Where to stay in Folldal
Rooms run scarce up here. The small supply sits close to the village centre and Folldal Church, an easy stride from the shops, and it makes the natural footing for anyone crossing the open fells of this north-western corner of Innlandet. Stay in the centre if you can.
Further out, a thin scatter of farm rooms and fell cabins lies toward Dalen Church among the high clearings, better suited to walkers and anglers working the uplands by car than to anyone wanting a hotel desk and a restaurant. The choice empties fast once you leave the fell road. Travellers who want a wider pick of hotels tend to sleep in one of the larger towns of Innlandet and drive up into Folldal for the day, then back down before dark.
Reserve well ahead through the warm months. The long northern daylight pulls hikers onto the high ground around the two churches, and what little lodging the village holds is taken early across south-eastern Norway's quieter mountain season.
About Folldal
What is Folldal known for?
Folldal sits near the roof of Innlandet. This is one of the highest-lying inhabited corners of the north-western county, a stretch of open fell, scattered farm and birch forest where Folldal Church stands as the gathering point of the village. The parish keeps a second old church.
Dalen Church holds its place among the high farms across the district, and together the two protected churches give this remote upland of south-eastern Norway its long-settled face within the Østlandet region.
What are the main landmarks in Folldal?
Two churches mark Folldal. Folldal Church holds the centre of the village, a protected building that has long served as the gathering point for a community spread thin across the high ground. The older Dalen Church sits apart.
It stands among the outlying farms in its own reach of the district, a second protected church that carries the memory of the mountain parish for travellers passing through this far, high corner of Innlandet.
What is the history of Folldal?
Folldal took shape where few would choose to settle. Families won a living from the thin soil and the fell pastures at the head of the inland valleys, and worship drew them together at Folldal Church, the church that became the centre of a parish spread across miles of open mountain. Dalen Church rose for the outlying farms.
The two protected churches fixed the rhythm of a hard upland life, lived by farming and herding far above the lower dales of the Østlandet region, through generations that knew long winters and short, bright summers. The modern map kept the old shape. Folldal was drawn as a municipality of Innlandet, the administrative unit holding the spread of fell, forest and high farm in the north-western county, and the churches stayed central as boundaries shifted around them.
No charter or single founding moment made the village. It grew, slowly and stubbornly, from the high land of south-eastern Norway, and the look of a thinly settled mountain parish has stayed with Folldal ever since.
Where is Folldal?
Folldal lies high in the north-western part of Innlandet, in south-eastern Norway. The municipality spreads across open fell at the head of the inland valleys, a country of mountain, birch forest and thin upland farm wrapped around the village and Folldal Church. The high ground rules everything here.
Dalen Church keeps its place among the outlying farms in a separate reach of the district, while the rest of Folldal runs to fell pasture, woodland and scattered holdings that hold the far, high character of this part of Innlandet above the lower dales.
What is the climate of Folldal?
Folldal runs cold and dry. Its high seat at the head of the inland valleys gives winters that bite hard and long, with deep frost and lasting snow gripping the fells and the high farms around Folldal Church for much of the year, well away from any softening coast. The summers come short and cool.
Such a lofty inland position in north-western Innlandet hands the district some of the sharpest seasonal swings in south-eastern Norway, while the long northern daylight of the warm months throws open the fell paths near Dalen Church to walkers and anglers.
How do you get to Folldal?
You reach Folldal by car. The village lies high in the north-western country of Innlandet, gained on fell roads that climb steadily toward the head of the inland valleys, with Folldal Church and the centre standing just off the through route. The roads do the work here.
Rail and air links sit out in the wider region of Innlandet around the larger towns, and from there a driver climbs out over the fells, past the outlying parish of Dalen Church, into this high stretch of south-eastern Norway.