Besseggen — Attraction in Vågå

The most amazing views on a hike ever. The whole path is well-marked, the landscape changes a few times and the contrast of the two lakes is just phenomenal! Bring all kinds of clothes with you as the weather can shift during the day (we started with -1 degrees Celsius and ended up with 17 degrees and clear skies). Take big water bottles which you can fill up with lake water at the lake underneath the ridge. It’s clean and drinkable (haven’t gotten sick from it). The whole path up to the point of Besseggen ridge itself is quite walkable (little pebbles all along the way are annoying though) but it’s quite steep in the beginning if you start from Memurubu so manage your energy well. There are multiple signs along the path that warn you ‘if you’re already walking for two hours (or four and so on) you have to turn back otherwise you won’t make it before dark and have to stay overnight on the mountain’. The ridge itself is very steep and narrow at a certain section. Highly recommended to start from Memurubu. If you’re afraid of heights, this might not be for you. You have to use both hands and legs to climb. It’s not climbing per se but using your hands ensures you can put all of your weight against the mountain rock itself so you can walk up more securely and are less likely to fall. Taking a dog is possible but you have to keep it on a leash which might throw you off-balance on the ridge itself… To be honest I don’t see small dogs walking up there, more Labrador size dogs. Whole trip took us 5,5 hours to complete and the views are truly worth all the effort. Make sure to look back a couple of times during your ascend to the top of the ridge as you get the best views from this part of the hike. Parking is at ‘Gjendesheim parkering’ (tickets at visitgjende no). Then you can either walk 2 kilometers to the pier from where the boat departs or you can book the shuttle buss on the same website. Please check the weather forecast beforehand on yr no. Wouldn’t want to hike up the ridge when it’s wet or very...

I'll be blunt, myself and my husband have never (ever) hiked more than 5km and nothing as steep as this.

I'm not as fit as I once was, and I know several negative and more experienced hikers have left reviews complaining and act as though they own the mountain. Ignore them. There is nothing wrong with many people hiking with you - we loved it! I'd not recommend dogs on this route mind you...

Providing you are relatively fit and bring trekking poles, you'll be fine. Past the first few kilometres the large groups slowly disperse despite the fear-mongering and gate-keeping experienced hiker warnings!

Travel via Ferry from Gjendesheim - the car parking is further up from the ferry, and parking for that + the shuttle bus is about 275 NOK and the ferry is about 600 for 2 people.

The first 2KM when arriving are easily the hardest - they are tiring and require a few stops.

Once at the top of this first clearing, there are 3 upcoming mini-peaks. If you're exhausted from the first part, these will still be tiring but not as bad as the initial hike!

The next major fear for new folk like myself was the scramble - it's steep. VERY steep. Be prepared to get on your hands at some points and climb some rocks. That said, this was one of the easier parts of the hike in terms of how we felt doing it.

Finally, you will eventually hike a bit longer to the highest point. From this point it's (essentially) all down hill and that's easy peasy!

Overall, with about 5-6 small stops of about 5-15 minutes depending on food or resting, we completed the hike in 6 hours and 20 minutes.

Go and have fun at one of the most iconic hikes in Norway if you feel...

Sadly very overrated. It cost about £60 in total with the parking, bus and ferry. As others have mentioned the weather in this area is extremely changeable and hard to predict even with the best websites/apps. It is 100% stones, very unsatisfying to walk on. View is OK, nothing world class. Others have mentioned the height exposure - this is VERY real. We have hiked extensively in the Himalayas and Alps but on this ridge we reached a slim section en route to the summit with an insanely exposed drop off so we turned back. If you slip there, you'll fall to your death. We did the same as someone in a previous review - walked back to the cafe / ferry port along the far side of the north lake (Bessvatnet). There is a path on 70% of it but it was boggy, extremely wet, loose stones etc. Not fun. Sadly I can't recommend this hike - it's too much stress and not enough enjoyment plus it's far too expensive...