How would you like to wander in the Norwegian mountains, breathing crystalline air? Maybe you'd prefer walking along the coast and spending the night in a charming lighthouse? Now you can spend an unusual summer holiday in Norway at a reasonable price!
22/08/2008 :: The Norwegian Trekking Association (Den Norske Turistforening, or DNT) manages some 450 cabins in Norway's forest and mountain areas. Recently, the range of DNT accommodations was expanded to include lighthouses along the Norwegian coast. Accommodations vary from small cottages with a couple of beds to large, staffed mountain lodges with nearly 200 beds. Vacationing this way is inexpensive, even though the comfort level is high.
Path to adventure
The association's trails and routes will lead you into Norway's most beautiful mountains and its deepest woods. They'll show the way from cabin to cabin and to the most beautiful panoramic overlooks, while consolidating foot traffic so that vegetation and animals can live undisturbed. DNT maintains more than 20,000 kilometres of way-marked routes across the entire country.
Follow the Norwegian Trekking Association's "T"s when you're hiking. It's the right way to go! Photo: Anders Gjengedal/Innovation Norway
Responsibility and trust
Norway's tourist cabins are unique. No other country offers provisioned cabins that are open to the public with no supervisory presence. But the system is vulnerable; users must follow applicable rules and leave cabins at least as tidy as they found them.
There are three types of cabins: no-service, self-service and staffed. At no-service and self-service cabins, visitors make their own food. The self-service cabins have a stock of canned and dried food which can be purchased. At staffed cabins, meals are purchased in the restaurant.
The cabin Stranddalshytta is nicely situated at Stranddalsvatnet in Suldal. Visitors come here to experience the unique natural environment and the pleasant cabin atmosphere. Photo: Odd Inge Worsøe
After a long hike there's nothing better than eating hot food and exchanging stories with people who share your interest in nature. At Norway's tourist cabins you'll meet friendly people – and who knows, some of them may become your friends for life.
Coastal holiday
Traditionally, DNT has been a provider of cabins for overnight visits. Now you can also stay in one of the many lighthouses along the Norwegian coast. Most are open to the public, providing a place to spend the night on a self-service basis.
One such lighthouse is Skongenes Fyr, at Vågsøy in Sogn og Fjordane County. It's situated at the very tip of Skongeneset, a promontory that looks out on the North Sea between Florø and Ålesund. It lends itself to many outdoor activities, such as hiking, swimming and fishing. The lighthouse was first lit in 1870 and was inhabited for more than 100 years. When the lighthouse was automated in 1985, it was also vacated, and is now available for overnight visits.
Skongenes Fyr (lighthouse) consists of four buildings surrounding a courtyard. The view is of Stadhavet, part of the North Sea off Norway's west coast. Photo: Julie Maske/Den Norske Turistforening
The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs