Numedal is without a doubt the most characteristic and picturesque of the valleys in southern Norway, with its lovely old farmhouses, many of which have been built high up, and its unique wooden stave churches , built in the 12C and restored or exte..

Kunstnerdalen or the Valley of the Artists is named after the large number of famous painters, such as Munch, Thaulow, Krohg, Kittelsen, Skredsvig, Tidemand and Gude who lived here in the late 19C and early 20C. The valley of the Simoa River has kept..

The Otra River wends its way southward along the Setesdal Valley, part of the high plateaux, before flowing into the Skagerrak at Kristiansand. The valley is littered with little villages and remote farms with characteristic architecture: houses with..

Take a boat trip to explore the Gjesværstappan Nature Reserve (15km west of North Cape ), which reaches over three rocky islands: Storstappan, Kirkestappan and Bukkestappan. 360 000 birds nest here, including gulls, cormorants, penguins and Northe..

The Art Museum, inaugurated to coincide with the 1994 Olympics, presents a remarkable overview of Norwegian painting, from the so-called Romantic period up to works from the early 20C : Johan Christian Dahl, Hans Frederik Gude, Frits Thaulow and Chr..

This long valley where the Lågen flows reaches from Bjørli in the north to Lillehammer in the south, over more than 203km. Head to Hunderfossen Family Park , a theme park in Grandrumoen, where you can see the re-enactment of local folk stories. In ..

Housed in a former customs warehouse (1833), the Polarmuseet retraces the history of trappers' and explorers' expeditions in the arctic regions. You will see a reconstruction of a trapper's hut. Whales in the 17C, animals for their fur in the 18C, se..

Linked to the university and located in the extreme south of Tromsøya, the museum is divided into seven departments, including the natural sciences (on the ground floor), and archaeology, ethnography and music (upstairs). The zoological collections a..

North of Kornstadffjord, the 8km-long Atlanterhavsveien, zigzags between a string of islands, crossing the sea via eight bridges. As a motorist, you feel almost like an intruder in this grandiose maritime scene of flat, barren islands, reefs, and the..

This narrow fjord, framed by almost vertical rock faces, is only accessible by boat from Raftsundet, a long strait that separates Austvågøy and Hinnøya. In summer, there are frequent excursions leaving from Svolvær (or Stokmarknes) and the Coastal Ex..

The museum is located on the right-hand side of the road, just before Borg. It presents a reconstruction of a large Viking-age home that was exhumed a few metres from the site in 1983. Faithful to the original, the interior has been done out so as to..

Opened in 1974, this modern museum is laid out over two buildings. Giving onto the fjord, the main building has a spacious interior and houses various collections: paintings, prow figures, interior reconstructions of ships’ cabins, models. The ship r..

This magnificent fjord, accessible from Bergen or Stavanger, is located far inland toward the northeast and covers a distance of 179km, dividing into several branches. Near the coast it is wide and open and lined with picturesque orchards and prairie..

This museum in one of the oldest timber buildings alongside the quays shows the harsh existence of a League merchant and his entourage. On the lower floors were the warehouse, workshops and the office where the accounting books and registers of the m..

A fine and rare example of Norwegian Romanesque architecture, this church is one of Bergen’s oldest buildings and has survived several fires. Thanks to its harmonious proportions and sumptuous furnishings, the interior has a singular charm. Note the ..

This imposing wooden house, painted white and located on a hilltop overlooking Lake Nordås, is famous the world over as Edvard Grieg (1843-1907), Norway's greatest composer, spent the last twenty years of his life here. The idyllic setting of the h..

This modern art centre enjoys a magnificent setting on the banks of a fjord. It was opened in 1968 to house 300 works donated by the figure skater Sonja Henie (1912-1969) and her shipowner husband. The collection has since expanded and constitute..

An original open-air museum created to save the floating boom that, until 1985, was used to group and sort tree trunks as they floated down the Glomma. It is made up of 2.5km of floating waterways, a forge and a presentation of the tools used to mano..

Urnes is a small, remote village with Norway's oldest - and one of its finest - standing timber churches (12C). It dates from the 12C and is a UNESCO world heritage site. Its remarkable portal is decorated with sculpted dragons and snakes inspired by..

This museum is dedicated to safeguarding rural heritage and bringing the region's architectural diversity to the fore. Created in 1904, it encompasses around 150 traditional 18C and 19C houses, which have been painstakingly reconstructed. A standing ..