Hiking in Norway: Our three favorites – Hardangerjøkulen, 4 Waterfalls and Trolltunga plus a Steindalsfossen bonus!

Yay, it’s time for Norway! After spending three weeks in Croatia, it was time for a totally different type of European experience. We picked Norway a bit on a whim, thinking it would be cool to see at least one part of Scandinavia, and because Damian has a bunch of Norwegian blood in him. We spent ten days in the country and barely scraped the surface of what Norway has to offer. This post is about some of the awesome hiking in Norway we did, and then there will be posts about our time in Bergen (including some fjord-time) and our time in Oslo!

Let’s start with the fact that there are a million and a half hikes you can do in Norway (even that’s probably an underestimate), and a million and a half of those hikes will have at least one gorgeous view. We didn’t have a ton of time and so had to be pretty discerning on figuring out what our hiking in Norway itinerary was going to include.

Aside from some smaller walks (open question: what’s the difference between an outdoor walk and a hike? I never understand that…), here are the big kahuna hikes that we did (plus the Steindalsfossen bonus).

Hiking in Norway: A glacier hike on Hardangerjøkulen

Glaciers and Norway, they just go together like a horse and carriage, right? Anyway … one of the must-dos on our trip to Norway was hiking on a glacier. I had done it before in New Zealand and Damian had done it before in Chile, but Norway is known as one of the best places to do this, so we had to make it happen. And man, was it worth it.

We signed up a few days in advance with a company called Geilo 365, for their glacier tour. You are only allowed to do a tour with a certified guide, both to protect the glacier and to be safe, especially since the glaciers are shifting and melting at all times. We loved Geilo 365 as a tour operator (both the guides were women too, with a male assistant, which always get a woohoo from me!) and would recommend them to anyone. The glacier on the left below is the one we hiked.

The tour started from a little town called Finse. Now, we searched for hours to try to figure out how to drive there for the start. Spoiler alert – it’s a remote little town (with a permanent population of only two people) that can only be accessed via train, foot or bike. So, we got an AirBnB in Geilo and took the hour-long train ride to Finse in the morning. The train ride itself was beautiful and we enjoyed it as well!

Once we got to FInse we met the guides and the rest of the group and then set off on our hike! The round trip was about 17km and it was a two-hour hike in, followed by a lunch break (BYO), two hours on the glacier and then a two-hour hike out. There were some uphills that had me breathing hard (I hate – and am terrible at – stairs) and I was pooped at the end of the day, but it wasn’t an insanely strenuous trip. As soon as we started we could see that even the hike to get to the glacier was going to be stunning.

The glaciers are constantly melting and that made for lots for beautiful rivers and waterflows along the hike. The water was moving so fast and there was so much of it that it was hard to believe there is any glacier still left!

Two hours went by pretty quick and soon we were at the base of the glacier. We put on the crampons and helmets from the guides (and had purchased waterproof pants from Decathlon in Zagreb to wear with our rain jackets), and it was glacier hiking time!

It was really neat how to the company kept us safe – we were in two groups of ten and the people in the same group were all attached to the same rope. We essentially acted as anchors for each other, as we were required to keep the rope quite taut when we were walking. That way, if anyone slipped, everyone else’s body weight and position would keep the slip-er from getting injured. Pretty smart and important, considered some of the crevices are hundreds of feet deep!

The two hours flew by, as we walked the entire glacier from top to bottom and left to right, observing the intense blues as the ice got deeper and more compact, and seeing the water systems and waterflow under the surface of the glacier. I have to say this is one of my favorite activities that we have done so far on this trip!

The below picture shows a big rock that is adjacent to the glacier. Only 25 years ago you could use crampons to walk on ice on top of that rock, so it shows how quickly glaciers are receding. On a positive note, in the picture below that you can see how giddy and happy we are after getting off the glacier hike, so we should make sure to slow down climate change so everyone can experience this level of natural high-ness!

The hike out was just as beautiful as the hike in (we took a different route) and then we took an evening train back from Finse to Geilo (I fell asleep), ate dinner in Geilo, took showers and fell asleep like the rocks we saw on our hike. It was such an awesome day and one I have already reminisced about many times since.

Hiking in Norway: A flexible and beautiful hike to 4 Waterfalls of Husedalen Valley (from Kinsarvik)

The second “big” hike we did was one called ‘4 Waterfalls’ (very descriptive I know). We did this one as a stop on our drive from Bergen to Odda and it was perfect for that amount of time. The hike leaves from the town of Kinsarvik, so we got some lunch at this awesome spot called Gloyp (in fact we returned there a few days later for lunch) and then headed out!

