The glacier arms Bøyabreen and Supphellebreen and the Norwegian Glacier Museum are located nearby. Fjærland is also the Norwegian book town, with book shops situated in old cow sheds and pigpens; there are also book shops on the ferry quay and in the Hotel Mundal. The Hotel Mundal is an old wooden building in 19th-century style still in business as a hotel. The hotel was owned by the Orheim family for over a hundred years, until August 2008, when it was sold.
Fjærland Church is located in the village, serving the whole Fjærland area.
Fjærland was originally part of the municipality of Leikanger, but in 1849 it was transferred to the newly created Balestrand municipality. Historically, the only transportation to Fjærland had been by ferry along the Fjærlandsfjorden. In 1986, the Fjærland Tunnel was opened connecting Fjærland to the village of Skei in Jølster municipality to the northwest. In 1994, the Frudal Tunnel was opened to the southeast which connected Fjærland to Sogndalsfjøra in neighboring Sogndal municipality. These tunnels are now the best access from the large district of Norway's west coast toward the capital, Oslo. The completion of the Frudal Tunnel was the main reason why the Fjærland area left Balestrand municipality and merged into the municipality of Sogndal on 1 January 2000.
The paternal grandparents of Walter Mondale, the Democratic Party's nominee for president of the United States in 1984 were born in Fjaerland.
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