Tau

Discover Tau through its cultural sites and the green, historic Mølleparken. In the park in the centre of Tau, a representative building dating from 1859, a seasonal art café and a playground come together. A cultural trail, historic mill houses and Strand Church add to the experience. When choosing your destination, you can weigh up whether you mainly want to explore cultural history or also combine Tau with nature and trips through Ryfylke.

Art and history in Mølleparken

Villa Tou, a representative building dating from 1859, stands in Mølleparken. At Brugsløa, an art café and exhibitions by local artists are open every Sunday during the summer season, from May to September. This provides a clear seasonal reference point for anyone who wants to time their visit around these offerings. The park itself is open to everyone every day throughout the year.

The former director’s residence, built in the Art Nouveau style, is also in Mølleparken. It is not open to the public, but can be viewed from the outside all year round. The visit is therefore explicitly limited to viewing the exterior. For families, the playground is also a specific activity within the park; the historic buildings and art offerings provide a different focus.

Mills and cultural trail

At Tou Mølle, along the Taura waterfall, three mill houses are well preserved in their original surroundings. The mill houses provide another point of reference for Tau’s cultural history. Together with Villa Tou and the former director’s residence, they showcase different traces of architecture and use, without forming a single connected walking route.

The 2-kilometre cultural trail runs between Tau School and Strandstøa. Seven information boards mark the route; along the way, the trail passes remains from the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. It runs along a public road. Its length and route along the road are useful for planning your day, while the information boards connect the walk with several periods of history.

Church, forest and Ryfylke

Strand Church in Tau was built in 1874. It preserves an altarpiece, a pulpit and several objects from the previous church, which dates from the 17th century. Those interested in religious art and historic objects will find a distinct cultural highlight here, alongside the parks and trails.

The landscape is another reason to include Tau in your travel plans: the village lies along the Ryfylke National Tourist Route. Nearby is the Tau Nature Reserve, near Tau in Strand, Rogaland. Blueberry-oak forest and some oak woodland with a herb layer are preserved there; these forests have high landscape value. Nature and cultural history thus offer different focal points for a stay in the area.

There is a good bus connection from Tau to Solbakk. From there, you can continue through the Ryfast subsea tunnel to Stavanger and Hjelmeland. When choosing holiday accommodation in Tau, you can therefore consider which aspects of the destination described here matter for your trip: the cultural sites and cultural trail, the surrounding natural area, or the option of planning onward travel via Solbakk.

Other places in this selection include Idse, Jørpeland and Strand.

Back to the main travel overview: Strand.