Flåm is a village in Flåmsdalen, at the inner end of the Aurlandsfjorden—a branch of Sognefjorden. The village is located in the municipality of Aurland in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway.
The name Flåm is documented as early as 1340 as Flaam. It is derived from the plural dative form of the Old Norse word flá meaning "plain, flat piece of land", and it refers to the flood plains of the Flåm River. ("A plain between steep mountains" is the toponomy of the encyclopedia Store Norske Leksikon.)
In 1670 Flåm Church was built.
In 1923 the construction of the Flåm Line was financed by parliament. (In 1908, the decision to build the line was made.)
In 1942 ordinary operation of (steam powered) trains started on the Flåm Line.
"In the 1960s, cruise ships stayed on the fjord" [without reaching the port], according to Dagens Næringsliv.
In 2000, the "new pier" was referred to in a government document. ("The pier was built at the entrance to the new millennium", according to Dagens Næringsliv.)