From easy guided hikes and the summer-skiing resort on the Folgefonna glaciers to the serious hiking trails that encompass waterfalls and panoramic vistas, Norway’s Hardangerfjord region offers truly exceptional outdoor experiences. Norway’s Queen Sonja is known to favor the hiking trails around the village of Kinsarvik so much that a tough 16-kilometer (10-mile) hike is named after her.
At 161 kilometers (100 miles) long, the fjord is the fourth-longest in the world and plunges down almost 914 meters (a half mile) at its deepest point. Take in the best of the landscape from the unique vantage point provided by the fjord as you sail inland from the island of Stord toward the ever-more-imposing mountains of the Hardangervidda National Park. Waterfalls, islands and shoreline villages dot the journey. Dangling more than 610 meters (2,000 feet) above Lake Ringedalsvatnet is the Troll’s Tongue, a unique rock formation and one of Norway’s most famous hikes—and photo opportunities.
The deep waters of the fjord are home to plentiful stocks of fish, while brown trout and wild salmon fill the rivers and lakes of the region. The mountainous national parks east of the fjord are the natural habitat of wild reindeer herds, elk and the mountain fox.