Rondane National Park

Rondane National Park is a nature showing-off on a grand scale. As Norway’s first national park, it’s a landscape where wide-open spaces simply meet the sky, and ten towering peaks rise over 2,000 meters. It’s like entering some giant playground where every view is picture-postcard perfect.

It’s hard to say what people love most about Rondane, but hiking has got to top the list. Trails for every level from easy walks that let you enjoy the scenery without breaking a sweat, to the most challenging treks that take you as close to the top of the world as it gets. Each path tells a different story of nature with mountains, valleys, and rivers as the characters.

But what sets Rondane apart from Norway’s other national parks is its inhabitants. Wild reindeer love every inch of this area and can be seen roaming freely through its forests and tundra. Each time you spot a member of this royal breed standing next to one makes you feel just a bit more Norwegian.

Everyone should have this experience at least once. Rondane also holds one of nature’s great mysteries – the Rondane River, which has segments that disappear into the ground and come out much further downstream – like a natural ‘whodunit’.

But the thing that will leave you starry-eyed about Rondane is the chance to go ‘starry-eyed’ for real. Rondane is famous for the dark, clear nights when the stars are at their brilliant best. Can you imagine lying back and watching the Milky Way…with shooting stars darting across the sky? It just goes to show how huge and how beautiful our universe is.