Historical hiking route Aurlandsdalen

The stretch between Østerbø and Vassbygdi is the most popular part of Aurlandsdalen. If you want to hike the entire valley, you usually plan three stages. The route begins gently around the lake. After a few kilometers, the path splits, and you have to decide which path to take. You can either go up via Bjørnstigen or follow the path along the river. The upper route, via Bjørnstigen, offers phenomenal views. I chose the lower route along the river and the gorge and didn't regret it. Magical places, numerous waterfalls, and a glacial mill. I couldn't stop marveling. Unfortunately, the tour was quite crowded today. The bus that takes hikers up wasn't big enough. So a second bus was ordered. Could this have been organized so quickly in Germany? https://www.norwaysbest.com/inspiration/hike-through-the-wild-aurlandsdalen

This hike is considered one of the most famous in Norway. Some even call Aurlandsdalen the Grand Canyon of Norway. I wouldn't go that far, but the valley with its historic hiking route definitely offers the most magnificent Norwegian nature: steep mountains, deep gorges, small streams, mighty rivers, quiet lakes and waterfalls, old farms and dairymen's huts. Many Norwegians park their car in Vassbygdi, then take the morning bus up the valley to Østerbø, and then head back down the route without any time pressure. We prefer hiking uphill rather than downhill. So we were alone all day. Only in the middle of our hike did we meet some oncoming Norwegians. We start in the shade around 8 a.m., make good progress and are surprised when, after a relatively short time, we see a sign that says “18 km” and the 1 km board can be seen on the back. The remaining kilometers to the destination are displayed kilometer by kilometer on the 19 km long route - just like at Preikestolen or Trolltunga. That alone is an indication of the popularity of this route. If you would like to read a detailed description of this tour, we recommend this article: https://www.nordlandblog.de/aurlandsdalen-wandel-vassbygdi-norwegen/ The biggest surprise of this hike for me was the spectacular Vetlahelvete (“Little Hell”) glacier mill. A real highlight: a cylindrical cave milled vertically into the rock with a mystical incidence of light. If you search for pictures on the internet, you'll notice that Instagrammers have long since discovered this piece of earth for themselves. We really enjoyed this last longer hike of our vacation. A clear recommendation! By the way: the actual altitude is certainly higher, komoot probably averaged out the many downhill parts. The distance is also wrong.

An extremely beautiful hike, demanding in terms of the paths. The warm weather with a cloudless sky demanded a lot from us. Also, the tour was actually 19km long, after a break I forgot to start the recording in time. The wooded sections offered shade and one or the other stream or waterfall a cool refreshment. There were always new and incredible prospects. There weren't too many hikers out there. So there were some encounters with the mountain dwellers. We had to laugh a lot when during a break a still quite young sheep trotted past us wildly blocking, looked at us briefly, blocked again in our direction and trotted on. All in all, an absolutely recommendable hike. I would also recommend the downhill option.

This is a really long tour that requires sure-footedness. Sticks are recommended as it was quite scree at times.

Were a total of 9.15 hours on this extremely strenuous but spectacular hike. The average calculated by komoot is anything but correct! Breathtaking nature on these 15km (have taken a strenuous "short cut" over a mountain peak; otherwise the tour would have been 19km)