OVERVIEW
Besseggen Ridge ranks as my favorite hike amongst all of the amazing hikes Norway has to offer. It’s not easy, and it takes some planning, but the payoff with the views along the ridge are simply incredible.
The Besseggen Ridge hike is located within Jotunheimen National Park. The trail dissects two lakes, Gjende and Bessvatnet, as it connects the ports of Memerubu with Gjendesheim.
This is generally done as a point to point hike along Lake Gjende. I recommend taking the ferry from Gjendesheim to Memerubu in the morning and hiking back to the car along the ridge.
The hike has a significant amount of elevation gain as it ascends toward the ridge. There are also some sections that require rock scrambling and the use of chains. But after the ridge is conquered, the hike is a gradual descent back toward Gjendesheim.
The night before our hike we stayed at Bessheim Fjellstue og Hytter. This was a very convenient location and only about 5-10 minutes from the port of Gjendesheim. The hotel provides half board – both delicious and filling.
We did this hike in August of 2023 and had a day of fantastic weather. We could see for miles across the lakes with panoramic views of the Norwegian mountains. The sight of Besseggen Ridge carving between the two lakes is something I will never forget. When hiking in Norway, this is a can’t miss trail.
BESSEGGEN RIDGE HIKE STATISTICS
Distance: Point to point, 14 km (9 mile) hike.
Elevation: 1,100 meters (3500 ft) ascent and descent.
Duration: 6-8 hours.
Difficulty: Strenuous, due to both length and elevation gain. Some rock scrambling and the use of chains is also required.
When: Early June through early October.
LOGISTICS
The Besseggen Ridge hike is fairly far from the popular tourist bases in Norway. It is 200 km or a 4 hour drive from Oslo and 220 km or nearly 6 hours from Bergen. As a result, the hike can’t realistically be done as a day trip from these popular Norway locations. Fortunately there are some lodging and camping options near the the ferry port at Gjendesheim.
This hike can be done in either direction, but I would recommend doing it from Memerubu to Gjendesheim. This requires booking the ferry that leaves Gjendesheim and travels to Memerubu. The one way ticket costs 240 NOK for adults and 120 NOK for children under 15 years old.
The closest parking to the ferry is a lot just off highway 51. At this lot there are machines to pay for parking (130 NOK) and to pay for the shuttle bus (80 NOK) that transports people from the parking lot to the ferry, which is another 2 km down the road.
Doing the Besseggen Ridge hike from the opposite direction, from Memerubu to Gjendesheim, would require either getting to Memerubu before the last ferry leaves, staying the night at Memerubu Turisthytt, or only hiking part of the way along the ridge and then returning to Gjendesheim. None of these alternatives sounded appealing to us.
OUR EXPERIENCE HIKING BESSEGGEN RIDGE
Getting to the trail
We wanted to start the Besseggen Ridge hike as early as possible. It was going to be a challenging day and we knew there would be many photo stops along the way.
After having a delicious buffet breakfast at Bessheim Fjellstue og Hytter, we set out at about 6:30 AM with plans to take the first ferry of the day at 7:45 AM. We parked, paid for our parking and shuttle tickets, boarded the shuttle, and arrived at the ferry dock.
We ended up having to wait about 30 minutes at the Gjendesheim port before departure. I waited in line while Shirlee took the kids into Gjendeosen kiosk, a small shop at the port that served coffee, hot chocolate, and pastries.
Once on the ferry it took about 20 minutes to get to Memerubu. There are bathrooms right at the dock, and they are the last ones that we saw until the end of the hike.
Ascending toward the ridge
Similar to other hikes in Norway, the path is marked with a red “T”. The trail was very busy at first, as the ferry unloaded about 150 passengers all intending to hike Besseggen Ridge.
The ascent began immediately. It wasn’t too steep, but it was very long. We hiked uphill essentially for an hour straight, mostly through the forest and without any noteworthy views. The trail was dry and dusty at first, but then became rocky the higher we climbed.
A view over the lake and mountains behind us did start to take shape so we periodically stopped for photos. After about 2 km the trail began to flatten out. We had finished what I considered the most challenging part of the hike.
Here was a sign that recommended slower hikers head back to Memerubu if the hike had taken them longer than a certain amount of time to reach the plateau. We saw a few more of these signs throughout the hike. Fortunately, we appeared to be on schedule to complete the hike successfully.
For the next several hours we hiked with Lake Gjende on our right side and could look down into its turquoise water and across to a beautiful Norwegian mountain range. As we kept hiking, a smaller lake appeared on our left as well.
As the trail continued we came across 3 small climbs, each followed by a brief descent. These were nothing compared to what we had already done…and what lay ahead. The scenery through this area remained amazing.
Hiking up the ridge
We then reached the final ascent up the ridge to the highest point of the hike. The path more or less disappeared amongst the boulders as we continued to climb upward. It was steep and rocky, but not too challenging. However, it suddenly steepened even more and the width of the ridge narrowed considerably.
We could see hikers above us scrambling over large boulders and it felt pretty intimidating from below. However, as we approached that section it never really felt too dangerous. We took our time, had some short breaks, and tried to stay in the middle of the ridge. Shirlee and I stayed right behind the kids, but they had no difficulty or fear with this part of the climb.
As we looked back along the rocky spine behind us, there was no way to put into words what we saw. There was a lake on both sides of us, each at a different elevation and of a different shade of blue, dissected by the ridge we had just hiked along.
The trail finally widened out again and many hikers stopped here to recover from the ascent and take in the spectacular views. We did the same.
Descent toward Gjendesheim
We continued on through a monotonous section of barren rock, with no real views to speak of. Eventually this led to a large cairn, and we added our own commemorative rocks to the pile. This was a unique landscape, like nothing we had seen on our other hikes in Norway.
At this point the endless descent toward Gjendesheim began. This was initially quite gradual. The terrain remained desolate and looked almost like a lunar landscape.
The path began to steepen and in a few places required the use of chains. Our legs were starting to ache so we had to watch our footing. It was a bit technical and strenuous at times.
As we continued down the path we finally saw the ferry docks on our right. The trail became more maintained and now stairs were even in place as we finally arrived back at Gjendesheim.
We had ice cream at Gjendeosen kiosk as we waited for the shuttle bus. We did have to buy return bus tickets from the cashier at the restaurant. The bus came every 30 minutes and brought us back to the car.
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS
This was an absolutely incredible hike. We all thought it was challenging and long, but also rewarding. There was quite a bit of elevation at the beginning and along the ridge, but this was broken up by periods of fairly level ground.
Ascending up the spine of Besseggen Ridge was certainly the highlight of the day. Oliver (10) and Maddie (8), really enjoyed scrambling up the ridge and using the chains on the descent. It didn’t feel nearly as frightening as some of the online pictures might suggest and the views of two lakes divided by the ridge were simply jaw dropping.
Although we also hiked Trolltunga and Romsdalseggen Ridge, this was my favorite hike in Norway. I would strongly recommend it if traveling near Jotunheimen National Park.
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