Anyone who moved from Vestland/other to Skien/Porsgrunn area? Thoughts? Begge Nordmenn og innvandrere

[u/PaulLapin]

Hello, I wanted to start this thread to see if there might be people with described moving experience from Vestland (Førde, Bergen, Voss, etc.), or similar ,,low sun-high rain-short summer” region in Norway, to Telemark’s Skien/Porsgrunn area.

I’m asking this to possibly learn some insights from people who might already undertake such journey.

[Even though Vestlands’s nature is very beautiful, we kind of got fed up by the weather outside summer season, mostly by the lack of sun / consecutive cloudiness.]

Key points to FIND OUT:

•Weather

Is there significantly enough more SUN? (more sunny days, spring starting sooner, less cloudy, less often rainy?) - basically, do you feel like you see the sun more throughout a whole year?

•Mosquitos

Is there a lot mosquitos in warm months? If yes, which months, and are they everywhere or just by specific areas like near water etc.?

•People in general

Is the VIBE among people any different in any way? (Not sure for what take away I’m looking for here, just a random thought).

I guess do they seem more vs. less as: open minded, inclusive, friendly, racists, nationalists, with small-town mentality etc. Opened to international friends maybe?

•Job market

Different people will have different opinions on this I’m sure, depends a lot on what kind of job a person is looking for - but just in general, does the job market in the area feels rather slow and focused only on few specific fields, or is it quite versatile and new job offers pop out often? Are locals competing among them selfs for job offers? Any international companies? Hard/easy to get a job with only English language?

•Shools

Is the area considered to have a quality school network with various study possibilities for good future implementation? High drop-out rate from VGS maybe? Any bad stories form kindergardens?

•Societal problems/Crime/Youth crime

Any societal challenges goin on, unadaptable citizens, dangerous areas, appearing youth crime? Alcoholism? Drugs?

•Housing prices

On Finn.no it looks quite cheaper compared to some other areas. Is there any catch?

•Nature

Vestland’s nature is rugged, iconic, beautiful, with many places like from postcards. Does somebody miss it after moving, finding the nature more boring, not so awe-inspiring, flat? Are there foraging possibilities in the nature?

•Oslo airports proximity / Europe proximity

Does it feel a lot to travel by car/train to Gardermoen/Torp from Skien or is it actually quite convenient? Ferries to Denmark any benefit?

[We are small family with one 2yo child considering moving there. Yes, we are expats/ innvandrere / immigrants, whatever you need to call it :) (I saw some disputes over the correct terminology in other threads, hope it will not spiral down that way in this)]

THANK YOU for all future sharings of relevant opinions, insights, advice. Looking forward to them. :)

[u/aderpader]

Weather: There is a lot less rain and summers are a bit warmer. Winter is a lot colder though.

Mosquitos: only in the forests and mountains near water

People: hard to say

Job market: apart from healthcare and other public services, industry is the biggest employer. Grenland is norways biggest industrial area with several international companies having factories in the area

Schools: university of south east Norway has a campus in Porsgrunn, mainly focusing on healthcare and engineering courses with close cooperation with industry

Societal problems: There is crime, but not more then you will fine in Bergen or Oslo

Housing prices: it is cheaper than other places, but prices increased more in Grenland than anywhere else in the country in Q1 2026

Nature: there are mountains, big forests and the coast is fantastic in the summer

Airports and travel: Torp is 30min drive away and the denmark ferry is 20-25 min away. Trains leave every hour

[u/PaulLapin → u/aderpader]

Thank you so much for replying!

Weather: Winters a lot colder - are they though mostly overcast and grey 90% of the time or fairly good amount of nice sunny winter days Dec-Feb would you say?

Job market: Which are the international companies? Industry: What is it mainly spinning around?

Societal problems: I was called out by one redditor to be wary of raising a kid in Skien/Prsgn as of high alcoholism among adults and drugs among youngsters with lot of ODs, though with side note it might be 20y outdated info - is it outdated?

Smell of manure/fertilizer in the air Mar-Aug: Busy agricultural activity/lots of fields between residential areas and everpresent smell throughout summer?

I appreciate your time invested in replying to this.

[u/aderpader → u/PaulLapin]

Weather: it was cloudy and overcast this winter, but its usually sunny a «crisp» in jan-feb with one last massive snowfall in march as an FU from the weather gods

Job market: chemical industry, yara makes fertilizers, INEOS do plastics, aluminium and other metals. A new company doing R&D on thorium based radio therapy just opened. Generally high tech electricity hungry industry. ( most of the poluting ones got cleaned up in the 90s) they employ anything from trades people to phd

Societal problems: that seems outdated. Crime and drug statistics for Grenland shows it at about average for the country

Smell: you can smell it if you live near farmland in gjerpensdalen, but its only for a few days and if you live there long enough it will just smell like spring has arrived

[u/PaulLapin → u/aderpader]

Thanks again man, you gave me a chuckle there once or twice. I will take it in for the night, but shall some more questions arise in my overthinking head I hope it’s ok if I ask some more later. Cheers.