review of a popular multi-day trek

Breathtakingly awesome fjords, mountains and Northern Lights – these experiences are what people most associate with Norway. But high travel costs are not far behind. ‘How much money should I set aside for a holiday in Norway?’ ‘Is Norway really that expensive?’ ‘Can you travel in Norway on a budget?’ These are questions that are very much on travellers’ minds when travelling to Norway. The same is true for us hikers. 

breaking it down - a real budget for a trek in Jotunheimen

This is an update for the article that was first published in 2020. It has proven to be a very popular blog with my readers. Here is the update for 2024. Interestingly some of the travel cost have come down, so this year it is a little less expensive to travel to Gjendesheim than in 2023. Given the favourable currency exchange rate with many other countries, this makes Norway more affordable than it has been in the last few years.

In this post, I give an actual breakdown of the budget required for a trek in Norway’s most alpine area: Jotunheimen, or ‘home of the giants’. I have chosen this trek for illustrative purposes. It is taken from my guidebook, Hiking in Norway – South, and is a classic Norwegian hiking route. It is a six-day (seven-night) trek that takes you over the famous Besseggen ridge alongside Gjende Lake and then along and up Glittertinden and Galdhøpiggen – Norway’s and Scandinavia’s two highest mountains. In-between you hike along beautiful valleys, shaped by ice and glaciers, as well as among many of the peaks that give the park its name. In short, an awesome trek. 

what I am excluding - just so you know - equipment, insurance and flights

I assume you already have the necessary equipment, so no costing for equipment is included here. Choice of kit is subjective and very much depends on how simple or how fancy you want to go. However, for a good gear list suggestion, have a look here. Note that this includes a sleeping bag liner, which is compulsory in all mountain huts.

Consider taking out adequate travel insurance. Mountain rescue in Norway is free, but follow-up healthcare costs could be considerable.

Finally, it is assumed that for the Jotunheimen trek you would fly in to Oslo Gardermoen Airport (which is the most convenient entry point for this trek). Prices of flights will vary significantly depending on carrier, timing, and distance – best to check with your preferred airline or flight comparison site. Or you could take the bus or the train from continental Europe to Oslo! 

the choices you can make

In order to cost things out for the trek, I will provide a list of the various expenses such as local transfer, accommodation, food and other necessary costs, as well as outlining some of the options available to you. Then I will put these individual expenses together and group them into three different types of trekking experience, to provide overall costs for each of the following:

• Option 1, you pitch your tent away from the mountain huts and are completely self-sufficient.

• Option 2, you camp near huts for a few nights and eat some meals there but are otherwise self-contained.

• Option 3, you travel light, choosing to stay full board in huts at their simplest lodging option.

The estimated costs are based on my own experience in Norway, and on actual current costs taken from websites. Not all lodges and transport providers have listed their 2024 prices yet, but I have used those when I could find them. Additionally, all prices are per adult person (without discounts, such as for under 25’s or families) unless otherwise noted. Check out exchange rates in the sidebar of this post with the currency converter. I used current exchange rates at the time of writing to illustrate, but these change constantly. All costs are indicative and can change at any time. Do your own research to be sure of the budget you need.

Nevertheless, I hope this information helps in planning and understanding your options for hiking in Norway in general and Jotunheimen in particular. You might find that making budgetary choices when planning your holiday will go a long way towards increasing the enjoyment of the your trip. You might also find that hiking in Norway’s glorious alpine landscapes, among glaciers, valleys and lakes, is much more in reach than you thought.

local transport – how to get there (and back)

train, bus and boat fees

The Jotunheimen Classic trek starts from Gjendesheim mountain hut, situated at the eastern end of Gjende Lake in Jotunheimen National Park. It is easiest to get here by bus from Oslo’s central bus terminal (‘Oslo Sentral’). The bus stops just a few meters from the hut. Getting to the central bus terminal from Oslo Gardermoen Airport by train is very convenient. The trek ends at Gjendebu hut at the far western end of Gjende Lake. To get back to Gjendesheim, you’ll need to take the boat on Gjende Lake, and from Gjendesheim a bus and train back to Oslo and the airport.

• Single trip on express train from Oslo Gardermoen Airport to Oslo bus terminal: 124-240 NOK, depending on train used (see here or here). The more expensive option is the express train.

