Lillehammer

Host of the 1994 Winter Olympics, this small town of wooden houses at the northern tip of Lake Mjøsa offers the Maihaugen open-air museum, Olympic ski jumps and Hafjell ski resort, with something for every season.

Lillehammer lies in Innlandet county in inland Norway, at the northern end of Lake Mjøsa, Norway's largest lake, and the entrance to the Gudbrandsdalen valley, about 180 km from Oslo. A small town of only about 30,000 people, it became world-famous as host of the 1994 Winter Olympics. The town climbs the hillside: the pedestrian street Storgata in the centre is lined with colourful 19th-century wooden houses, the Lysgårdsbakken ski jumps and the Olympic flame tower stand on the slope to the east, and to the south is Maihaugen, one of Northern Europe's largest open-air museums, which also houses the Norwegian Olympic Museum. About 15 km north of town, the Hunderfossen area has a fairy-tale theme park, the Olympic bobsleigh track and the Norwegian Road Museum, and further north are the two Olympic ski resorts of Hafjell and Kvitfjell. The Sjusjøen plateau to the east is a cross-country skiing hotspot, and literature lovers can visit the homes of two Nobel laureates in literature, Sigrid Undset and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. In summer you can cruise Lake Mjøsa to Hamar aboard the 1856 paddle steamer Skibladner, or drive to Ringebu stave church and along the Peer Gynt Road. The December–March ski season has reliable snow, with winter festivals in February; June–August brings long days and all museums fully open. Direct trains from Oslo Central Station or Gardermoen Airport take about 2 hours. Allow 2–3 days, longer for a winter ski trip.

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