Norway's Must-See Number 2: Trolltunga

After a long search, we finally find a nice parking space for the night just outside of Odda. There are a few other mini-campers here as well. We chat with some of them, who strongly advise us to start the Trolltunga hike early the next day and to save some distance and elevation by taking the shuttle bus. So we go to bed early and set the alarm for 5:30 a.m.

On July 2, 2022, we drive to the P2 parking lot (50€) and take the shuttle bus to P3 (20€ per person). When we see how many sharp switchbacks the bus takes, we are glad we don't have to walk this way, but we still have 21 kilometers of hiking ahead of us. The hike starts with a rain-free but steep ascent. After about 4 kilometers, it becomes a bit flatter and we make faster progress. We walk across many bridges and streams/waterfalls, past a lake, and over some snowfields. We are accompanied by light rain showers from time to time and just before reaching Trolltunga, thick fog sets in. Initially, we can't see anything from the glacier lake. But when we finally arrive, the sky clears up and we have a fantastic view of the lake Ringedalsvatnet lying in the valley. After a picnic and a few photos of Trolltunga (only a wait time of about 5 minutes today), it quickly turns gray again and especially stormy. So we head back. This time, the good 10 kilometers feel much longer than the ascent. The path seems to go on and on, and we are repeatedly caught in the rain.

When we arrive back at P3, we wait for about fifteen minutes for the shuttle bus, only to realize that we are actually too many people for the small bus. But luckily, the bus driver still lets us ride. Completely exhausted from nearly 10 hours of hiking (but happy that we made it), we drive for another hour to Jondal, where we spend the night at a camper van park by a small harbor. We can even do laundry for free here, so we start the washing machine and dryer in the middle of the night.

On July 3, we then take the ferry across the fjord to continue on to Bergen.