Hjertøya is a small island in the Romsdalsfjorden, a 10-minute boat ride from Molde's quayside. The island is home to a fishing museum that focuses not just on the history of fishing techniques but on what it actually meant to live and work as a fisherman in western Norway — the housing, the diet, the seasonal rhythms, the social organisation.
The museum consists of a collection of well-preserved buildings on the island: fishermen's cottages, boathouses, net-drying racks, and workshops, all set among pine trees with water visible in every direction. Unlike many open-air museums, the buildings on Hjertøya are largely original to the island, not relocated structures. A small collection of traditional wooden boats is moored in the harbour alongside. The boat service from Molde runs regularly in summer; in the off-season, the island is quieter and the museum hours reduced. The combination of the boat ride, the island setting, and the quality of the museum makes this one of the better half-days available in the Molde area.