Romsdalseggen Ridge Hike – The Most Spectacular Hiking Trail In Åndalsnes

The Romsdalseggen Ridge Hike in Åndalsnes is one of the most impressive hiking trails in entire Norway! But out of all of the hikes that I did in Norway it was also the most difficult one. There’s a steep ascend over boulders, an exposed part where you have to hold onto chains to cross over and one of the hardest descends.

But don’t let this scare you off! I have a pretty good condition but due to my short legs it’s not always easy for me on these hiking trails but I managed to complete it! And the views! The views over the Romsdalseggen valley with the Rauma river winding its way through the lush landscape out to the fjord and Åndalsnes totally make up for it!

Romsdalseggen ridge is one of the world’s most scenic hikes (Lonely Planet 2011). You’ll hike through a wonderful and dramatic landscape and from the ridge you can see the majestic Trollveggen cliff.

The hiking trail itself is pretty straight forward, except at one point during the descend. In this guide I’ll tell you exactly what to do and which path to avoid at all costs. Otherwise you might end up like me, hanging onto a rope and scared to hike further down.

This article on the Romsdalseggen Ridge Hike will include every single detail that you’ll need to have the best experience and also a retelling of my personal experience on this trail.

Romsdalseggen Ridge Hike – The Most Spectacular Hiking Trail In Åndalsnes

Romsdalseggen ridge is one of the most spectacular backdrops in the world and one of the top hiking trails to do in Norway. The long and narrow Romsdalen valley has many impressive mountain tops such as Kongen, Dronningen, Romsdalshorn, Store Trolltind and Store Venjestind.

On days with clear weather and good visibility, standing on Romsdalseggen you can see all the way to Molde and the Atlantic Ocean.

The Romsdalseggen ridge is located in the heart of the Romsdal valley and once you reach its top it offers 360° views over the surrounding area. It’s definitely one of the top things to do in the Romsdal area!

🗺 How to reach the Romsdalseggen Ridge Hiking Trail

The Romsdalseggen Ridge Hiking Trail is a point to point hike, just like that other wonderful hike in Norway the Besseggen Ridge Trail. But in contrary to that one there’s only one way to complete this hike and that’s from Venjesdalsetra, a car park in Vengedalen, toÅndalsnes.

There’s a dedicated Romsdalseggen bus that will take you to the car park in Vengedalen. This bus leaves from the bus station inÅndalsnes and will drop you off atVenjesdalsetra. It costs 200NOK per person and you can park your car or camper van at the long term parking lot inÅndalsnes.

During high season there are several Romsdalseggen busses per day but I do recommend booking your tickets in advance! Depending on the season there are up to 8 busses per day but the Romsdalseggen Ridge hike is by far the most popular hike in the area so don’t wait last minute to plan out your hike.

The Romsdalseggen bus does not take passengers from Venhesdalsetra back toÅndalsnes so don’t even attempt on hiking it the other way around!

The road up to Vengedalen is a toll road and costs 100NOK, which is included in the ticket price of the bus.

🚘 Rent a car to travel around Norway with SunnyCars.com. They offer excellent car service and every car insurance you can think of is included in their price!

🏨 Where to stay when hiking the Romsdalseggen Ridge

The area around Åndalsnes is filled with stunning camp sites and we had the pleasure to stay at two of them! We stayed at the Åndalsnes Camping & Motell and the Trollveggen Camping. Out of these two the Trollveggen Camping is definitely the most scenic one! Here you’ll set camp right next to the impressive Troll Wall. And yes, we did see our camp site all the way down in the valley when we reached the Stabbeskaret viewpoint!

Another camping option is the Trollstigen Camping and Gjestegård, it’s located only 15 minutes driving from the bus station in Åndalsnes and has been named one of the best and most beautiful camp sites in entire Norway. Unfortunately I only found out about it after our visit to the area. Otherwise you can bet that I would have spent a night here as well!

If you’re not a fan of camping and you fancy a little more luxury you can take a look at the hotels in the Åndalsnes area below!

Booking.com

🗓 When to hike the Romsdalseggen Ridge Hike

The best season to hike the Romsdalseggen ridge is the summer season which start halfway June and ends near the end of September. When you’re planning your itinerary try to stay a little flexible. It’s best to hike this trail on a clear day, otherwise the entire valley could be covered in a haze of clouds and fog.

It’s best not to attempt this hike on a rainy day! It involves scrambling up a lot of rocks and a big part of the trail is very exposed.

In my opinion the best time to hike the Romsdalseggen Ridge is September. The temperatures might have dropped a little already compared to the summer months of July and August but there are still a lot of sunny days. And what’s even better is that there’s a lot less tourists.