• Round trip on Valdresekspressen NW161 bus from Oslo bus terminal to Gjendesheim hut: around 700 NOK return, depending on how far in advance you book (see here). This is a summer-only route, with the listing published each spring. In 2024 the direct bus runs from June, 7 to October 6, 2024. Gjendesheim mountain hut gives you a 100 NOK gift card if you arrive by bus and booked overnight accommodation in advance. See https://www.dnt.no/grontkort/ for more information (Norwegian only). There are more options to get to Gjendesheim, if you are ok with stopovers at Fagernes.

• Boat trip on Gjende Lake from Gjendebu to Gjendesheim: 280 NOK (see here). In 2024 the boat will service Gjendebu likely from June to September , 2024 (exact dates will be updated as they become available).

Accommodation – where to stay or camp

mountain cabins, lodges and camping

Along the Jotunheimen Classic route you have the option of staying in a fully serviced mountain cabin every night. Some are run by the DNT Oslo and Omegn trekking association, while others are privately owned. All provide a discount if you are a member of any DNT trekking association in Norway. It is useful to know that you can camp in the grounds of most of these cabins and lodges for a fee, while using their facilities such as the outhouse, dry room, showers and lounges. Alternatively, you can pitch your tent anywhere in the mountains at no cost if you do so at least 150m away from any built-up structure (like a cabin, house, or farm). For more information, see Norway’s law regarding the ‘right to roam’. Generally speaking, when camping in the grounds of a hut a reservation is not required.

Thus, if you take your tent, sleeping and cooking gear on your trek, you have maximum flexibility. You can make your decision each day depending on the weather and the level of comfort you feel like having that night. You have to balance the significant extra weight of your equipment against the cost of the cabins. On the other hand, you might prefer the privacy of your own tent to the comfort of a proper mattress. Sleeping outdoors is a very different experience and can add much to your enjoyment of the spectacular landscapes you hike through. Sleeping in a hut allows you to hike with a lighter backpack, and to enjoy the comfort and warmth of the cabins and their hospitality.

accommodation prices

Prices for accommodation (bed only, no meals), per person per night (taken from 2024 price lists where available and assuming you are a member of the DNT -(this will pay for itself after only a few nights on the trail):

• Lodging at DNT huts in Jotunheimen: 258–458 NOK, depending on room type

• Approximate price in private lodges: inquire directly for lodging only at Spiterstulen and Memurubu

• Showers at huts: mostly included in lodging fee, otherwise around 20–50 NOK

• Bedding is provided at the cabins, but use of a (sleeping bag) liner or linen is mandatory. Take your own, or hire for 110 NOK. Towels: take your own or hire for about 40 NOK.

• Camping at a designated site on the grounds of the huts: about 110 p.p. NOK, for DNT huts, prices for Spiterstulen (inquire for prices) and Memurubu (190 NOK pppn).

Under-26-year-olds pay half-price if staying at the cheapest accommodation option in the huts; further discounts are available for children and families. See the full 2024 price list for the DNT Oslo and Omegn huts here.

food and drink on the trail

Many of the treks featured in my hiking guide make use of self-service huts, at least in some locations. These huts all have a fully equipped kitchen, and a pantry where you can buy a reasonably wide selection of non-perishable items, such as coffee, tea, hot chocolate, breakfast oats, tins or packages of rice, pasta and other dishes, soups, pancake mix, as well as chocolate and snacks. Availability of all items is not guaranteed, so flexibility is important. You pay for what you take and each cabin has a price list (have a look here for the latest prices available in 2024 from the Oslo and Omegn trekking association).

plan ahead if you want to camp

Buying food for your own cooking is not possible along the Jotunheimen Classic trek, as the huts are all fully serviced in summer. The huts do, however, sell snacks such as chocolate and cookies, some basic toiletries, and at times gas bottles too. Therefore, if you want to camp and self-cater along the trail you need to plan ahead; it is worth considering taking hiking food from your home country. The selection will be familiar, and you know what you will pay. You can take sealed, packaged and dried foods through customs – ideal for trekking. Note that you can’t take camping fuel on planes, so you’ll have to source that locally before setting out, if you fly into Norway. See section on ‘other important stuff’.

buying groceries

To get an idea of the prices you’ll pay for groceries, it’s worth looking at this online store. You can even put together a basket of the goods you might want to buy if you were stocking up for a tent-based hiking trip. Some indicative prices for selected goods you might want to take with you:

• Loaf of bread: 40–80 NOK

• Oats for porridge: 20 NOK

• Small packet of ham: 70 NOK

• Block of cheese: 65 NOK

• Packet of peanuts: 25 NOK

Prices in physical supermarkets are going to be fairly similar. The supermarket chains Rema 1000 and Kiwi might have slightly lower prices; both have outlets within walking distance of the Oslo central train/bus station.

no need to plan if you decide to take full board in a mountain hut

The fully serviced mountain cabins and lodges on the Jotunheimen Classic all offer breakfast, lunch packages and dinner. You don’t have to buy these when you stay at the hut, but note that these cabins don’t allow the use of camping stoves on their premises, except in the camping grounds.

