Discover the best skiing in Norway

For other Scandinavian skiers, it’s easy to be a little envious of Norway for the country’s success on the ski trails and the alpine slopes over the years but mostly for its location, Norway boasts high mountains that cover a large part of the country’s surface and has a genuine and inviting ski culture spanning generations. In Norway, skiing is both an everyday activity and incredibly fun. Skiing is something that people of all ages enjoy on weekends and vacations, whether it’s cross-country, downhill or even ski touring.

Don’t miss the chance to discover Norway by snow yourself. There are many ski resorts of all sizes offering fantastic experiences in our beautiful Scandinavian mountain world. And if you’re prepared to get to the top on your skis—to go ski touring—you can have world-class experiences in magnificent landscapes where steep mountains meet deep fjords. Go ahead!

Flight to: Oslo

Hemsedal

Norway’s most popular ski resort is located just three hours north of the capital, Oslo. The pace never slows here—it’s full speed ahead from morning to late evening. Start the day by hitting the long, well-prepared slopes to warm up enough to take on some of the finest off-piste skiing in Scandinavia. When your legs have given up for the day, perhaps the wildest and most fun après-ski in this northern region starts at full blast and lasts well into the small hours.

Flight to: Scandinavian Mountains Airport

Trysil

Trysil is located just across the border from Sälen in Sweden but offers almost double the vertical drop and even more skiing, with a lift system that has 31 lifts and 68 runs. If you love skiing on the slopes, you’ve found the best place. Few places in Scandinavia can offer slopes as enticing as these for some exhilarating carving, often on wide slopes that are just steep enough.

Flight to: Trondheim

Oppdal

Norway’s third-largest city, Trondheim, is home to many world-class cross-country skiers and is truly a winter city. It will also host the World Ski Championships in 2025. But if you prefer downhill skiing, the little gem of Oppdal a couple of hours to the west is an obvious destination. Here, you can enjoy fantastic off-piste skiing, especially with the newly built Vangsliekspressen chairlift, and really nice carving slopes. And when the ski day is over, you could enjoy a stroll around one of Norway’s most charming little towns.

Flight to: Bergen

Myrkdalen

The coastal city of Bergen is one of the wettest places in Europe. This is a good thing for skiers, because when the storms push in from the Atlantic Ocean during the winter, they bring vast amounts of snow to the mountains away from the coast. This is what happens in little Myrkdalen, which is one of the ski resorts in Europe that gets the most snow every winter. This creates fantastic opportunities for powder skiing that are unprecedented in Scandinavia.

Flight to: Harstad/Narvik

Narvikfjellet

If there were a competition for the world’s best urban slope, Narvikfjellet would be the winner. Just outside the city limits, you will find lift-assisted skiing that is among the finest in Scandinavia with a large drop, great slopes and a fabulous off-piste area—all with magnificent views of the Ofotfjord. If you come here in late April or early May, you can also ski in the midnight sun. 

Lofoten

Perhaps the best “ski resort” in Norway has no lifts or slopes, but the Lofoten archipelago offers some of the best skiing in the world. Jagged mountain peaks rise over 6,560 feet straight up from the sea. The views from the peaks, where you can see nothing but mountains and ocean in every direction, are an experience that every skier should have at least once in their life. A guide is a must. Our top tip is to stay at the cozy Lofoten Ski Lodge in Kabelvåg, which offers accommodation, guides and fresh fish from the nearby ocean. 

Flight to: Ålesund

Strandafjellet

Just over an hour’s drive from the beautiful coastal town of Ålesund is the small community of Stranda, located on the magnificent Storfjorden. The ski area itself is situated on two sides of the same valley and offers both a large drop and tremendous opportunities for off-piste skiing and shorter tours. As if that weren’t enough, Stranda gets a lot of snow every winter. It is a little gem that is well worth discovering for the adventurous skier. The local guide company Uteguiden is more than happy to show you the best of the area in a safe way.

Text by Tobias Liljeroth