UKH

Where would people recommend going for a walking trip to Norway?

We'd be keen to see some spectacular scenery, would probably like to do something multi-day and fairly remote, and would be happy to wild camp or stay in huts. On the other hand, we don't do glacier travel so would have to avoid anything that's high and snowy enough that that's an issue. Not having to hire a car would be nice. And it's our first trip, so we're entirely happy to go for a big obvious A-list destination.

Any suggestions for where to go and what to do?

Thanks!

In reply to Ramblin dave:

Hatdangervidda was good. Went on a DNT trip 30 years ago, but it’s all well waymarked. I will have a look where we went from but it was six days and you ended up dropping to sea level by some good fjords. It was  Cairngorm type scenery which I like.

In reply to Ramblin dave:

I've done a few backpacking holidays with my tent in Norway. All done with coach, train or local bus travel.

Jotunheimen - big pointy pretty mountains. Get the bus up from Oslo. Make a route of the length you desire for the amount of the time you have. Its all good.

Rondane - A bit like the Cairngorms but taller. Train/bus from Oslo/Trondheim to Otta.

Dovrefjell - Not as tall as Jotunheimen but i thought a nicer experience overall. Train to Kongsvoll from Oslo/Trondheim.

Trollheimen - Very attractive. Train/bus to Oppdal from Oslo/Trondheim.

You can combine Dovrefjell and Trollheimen by ending/starting one of them in Sunndalen at Gjora or Fale. Small shop at Gjora.

Go after the end of the school holidays in 2nd half august or early september.

In reply to Ramblin dave:

I went for a couple of trips a few years ago. Here are the links to my trip reports. I hope they give you some idea of what to expect and perhaps where to go...so much amazing stuff...https://howlingmist.blogspot.com/2016/07/a-10-day-trip-to-norway.html

https://howlingmist.blogspot.com/2016/09/norway-return-exploring-jotunheime...

https://howlingmist.blogspot.com/2016/09/hiking-in-norwayreflections.html

Stephen

In reply to Ramblin dave:

Ut.no has the Norwegian equivalent of ordnance survey, with cabins and walking routes marked.

As much as Trollheimen, Jotunheimen and Rondane are all very nice, Norway is all about steep mountains and fjords. So heading up to Troms, or Lofoten or anywhere along the west coast is where the action is. As suggested above, Romsdal is spectacular, and accessible by train from either Oslo or Trondheim so is suitable for car free travel. Ålesund and Sunnmøre is also spectacular, but may need some creativity with the bus. I'm not so familiar with further south, they have nice fjords but I don't think they have so many pointy peaks.

In reply to Ramblin dave: the walk to Prekestallen is short, but a classic. Fantastic view of the fiord.

In reply to Ramblin dave: the walk to Prekestallen is short, but a classic. Fantastic view of the fiord.

In reply to Ramblin dave:

It's obvious, but Lofoten is spectacular - beautiful beaches, spiky peaks, and dramatic fjords. There's also a good number of lower, gentler summits. Probably possible to do it without a car using the occasional buses between Narvik and Å at the far end of the islands. From memory there are some huts marked on the map too.

In reply to Mike Peacock:

Its many, many years since I went to Lofoten but can't you fly to Bodo, then get the ferry out to the islands with buses to get about ? (& I suspect hitching would work as well once there)

In reply to Doug:

You can fly to Bodo and take the boat. I had a friend who rented a bike and bike/camped his way round. He had a great time. I've always driven up there. One thing to note is that Lofoten is now hugely popular, to the point that it's an issue in Norway how to deal with all the tourists as the infrastructure there can't really cope. You may need to be a bit creative to get away from the crowds and be an actively considerate visitor.

In reply to JuneBob:

Sounds as if its changed a bit since I was there in the 70s!

In reply to JuneBob:

I was there in 2012 and it looked like a majority of the islands dont have many tourists on them, they seemed to be crowded around the honeypots. 

In reply to Ramblin dave: a Norwegian I met in the Rondane said the Breiheimen was the best because the Jotunheimen were too high and too technical.  He had moved to live in Lom specifically to make it easy to walk there.  The Rondane are very 'British' looking mountains. We trained to Otta to get there, bear in mind it's essentially a day's walk to get into the mountains from Otta, although you could probably get a taxi or bus up to Mysuseaeter. You can get the scenic train past the Troll wall to Andalsnes from Otta, that's what we did on a rest day. I think we stopped off in Lom and went round the museum there which was interesting.

Be cautious about going at the start of september like we did - once the schools go back tourism dies completely and a lot of places shut for the autumn - the campsite at Otta Turistcenter only had log cabins open on an honesty basis, and the Rondane Fjellstue (youth hostel) in Mysusaeter was shut. All the mountain huts were still open though, and the Rondvassbu hut was packed on the Friday night we stayed in it as it's a prime weekend peak-bagging base.  I guess if you plan properly properly you'll be fine.  We only saw a handful of people throughout our week's walking once we were out of day hiker's range of Rondvassbu.

In reply to Ramblin dave:

Some great stuff on here, thanks. I think I'm going to have to sit down with a map and have a think... 

In reply to Ramblin dave:

I found the Rondane to be absolutely beautiful and pristine feeling, and quiet once you get away from the 3 or 4 popular mountains around the hut. It has much better weather than most of the other norwegian mountains as it is more inland.

However, I found the actual walking to be tedious as it involve huge boulder piles, rubble heaps and scree which I got fed up of. The mountains in general are blobby and chossy but the views are stunning. Having said that, I only went up peaks, not hut to hutting at low level, so mabe its less chossy doing that.

Hut to hutting at low level accross the JotunHeim would be good as well, very wild scenary, less chossy than the Rondane but probably some rain.

In reply to Red Rover:

Agreed. I was there last year. Plenty of tourists trundling round in camper vans but most of the hills were pretty empty.