You can choose full board, which includes a lunch package (you make this yourself) for the trail and a full flask of hot drink, or alternatively you can buy meals individually. From the DNT 2024 price list (again assuming active membership):

• Breakfast: 175 NOK

• Three-course dinner: 430NOK (main course only: 235 NOK)

• Sandwich (as part of the lunch package): 19 NOK

• Flask of tea/coffee/hot water: 51 NOK (per flask, whether it is a full or a half-litre)

This might seem expensive at first sight, but remember that everything has to be transported to the huts over sometimes arduous terrain and long distances, or is made locally by small farmsteads (for example) that need to make a living. There is always enough food for everyone; you can eat your fill. The skill of the cook obviously determines the quality of the offering, and sometimes you might be licking your fingers after being served local produce, like trout or lamb. Vegetarian and vegan options are possible, but be sure to communicate your dietary requirements as early as you can.

prices for lodging and full board

Putting it all together, for lodging and full board (includes bed, shower, three-course dinner, breakfast, and packed lunch incl. hot drink): 990-1190 NOK, depending on room type. For the same package in the private mountain lodges on this trek (Memurubu, Spiterstulen): 1275–1650 NOK, depending on room type. Some private lodges stipulate a minimum stay of two nights, and offer a discount if you stay longer or as a family.

Finally, while after-dinner coffee/tea and cookies or a slice of cake are usually part of the offering, snacks and alcoholic drinks are always separate:

• Beer by the can or wine by the glass: 90–130 NOK

• Chips (crisps), chocolate, cookies: 40–70 NOK

other important stuff

If you are camping, you will likely need to buy stove fuel or gas before setting out - you can’t bring it with you if you fly into Norway.

• Stove fuel: 89-99 NOK (see for example here – the Norwegian Trekking Association offers membership and has a store in Oslo, a five-minute walk from the central train/bus station). Even if you’re staying at the cabins, consider carrying a small gas burner so that you can have a coffee or a tea, or a cup of soup, while you’re on the trail.

• DNT membership (useful if you’re staying at huts for more than three nights): adults 810 NOK for a calendar year; go to dnt.no. You may be eligible for discounts, depending on your age.

• DNT universal key for self-serviced and unserviced huts: 100 NOK (when picked up). You don’t need the key for the Jotunheimen Classic trek, but for other routes in my guidebook it may be required, so I list it here for completeness.

In order to get the most out of your experience on and around the trail, it is always best to arm yourself with the right information:

• Guidebook: Hiking in Norway – South: The 10 best multi-day treks, buy it here for 17.95 GBP (243 NOK, current exchange rate) excluding shipping

• Maps: for this trek, the best maps are Nordeca Jotunheimen Aust 2503 and Nordeca Jotunheimen Vest 2505 – for example from the DNT online store at 22.00 EUR for each map at the time of writing, excluding shipping, 518 NOK for the two (at current exchange rates).

Services at Oslo bus terminal

• Luggage storage (for a large box): starting at 69 NOK per hour, 299 NOK for 24 hours, see here for information.

putting the budget together for your trek

So, we’ve covered transport, accommodation, food, maps, guidebook and some incidentals. Now let’s put it all together. Hopefully you will see that even though some essentials are more expensive than in your home country, you can still enjoy a Norwegian trek on a moderate budget (and have a fantastic experience!).

I will outline three ways of going about your hiking adventure. In the first, you take your own camping gear and pitch your tent away from the huts, making use of your ‘right to roam’. In the second you camp near huts for a few nights and eat some meals there but are otherwise self-contained. The third scenario assumes you travel light and choose to stay full board in huts, using their simplest lodging room.

In all cases it is assumed that for this trek you would arrive at Oslo Gardermoen Airport, and that you would buy the two maps (518 NOK total) and the guidebook (243 NOK). You would need two transfers to/from Oslo bus terminal (364 NOK total, using express train and vy train), a return bus trip to Gjendesheim hut (698 NOK), and the single boat trip on Gjende lake (280 NOK). All together for internal transport and book/maps, you could expect to pay just over 2100 NOK in all cases, regardless of the length of your stay.

Option 1

Let us imagine that you take your backpack full of the goodies you would need to make yourself as self-contained as possible. You also plan to buy some fresh essentials in a supermarket, but otherwise you are making use of what nature has to offer and are going to camp away from the huts.

