The village is located at the end of a small bay at the confluence of the Sørfjorden and the Eid Fjord, where they join to form the main branch of the Hardangerfjorden.

The village lies along the Norwegian National Road 13 and it has a ferry port with regular routes that connect it to Utne and Kvanndal across the fjord.

The Kinso River drops 3,600 feet (1,100 m) from the vast Hardangervidda plateau through the Husedalen valley before emptying into the sea level fjord at Kinsarvik.

Kinsarvik is also a major access point many longer treks into the Hardangervidda National Park.

Up until the 1970s, the village was the busiest ferry port in Norway and a crucial junction on the only all-year road connecting the main cities of Bergen and Oslo.

The bridge was completed in 2013 and since then Kinsarvik is no longer part of the dominant route and tourist stop for both east-west and north-south traffic.

In the time of Julius Caesar, a clan known as Charudes was reported to live in the Jutland region of Denmark.

It has been theorised that the clan, which was by now referred to as Horder or Harding left Denmark and settled in Scotland, Iceland, and the area around what is now Kinsarvik, setting up an independent kingship.

The gradual earthen banks at the mouth of the Kinso River were an important place for the building and repair of the Longship.

The area was backed by the glaciers of the Hardangervidda and on the east any land force would have to go around the long, narrow, and deep waters of the Sørfjord or Eid Fjord.

In the Middle Ages, Kinsarvik Church was the site of a market, the legal magistrates, as well as a religious center for the region.