Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
screen TVs and dishwashers, most have a fireplace, and some have laundry facilities and
saunas too.
Myrkdalen Hotel
HOTEL
( 56 52 30 40;
www.myrkdalenhotel.no
; s/d Nkr1095/1495)
The resort revolves around this large, stylish hotel and it provides a large range of facilities
and dining spaces for guests who often spend a week or more here. Rooms are decorated
in a super-smart Norwegian contemporary style, with light wood, greys and pops of col-
our; there's a large range of room sizes and layouts to suit different needs.
Eating options include fine dining in winter, along with a year-round casual restaurant,
fondue station, two bars and a cafe.
Stalheim
Pop 200
High above the valley, Stalheim is a place of extraordinary natural beauty with an interest-
ing, lively past. Between 1647 and 1909, Stalheim was a stopping-off point for travellers
on the Royal Mail route between Copenhagen, Christiania (Oslo) and Bergen. A road was
built for horses and carriages in 1780. The mailmen and their weary steeds rested in Stal-
heim and changed to fresh horses after climbing up the valley and through the Stalheim-
skleiva gorge, flanked by the thundering Stalheim and Sivle waterfalls.
Although a modern road winds up through two tunnels from the valley floor, the
old
mail road
(Stalheimskleiva) climbs up at an astonishing 18% gradient. As tour buses, im-
probably, use this road, it's a one-way road: you can drive down, but not up.
Sights
Everyone comes here for the view from the Stalheim Hotel garden. If you're not staying at
the hotel, the
terrace
(
9.30am-6pm mid-May-Sep)
has a breathtaking outlook straight
down Nærøydalen.
Stalheim Folkemuseum
MUSEUM
