Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Obtain complete and detailed maps from the tourist office before setting
out into the park, and know that the weather can change at a moment's notice.
You can also arrange with the tourist office to hire a guide, which is highly
recommended.
WHERE TO STAY
Elveseter Hotell
This is the kind of hotel complex where visitors
sometimes regret not spending more than just 1 night. In its role as a hotel, it
accepted its first overnight guest in 1870, while it simultaneously functioned as
a farmstead whose workers and overseers were completely snowbound for at
least 6 months of the year. What you'll see today is a compound of 19
Tolkienesque buildings, many antique, all of them plank-sided, and some of
them with sod roofs. They nestle, in isolated dignity, beside a river on a valley
floor that's flanked on both sides by some of the most jagged and constantly
snow-covered mountains in Norway. Two of the buildings boast foundations
from 1579 and 1640, respectively. Others are newer structures fancifully
trimmed in the Norwegian nationalist style, with Viking-inspired motifs
that include dragon-prowed ships and frequent references to ancient Norse
mythology.
The compound's centerpiece is the
Sagasøyla
(Saga column), rising 30m (100
ft.) and capped with bronze statues of Viking lords. It presents a figurative his-
tory of Norway from 872 to 1814. Depending on your point of view, the decor
of this place is either richly historic—a period piece that revels in the Norwegian
national aesthetic—or a slightly dated piece of Scandinavian kitsch. A wide
range of outdoor activities is available here, for supplemental fees. Examples
include midsummer cross-country skiing on the high altitudes nearby or on gla-
ciers, every imaginable kind of trekking and climbing, and river rafting. Folk-
loric shows, presented within an on-site theater, occur frequently, usually as
entertainment for one of the visiting bus tours.
Bøverdalen.
&
61-21-20-00.
Fax 61-21-21-01. www.elveseter.no. 125 units. 850NOK ($121) double. Rates
include breakfast. Evening buffet in dining room 225NOK ($32) per person. AE, DC, MC, V. Closed mid-Sept
to late May. Bøverdalen lies 24km (15 miles) from Lom. From the hamlet of Bøverdalen, drive 3.3km (2 miles)
southwest and follow the signs to Elveseter.
Amenities:
Buffet-style restaurant; bar; indoor pool; theater for
movies and folkloric expositions; sports facilities that include options for hiking, trekking, and rafting. In
room:No phone.
Fossheim Turisthotell
Cozy, comfortable, and appealingly old-fashioned,
this hotel originated in the heart of the hamlet of Lom in 1897, when it gave
overnight shelter to people and horses on one of the country's important mail
routes. Radically renovated and enlarged in 1950 and again in 1992, it is still
accented with stout ceiling beams and a scattering of Norwegian antiques. It's
most famous today for its restaurant, which is separately recommended below
(p. 206). Most clients, who overnight in one of the conservatively decorated and
cozy bedrooms, each with a shower, wouldn't miss a meal in the dining room.
N-2686 Lom.
&
61-21-95-00.
Fax 61-21-95-01. www.fossheimhotel.no. 53 units. 850NOK-1,080NOK
($121-$153) double. Rates include breakfast. AE, DC, MC, V.
Amenities:
Restaurant; 2 bars. In room: TV
(in some), no phone.
Turtagro
One of the most isolated hotels in Norway occupies a forested,
mountainside site 9.5km (6 miles) northeast of the hamlet of Fortun and 59km
(37 miles) northeast of the village of Sogndal. It originated in 1887, when it func-
tioned as an emergency station for mountaineers and trekkers in the surrounding
hills and mountains. In 2001 the hotel's antique core, site of its restaurant, was
Finds
