Like many of you, I’ve fallen out of the habit of posting on Instagram, so a lot of my photos have been languishing on hard drives. But, I still enjoy sharing things, so I’m going to slip in a few travel posts alongside the usual stuff. The newsletter is called Here & There, after all. Thanks for reading.
~Kyle
I spent a week in Norway this past summer with a very loose plan. Fly into Ålesund, rent a car, and do a big loop within a few hours of the airport. Norway is…massive, so it’s easy to get caught in the trap of driving an insane amount of hours and trying to see the whole country (you won’t).
Here are a few highlight and photos from along the way.
Åndalsnes
Åndalsnes sits at the head of the Romsdalsfjord, about an hour and 45 minutes from Ålesund, and it was our base for a few days. One day I hunted down a trail in nearby Mandalen using AllTrails/Strava heatmaps (a few locals seemed surprised to see us up there) and we also got took a nice drive to Trollstigen for sunset, which in this part of Norway means ~11:30 pm in July.
Romsdalseggen
We did Romsdalseggen ridge, the “classic” in the area, on a day of mixed weather that left us feeling like the only folks up there. There are some logistics involved: you need to reserve and catch a bus to the start, and then hike the ridge back to the cable car station (or all the way down to town, as we did). It’s not overly technical, but it is definitely exposed and consequential in a few spots, especially in turbulent weather (a trail runner tragically lost her life on the route last month).
The last bit down to town is a local runners test piece (going up), covering 2300 ft in just 1.2 miles. Kilian Jornet holds the segment record (he also lives nearby).
Geiranger
From Åndalsnes we headed south through Geiranger. It’s a UNESCO Heritage site, and it’s probably on every top 10 list of “things to see in Norway.” I think it might be a bit overrated.
Before the pitchforks come out, yes, it’s beautiful. But so is most of the country, and I didn’t find it immeasurably more dramatic than the other fjords we saw. What it does have is a giant cruise ship parked at the end of the fjord and a town built around shore excursions (215 residents, and more than 300k cruise passengers a year). We charged the car, grabbed a coffee, and kept moving.
Skåla
Like most trails in Norway, Skåla is a relatively short distance with a lot of elevation (~4.5 miles one-way and 6k gain). Our hike started with sun, turned to rain, and then to snow as we made the final approach to the summit in a full whiteout. Classic first week of July in Norway. Fun fact, this is one of 300 trails in Norway that feature stone steps built by Stibyggjaren, a trail-building company that employs Sherpas from Nepal. Can confirm, pretty amazing trail work.
The hut at the top, Skålatårnet, is part of the incredible DNT system, and as a “self-service” hut, it had a stocked pantry that you can use and pay for through the DNT app. After an evening spent drinking tea and watching the sky for glimpses of the massive Jostedalsbreen glacier to the south, we did get a bit of clearer weather and calmer skies for the hike out in the morning.
The Sunnmøre Alps
We looped back toward Ålesund through the Sunnmøre Alps, which turned out to be a highlight of the trip. We spent a night in a cozy off-grid cabin near Vartdal, and although the cabin was socked in the clouds I got in a really lovely trail run on the ridge above the valley in the afternoon. There is so much to see and run and scramble in this zone. Gotta come back.
We took the ferry over to Urke to hike Saksa, which was a 10/10 day. The sun was out, the hike was amazing, and the views from the top were unbelievable. This was our one day of warmth and spectacular sunshine and wow, what a day for it. Our hike was followed by a deserved beer at a bar in Urke right on the fjord. Immaculate vibes.
We spent last night in Sæbø and spent some time in swapping between the sauna and dips in the fjord before treating ourself to dinner. Our last day was a drive back to Ålesund and a lazy afternoon in town before our flight.
Logistics
Lodging: We booked close to half of our accommodations the day of, all around $130/night on a combination of Airbnb and Booking. That won’t work out for everyone, but it did for us 🤷♂️. Just searching around, lodging can be expensive, but it was not nearly as expensive as I expected, especially if you’re not tied to the most popular areas. There are a lot of great tiny homes/cabins/campgrounds all over the place.
Eating: We cooked every night but one. Eating out is on par with Swiss prices but the grocery store is much more reasonable (kjøttboller ❤️).
Driving: The electric car was easy (and the cheapest option), although charging adds a wrinkle to daily logistics. I think a campervan and a few weeks (or months) is probably the best way to see Norway, but this was great for a week. Ferries were easy. And the tunnels 🤯.
Weather: I mean, it’s Norway. Expect variable weather. You could get a stretch of beautiful summer days or never see the sun. Come prepared for anything and embrace it.
