the area municipality does not have a road connection with the rest of Norway. Only Kvaløya island is connected via the Kvalsund Bridge.
context_section_description: The construction of the large liquefied natural gas site on Melkøya (island) just off Hammerfest, which will process natural gas from Snøhvit, is the most expensive construction project in the history of Northern Norway. This project has resulted in an economic boom and new optimism in Hammerfest in recent years, a stark contrast to the economic downhill and negative population growth most other municipalities in Finnmark are experiencing. After the opening of natural gas production on Melkøya there have been some problems with significant smoke and soot pollution in the initial production phases. Snøhvit is Europe's first export facility for liquefied natural gas.
  Hammerfest offers sport and commercial fishing, both sea and freshwater, as well as scuba diving. The northernmost glacier on the Norwegian mainland is a hiking destination. The town is a starting point for northern tours. There is a daily boat to the North Cape (Norwegian: Nordkapp). One chain of the Struve Geodetic Arc, now on the World Heritage List, is located at Fuglenes in Hammerfest.
  Hammerfest is also a centre of Sami culture.  Hammerfest is home to the Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society (Norwegian: Isbjørnklubben); a museum displaying the history of Arctic hunting.
  The newspaper Hammerfestingen is published in Hammerfest.
  American author Bill Bryson begins his European travels in 1990, documented in his book Neither Here Nor There, with a visit to Hammerfest in order to see the Northern Lights, calling it “an agreeable enough town in a thank-you-God-for-not-making-me-live-here sort of way”.
caption: Station of the Struve Geodetic Arc in Hammerfest
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