Sande is where the inner Oslofjord pinches into a quiet bay, the Sandebukta, between Drammen and Holmestrand. The E18 thunders past it, and most traffic never slows down, but turn off and you find a gentle green landscape of farmland, low wooded ridges and small boat harbours, far softer than the fjord country further west that the bigger rides are heading for.
This is a transit area more than a riding playground. The main roads are fast and well surfaced, with speed limits enforced by cameras on long stretches of the E18 and Norwegian fines that are painful by any standard. The minor roads towards the shore and up into the Vestfold hills are narrower and more relaxed, curving between fields and spruce plantations, with occasional glimpses of the fjord. In spring the fields are a vivid green, and on long summer evenings the light lingers until well past ten.
The bay itself is a decent place to stop. The water is sheltered, often flat as glass, and you can see across to the wooded headlands of the Hurum peninsula. Holmestrand, a few kilometres south, sits under dramatic cliffs and is worth a glance if you have time. Drammen, just to the north, is the bigger town, with a river that has been cleaned up over the past decades and a famous corkscrew road tunnel spiralling up through the hill above the city.
Sande has fuel and a supermarket, and the larger stations along the E18 are open long hours. Prices in Norway are high, coffee included, so it is not a bad idea to take advantage of a full-service stop here before heading inland on the long run towards Hardanger, where distances between villages stretch out and the ferries set the pace.