Combine your visit in September with avoiding the weekends and you’ll likely have this wonderful trail almost all to yourself.

It’s a demanding hike so book one of the earliest busses so you don’t need to stress about hiking in the dark.

🥾 Romsdalseggen Ridge Hiking Details

Romsdalseggen Hike Distance – 10.3km (6.4 miles)

Romsdalseggen Hike Duration – 6 to 8 hours

Route Type – Point to point hike

Romsdalseggen Hike Difficulty – Hard. The Romsdalseggen Ridge Trail was by far the hardest out of all the hiking trails that we completed in Norway. It involves a lot of scrambling and some exposed parts where you have to hold on or pull yourself up with the help of a chain. Not to mention, the final 2km’s are brutal for the knees due to the steep descend.

Romsdalseggen Hike Elevation – 970m

Some guides suggest that you can skip the hardest part of the hike by following the Høgnosa trail. This way you’ll avoid the hardest part of the hike but honestly, you’ll also miss out on some of the most spectacular views.

As of June 2021 there’s also theÅndalsnes cable car. And honestly, if I wouldn’t have left my credit card in the camper van I would have bought me a one way ticket down for sure! The price is 300NOK to either go up or down with the gondola and 450NOK for both ways if you’re feeling very lazy.

🙋🏼‍♀️My personal experience on the Romsdalseggen Ridge Hiking Trail

We woke up bright and early that morning, strapped on our hiking boots and made our way to theÅndalsnes bus station. Since we were already halfway through September high season was over and there were only 2 Romsdalseggen busses that went straight to the Romsdalseggen trail head. One at 8am, which we took, and one at 9am. We got on the bus and half an hour later we arrived at the trail head atVenjesdalsetra.

The first part of the hike slowly went up and included some stone steps. We hiked up and after a while arrived above the tree line. In this part of the hike there are a couple of natural resources where you can refill your water bottle. Make sure to do so cause afterwards you won’t get the chance anymore.

I’m not gonna lie, these first 3km were already burning up my calves! But the views around us were so stunning and the sun was starting to peep through the clouds so the discomfort didn’t matter at all. On our left we could see a part of the mountain rising up. I can only describe it as a sea of rocks going up high into the sky. And it was very clear that we had to climb up said rock wall. Right before we started our climb up we bumped into the trail sign that pointed towards the Høgnosa trail. This will add 1km to your hike but like I said before you won’t have to do the steepest incline of the trail this way. Do keep in mind that you also won’t see a lot of the most stunning views this way.

We decided to suck it up and started climbing up the sea of rocks.

I can tell you one thing. After reaching the top I was absolutely blown away by the views. We had a 360° view over the area. On one side there were rugged mountain peaks and a view that reached up all the way to the ocean. But it was only when we reached the other side of the ridge that we fully understood why this hike was so insanely popular!

The Romsdal valley was shining in all its glory. A green meadow like landscape intertwined with the blue Rauma river. It felt like a scene from Lord of the Rings. And while the bright sun in the sky wasn’t the best to create photos it did bring out all of the colors in the valley even more. The extra warmth on our face also didn’t hurt cause damn it was cold up here!

After taking about a hundred photos it was time to tackle a more difficult part of the hike towards the highest point. What followed was a short descend and steep incline afterwards over an exposed ridge. At times there were chains present to help you through the most dangerous parts. But all in all it was pretty okay. We did have amazing weather of course. I can imagine that this part is a lot trickier and scarier during bad weather.

But like with every hike we ever did, the views that you get in return afterwards are more than worth the struggle.

After reaching the highest point at about 5km into the hike it was time for a less strenuous part of the hike. We could see the rest of the ridge line in front of us and all the way in the back we could already see the cable car station glistening in the sunlight. I figured it was only a short walk to reach it but turns out it was still 1,5 hour of hiking!

I had already set my mind on taking the cable car down since my knees were starting to hurt. andI had read before that the final 2km of this hike were brutal on the joints. It’s not every day that you have to hike down over 1000 meter in less than 2km.

But when we were nearly there I realized something. The day before I had taken out my credit card from my jacket and well neither of us had any money on us. When we finally reached the cable car station we regretted even more cause there was a giant terrace overlooking the Romsdalseggen valley and they were serving large beers. A missed opportunity very much indeed!

Oh well, we refilled our water bottles at a sink in their rest rooms and started hiking our way down. But at one point we came at a crossroads and there was no one even remotely close to us to ask which one would have been the better path.