What’s awesome about this hike is that it is so flexible. Not surprisingly, there are four waterfalls you can hike to. But, you can decide if you want to go to one, two, three or four of them and if you hike up in the woods or along a gravel path. There is some serious uphill in this hike, but it’s worth it for the huge and awesome waterfalls you see.

It took us about an hour to get to the first waterfall, which some awesome views of the river along the way. The waterfall is located next to a not-in-use power station and just has so much water running over it. I still don’t understand where all the water for all these waterfalls comes from. Like at some point the water has to run out, no? (That’s a semi-joking and semi-serious question).

The hike from the first waterfall to the second is the steepest and it runs along a big pipe that is used for hydropower and is basically a full kilometer going steeply up. But it is super worth it as the second waterfall is the most stunning of all four. If you are ever in the area and looking for an easier hike with beautiful views you can also get to this one from the easier dirt path and you should definitely do it! We took a nice break here just looking down at the heavy water flow and the river below. Pretty neat!

The hike from the second waterfall to the third waterfall wasn’t too bad, though it did feel longer to me than the other pieces. It also felt like more uphill than other reviews had listed, which made sense when we ended up basically at the top of the mountain! This one opened into a big lake, which was beautiful and actually would be a really nice place to camp. There are also two cabins in the area, one for emergencies and one as a water closet. Norwegians are just the best.

We decided not to go to the fourth waterfall because we wanted to get back to the car before it got too late. Even though the sun wasn’t setting until 9pm or so, since we were hiking back down basically into a valley it was going to get dark and cold faster than elsewhere.

We were able to see the top of the fourth waterfall from where we saw the third one, so I’m going to count it as us having seen all four of them! We also took the gravel road down instead of the path through the woods and we were really glad we did as it gives you a unique view of the second (biggest) waterfall that was neat to see.

Hiking in Norway: A bonus – Steindalsfossen!

We actually stopped at another waterfall on our drive to Kinsarvik. It’s called Steindalsfossen and is quite large, but the real claim to fame is that you can walk behind it. I wouldn’t even call this a hike as it’s just a short pathway that is there, but it was super neat so I wanted to include some pictures of it!

Hiking in Norway: A famous and tough hike to Trolltunga

Ok, so on to the biggest kahuna of them all – Trolltunga! Trolltunga means “troll’s tongue” in Norwegian and it is one of the most famous places to do hiking in Norway (along with Preikestolen and the insane Kjeragbolten). The reason it’s so famous is because at the top there is a rock piece that juts out over a fjord, giving you the most beautiful pictures.

The total hike is about 25-27 km and is supposed to take 10-12 hours roundtrip, with a lot of uphill along the way. I was a bit worn out on this day and so I decided to sit the hike out and Damian went at it on his own. Do I regret it? A little bit, yes, when I look at the pictures, especially as I think I would have enjoyed the challenge and the gorgeous views. But, I’m glad I prioritized myself and took the day I needed. So I sent my super-athletic hubby off and then went back to sleep!

Damian started off quite early (around 7am) and the hike ended up taking him only about 6 hours total (yes, I am very jealous of this part of him too). He spent a couple extra hours at the top taking pictures (and waiting in line to get his picture taken), so that added to the journey. But, I will say I was shocked when he knocked on our apartment door at 4pm!

There’s no other way to say it, but this hike and this view are exquisite. I’ve put this hike on my bucket list and will do it sometime in the future, and, if you are able-bodied enough, you should too. It is an arduous trek though, so make sure to be prepared before you go!

One thing that people do sometimes is hike up a bunch of the way, camp overnight, and then do the rest of the hike in the morning. This helps to avoid the crowds (Damian had to wait for an hour on line to get his picture taken at 10am) and also just seems fun. Here are some of my favorite shots of his (see the crowds!).

Damian did find another fun rock pretty close to Trolltunga, which also had a great view and made for some stunning and fun pictures. And this one didn’t have a line, woohoo! I love that these show my guy’s silly side, though I’m a little glad I wasn’t there to be freaking out while he did his gymnastics while so high up.

Up next?

Phew, that was a bazinga! After this I want to share with you what we did in Bergen (including some fjord-seeing on the way there and the way out) and Oslo (where Poops joined us, yay!). Norway is such an awesome country and if it wasn’t so cold (even in the summer I was freezing a lot of the time) I would love to live there. More to come soon!