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Top 5 Hikes in Norway

Updated: Oct 13, 2019

Norway is probably one of my favourite countries in Scandinavia because of its beautiful nature with mountains, glaciers and charming towns. Norway is home to more than 450 000 lakes and also have the highest density of fjords in the world. I skipped Norway for many years, mainly because everyone told me it's very expensive to travel there, so even though I grew up pretty close to Norway it took me years before I actually went there.


In the summer of 2019 I went on a roadtrip through the south of Norway, we did 10 hikes in 10 days. Here is my top 5 Hikes and for all of them I would recommend you to do them early in the morning to avoid crowds of people.

Starting point in Gjendesheim
Starting point in Gjendesheim

1. Besseggen

Besseggen is located in Jotunheimen Nationalpark and has around 30.000 hikers every year. The recommended hiking time is around 6-8 hours between Gjendesheim and Memurubu, the most popular way to do it is by taking a boat to Memurubu and then hike the way back to Gjendesheim.


We hiked from Gjendesheim over Besseggen ridge to Memurubu and then hiked along the fjord back to Gjendesheim. It took us around 10 hours in total and



2. Galdhøpiggen

This is the highest mountain in Norway and in the northern Europe with its 2469 meters. There is two ways to do the hike, you can start in Juvashytta which is 1800 above sea level but hiking this way includes a long glacier walk. If you start in Spiterstulen which is located 1100 meters above sea level it's a long slowly inclining hike up the top.


The hiking time with return is usually calculated to 10-12 hours. We did it from Spiterstulen, it was quite exhausting sometimes but not to bad. Bring proper hiking boots since you have to walk through rocky parts and in areas with a lot of snow. Best tip is to bring waterproof pants, then you can slide down in the snow on your way down :)




3. Trolltunga

I think most of you have heard about or seen pictures of Trolltunga, the rock that hangs 700 meters above Ringedalsvatnet lake. There are three different parking spots P3 in Tyssedal (300NOK/day), P2 in Skjeggedal (500 NOK/ day) and P3 in Mågelitopp (600 NOK/day).


We started at P2 early in the morning to avoid the crowds and it took us approximately 4 hours to get up to the viewpoint, it wasn't to crowded but it was cloudy and we could barely see the rock. We started hiking pass the rock and found amazing views and no people.



Personally I enjoyed the area beyond Trolltunga the most, no people and amazing sceneries and nature. After a few hours the weather cleared up and we walked back to Trolltunga, but by this time the rock was really crowded and to get a picture on the rock we had to wait over an hour in the queue.


4. Kjeragsbolten

Kjeragsbolten is a giant boulder wedged between a mountain crevasse 1083 meters above Lysefjorden, it's a 11km roundtrip hike with 800 meters elevation gain. But at the top you feel like you're on top of the world. Some parts are very steep and you can pull yourself up with a wire.


You can get there by car by driving through Sirdalen or you can take a ferry to Lysebotn which is a little town located 15 minutes away from the hike.



5. Bondhusdalen

This is a lesser known hike with three different hiking options. You can walk to Bondhusvatnet lake, to the far end or to Vetledalen it takes from 2-4 hours depending what you choose to do. This hike is less crowded and is very easy, we took this one on our rest day.




Bonus 5 other hikes:




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