Where to stay in Beitostølen
Beitostølen carries far more beds than its size suggests, a purpose-built mountain resort high on the rim of the Valdresflye plateau. The lodges and hotels cluster around the village centre and the foot of the slopes, putting you within reach of the lifts, the trails and the small Lyskapellet that stands near the heart of the resort. Stay here for the snow.
The rooms by the slopes suit skiers and fell-walkers who want the lifts on the doorstep and the open plateau of Øystre Slidre stretching out above the village toward the heights. Visitors after the quieter end of the resort lean toward the cabins set back from the centre, near the road that climbs in from the valley, where the views open across the high ground toward the lake Øyangen. Beds fill fast in the high season.
Book well ahead for the winter and the spring ski weeks, and again for the summer walking, when the village draws travellers up from the lower parishes of Innlandet around Lidar kirke into the mountains.
About Beitostølen
What is Beitostølen known for?
Beitostølen is a mountain resort village. It sits high on the southern rim of the Valdresflye plateau in Øystre Slidre, a base for skiing and fell-walking where the open upland of Innlandet rolls away to the north toward the lake Øyangen. Snow defines the place.
The village gathers lodges, lifts and trails around its centre, with the small Lyskapellet nearby, and it draws travellers up the mountain road to the high country above the older valley parishes of the kommune.
What are the main landmarks in Beitostølen?
The plateau itself is the great landmark here. Valdresflye spreads out north of the village, a high mountain tableland whose southern edge gives Beitostølen its slopes and its long open views across Øystre Slidre. The little Lyskapellet marks the resort.
This small chapel stands near the centre among the lodges, while down in the older valleys of the kommune the medieval Lidar kirke serves the lower parishes, and the lake Øyangen lies off to the south-west below the heights, set into the upland of Innlandet.
What is the history of Beitostølen?
The mountain came first, then the resort. Beitostølen began as summer pasture on the high ground of Øystre Slidre, the upland grazing of the valley farms set on the southern edge of the Valdresflye plateau, long before any lodge stood on the slopes. The grass drew the herds.
For generations the farmers of the lower parishes around Lidar kirke drove their animals up to these heights in the warm months, and the cluster of summer farms below the plateau gave the place its name and its first buildings high above the valley floor. The snow changed its course. As skiing grew into a draw, the old mountain pasture turned into a resort village, and lodges, lifts and trails rose around the centre to bring travellers up to the open plateau and the views across the upland of Innlandet toward the lake Øyangen.
The small Lyskapellet was raised among the new buildings to serve the visitors and the village. Beitostølen became a centre for winter sport in the south-western part of Innlandet, a high base under Valdresflye that fills through the ski season and the summer walking. The pasture history still shows.
The village keeps the shape of the old mountain farms beneath the modern resort, set apart on the heights above the older parishes of Øystre Slidre.
Where is Beitostølen?
Beitostølen lies in south-eastern Norway, in the south-western part of Innlandet, high in the kommune of Øystre Slidre. The village stands on the southern rim of the Valdresflye plateau, set well up the mountain where the fells climb away to the north and the long open tableland stretches beyond the slopes. The lake Øyangen lies below.
Beneath the village the older parishes around Lidar kirke fill the south-western valley floor, and the high country of Øystre Slidre rolls out across the heights of Innlandet on every side of the resort.
What is the climate of Beitostølen?
Beitostølen has the hard mountain weather of the high Valdresflye edge, set far up on the heights of Øystre Slidre. Winters run long, cold and deep in snow across the plateau and the slopes, holding the ski season well into the spring and giving the resort its long reliable cover, while summers stay short and cool under the lingering northern light over the open fells. The altitude rules everything.
Snow lies long on the high ground above the lake Øyangen, and the cold of the inland mountains shapes the seasons across this upland corner of Innlandet.
How do you get to Beitostølen?
The mountain road brings you here. Beitostølen sits on the county road that climbs through Øystre Slidre to the southern edge of the Valdresflye plateau, so visitors reach the village by car up the valley from the lower parishes of Innlandet around Lidar kirke. No railway runs to the heights.
The nearest stations and the nearest airport lie well down to the south and east, a long mountain drive from the resort, and buses run up the same road from the valley towns to bring travellers to the village past the lake Øyangen.