Where to stay in Hemsedal
Hemsedal splits its beds between the village and the slopes. The village of Trøym is the valley centre. Staying here puts you beside Hemsedal kirke and on the Hemsila river, close to the everyday services of the municipality and within easy reach of the valley's hiking, biking, and fishing in the high country of south-eastern Norway.
The slopes are a short way on. Up at the Hemsedal skisenter, lodging sits closer to the lifts in the mountains around the valley. This is the base for skiers who want the runs at the door, a recreation footing rather than a village one, busiest through the long mountain winter of the north-western part of Buskerud.
The choice depends on your day. Take Trøym for the valley and its services, or the Hemsedal skisenter for the slopes themselves, with the Hemsila threading the floor of the Hallingdal between them.
About Hemsedal
What is Hemsedal known for?
Hemsedal is ski country. The valley forms the northern branch of the great Hallingdal, in the north-western part of Buskerud, and it is best known for the Hemsedal skisenter, an alpine area among the largest in Norway. High mountains close around it.
The village of Trøym holds the centre, with Hemsedal kirke nearby and the Hemsila river running the length of the valley. A mountain resort in Østlandet.
What are the main landmarks in Hemsedal?
The ski centre leads the valley's draws. Filling the mountains around the valley, the Hemsedal skisenter is an alpine area among the largest in Norway, and it brings most of the winter visitors. A parish church marks the village.
Hemsedal kirke stands at Trøym, the old anchor of the community, while the Hemsila river runs the length of the Hallingdal floor below the high country of south-eastern Norway. Slopes, stone, and the running river.
What is the history of Hemsedal?
Hemsedal became its own municipality in the nineteenth century. In 1897 the valley was separated from Gol to form a municipality of its own, drawing the northern branch of the great Hallingdal into a single administrative unit in the north-western part of Buskerud. The split followed the line of the valley.
Before that division, the scattered farmsteads along the Hemsila worked the valley floor and the high slopes, with Hemsedal kirke at Trøym gathering the parish. The modern town grew from the mountains. The high country that surrounds the valley turned Hemsedal into a recreation centre, and the Hemsedal skisenter built an alpine area among the largest in Norway on the slopes above Trøym.
Winter sport reshaped a farming valley into a resort. From upland farmsteads and the 1897 split with Gol to a mountain ski town, Hemsedal holds the layered story of the upper Hallingdal in south-eastern Norway.
Where is Hemsedal?
Hemsedal is a high mountain valley. It forms the northern branch of the great Hallingdal, in the north-western part of Buskerud, where the Hemsila river runs the valley floor between high mountains that wall in the uplands of south-eastern Norway. The peaks close on every side.
The village of Trøym sits in the valley below the slopes, while the road follows the river line through this corner of Østlandet. This is high mountain interior, far from any coast.
What is the climate of Hemsedal?
Hemsedal has a cold mountain climate. High in the north-western part of Buskerud, the valley sees short cool summers and long snowy winters typical of the upper Hallingdal, with deep cold settling along the Hemsila and the surrounding peaks of south-eastern Norway through the dark winter months. Snow lies long on the slopes.
That long reliable winter is what built the Hemsedal skisenter, drawing skiers to the mountains above Trøym. Subpolar, not coastal.
How do you get to Hemsedal?
Hemsedal is reached by mountain road. The valley lies on National Road 52 through the north-western part of Buskerud, set on the overland route between Oslo and Bergen across the high country of south-eastern Norway. The village of Trøym gathers the services.
From there the Hemsedal skisenter and the slopes lie above, with the road and the Hemsila river following the valley line. The way in climbs into the upper Hallingdal.