One said Sommerrute and the other Vinterrute. My brain figured it had something to do with summer and winter and that the one that you can still do in winter is probably the easiest one.

WRONG! I’ve never regretted anything more thank taking the Vinterrute. The first part was still okay but all of a sudden the trail became super difficult and very very steep. There was a white rope to hold onto but it was also kinda loose. So for the next 45 minutes I was dangling on for dear life, trying to put one foot in front of the other without falling down and rolling down 10 more meters.

Honestly, there were times where I had to stop and take a breather cause I was getting scared. And this is coming from someone who loves climbing over exposed ridges and hanging from chains. A lot of times the distance was too large for my short legs and I had to slide down on my butt.

After what felt like forever we finally met up with the other trail which was a lot easier and way less steep. The entire time we could see the town of Åndalsnes below us but the descend seemed never ending.

I think it took us nearly 2 hours (and they felt like 20) to reach our camper van. I took off my shoes, saw a puddle of water and stood in it for the next 5 minutes trying to mentally process the last part of this hike.

❕Romsdalseggen Ridge Tips & Tricks

Litlefjellet

If you’re not to keen on doing this hike but you still want to take in some of the most breathtaking views then this place is for you! The Litlefjellet parking lot is also located in Vengedalen so to get there you’ll have to pay the toll fee of 100NOK. But trust me, you won’t regret it.

You’ll first drive past the parking lot where you otherwise get dropped off to start the Romsdalseggen ridge hike. Drive over the small bridge and keep on following the road. There’s only a small parking lot near the Litlefjellet trail head but at least it’s free.

The area around Litlefjellet is also beautiful to go wildcamping!

The hike up itself only takes around 30 minutes and while it isn’t super easy it’s definitely worth the amazing views that you’ll get in return!

Rampestreken

The Rampestreken hiking trail will take you up the Rampestreken mountain. This is the same place that the Åndalsnes cable car goes up to so if you don’t feel like doing it on foot you can also choose that option. Do know that the cable car only starts running at 12am.

This hike is also part of the Romsdalseggen hiking trail and it’s the final descent from that particular hike. So be prepared to hike up a steep hill!

🧳 Norway Hiking Packing List

Hiking shoes – You will definitely need a pair of these. Even that some attractions are located right next to a parking lot you’ll pretty much always have to hike over a rocky terrain. I love my Meindl Mountain Trail Boots for longer hikes and my Danner Mountain Light Boots for daily wear and shorter distances.

Trekking poles – These will especially come in handy cause a lot of the hikes in these guide can be rather strenuous on the joints. I used the Leki Adventure Light trekking poles for all of my hikes in Norway!

Back Pack – You’ll want to bring a back pack with you to carry your camera, some snacks and your refillable water bottle. I love the Kanken No. 2 back pack from Fjallraven and pretty much take it with me everywhere I go.

Refillable Water Bottle – The water in Norway is some of the freshet in the entire world so there’s no need at all to buy plastic bottles. Simply find the nearest stream to fill up your bottle and you’re good to go.

Another option is to use a back pack which has a water reservoir built inside of it. For instance this 3L Hydration Bladder is leak proof and can be stored inside a back pack.

Trail Leggings – I love hiking in leggings and have lately been loving the Abisko Trail Tights from Fjallraven.

Fast Drying Shirt – When hiking you tend to sweat, especially when climbing a mountain. One of the best things to wear is a shirt that quickly dries so you don’t get cold high up the mountain.

Insulating Jacket – Depending on the temperature you’ll either want a thicker or lighter jacket. If it’s pretty cold outside I always go for my Fjallraven Vidda Jacket. Otherwise I go for their High Coast Light Jacket which is super light weight.

Woolen cap – The perfect accessory to protect your ears from the cold and to cover your hair after a few days without a shower.

Protein Bars – Make sure you have a couple of these stowed a way in your back pack to boost up your energy level during the hike.

Sunscreen – Make sure to re apply to your face regularly cause pretty much all of the hikes that we did in Norway were exposed most of the time. I love this one by Neutrogena which feels like a face mist but also provides SPF 50 protection!

Merino Wool Socks – My go to brand has always been Falke and I love how fast they drive after a long day of hiking. Plus since they’re made of merino wool they don’t smell and can be worn for a couple of days.

Charlotte

Charlotte Lint is the founder of Charlies Wanderings.
Charlotte has traveled all over the world and is based in Belgium where she also owns her very own dental practice.
She is an expert on writing efficient travel guides and finding unique places to stay.
Every month she helps over 134.000 people discover the most beautiful places in the world through her detailed travel guides.