You take most of your hiking food and all the necessary gear. You go into Oslo city on arrival to buy some stove fuel (2x 89 NOK). Maybe you decide to use the lockers at the bus terminal for an hour (70 NOK). Add to that the cost of the groceries that you are going to buy locally for your hiking trip. That really depends on what you take from home, be sure to try the local chocolate (because you’ve heard it is so delicious!). Add some nice fresh foods for the first night(s). You are likely to pay around 1300 NOK at the checkout, because as always when in a new country there will be something that tempts you. So all together just under NOK 1550.

Total cost for Option 1: approximately 3650 NOK. This is not dirt-cheap, but it is still quite doable at just over 521 NOK per night on average. And if you are staying longer than seven nights: the additional cost per night on top of the initial 2100 NOK would be no more than around 220 NOK (1550 NOK divided by seven).

Option 2

If you are going to camp but plan to spend a few nights camping near the huts -camp wild on the others- so you can use their facilities, add 100–190 NOK per night. Prices will depend on where you camp; in Jotunheimen, Memurubu is the most expensive at 190 NOK per person per night). In this scenario you could add NOK 810 for the DNT membership fee, which would get you a discount on camping in the grounds near the hut, as well as on the meals. It would be touch and go as to whether this outlay would pay for itself, but it would buy you some flexibility if you did decide to spend a rainy night in the cabin instead of in the tent. If you take food for a few days but want to eat in the huts at times, you can buy a main course for 235 NOK and add this (or these) to your budget. For example, you set up your tent at  Glitterheim, Spiterstulen (the latter for two nights, so that you can scale Galdhøpiggen peak with a day pack) and Gjendebu huts, and you eat a main meal at Glitterheim and Gjendebu, but you remain self-sufficient the other five days. The additional costs over Option 1 would be the DNT membership (810 NOK), the camping (say 440 NOK) and the main meals (470 NOK), but with a somewhat reduced supermarket bill (say, 1000 instead of 1300 NOK). Your total budget for Option 2 would be under 5100 NOK – just over 730 NOK per day. Excluding the initial layout of 2100 NOK for every scenario, the cost for an additional night would be 430 NOK.

Option 3

Alternatively, you might decide to travel light and stay full board in a hut each night while hiking the Jotunheimen Classic, taking the simplest accommodation option offered (prices used are the latest available). First of all, get the DNT membership for 810 NOK – it will pay off for certain. Four nights in the DNT huts of the Oslo and Omegn trekking association would be 4x 990 (cheapest option with full board). Add the cost of staying at the private huts – 2x Spiterstulen (2550, half board option - these are the latest available 2023 prices), 1x Memurubu (1500 - full board option) and you get to 8360 NOK. Plus the maps, guidebook, and local transport costs at 2100 NOK as in the other scenarios. Here you’re looking at just under 11,000 NOK for a six-day (seven-night) full-board hiking holiday – About 1200 NOK per day. Cost per night on top of the initial 2100 NOK outlay: around 840 NOK.

That is your minimum spend if you go with lodging and full board. It does not include incidentals such as alcohol with dinner, or snacks. Bedrooms in a hut will generally be shared with four to five people and facilities will be shared as well. If you want to upgrade for a few nights it is an additional 130 - 290 NOK in the DNT huts, but up to 200 NOK per night in Spiterstulen or Memurubu.

Many of the treks in my guidebook take you to self-service huts, where you would cater for yourself while perhaps buying some produce in the huts themselves. You can expect to spend less if doing so. Therefore, Option 3 on the Jotunheimen trek gives you a kind of upper limit, because hiking with full board is the most expensive option.

my personal choices when hiking in Norway

Personally, I like to travel on the frugal side wherever possible. Frugality tends to get you closer to the local people and culture, as you travel on public transport and shop in the local supermarkets. I enjoy the authenticity of those experiences; I feel less in my own ‘bubble’ and more connected to life in the country itself. That being said, I will certainly allow myself to indulge in things that bring me pleasure, such as an occasional drink at dinner or a private room in a mountain hut. Compared with the average spend of a foreign holidaymaker in Norway, mine is not much higher. According to budgetyourtrip.com the average daily spend on a holiday in Norway in 2024 is 1109 NOK. Given that most holidaymakers say they travel to experience Norway’s nature, mountains and fjords, one could argue that doing so on a hiking holiday is a fairly budget-friendly option. If you camp, you’ll spend much less than the average traveller. If you go full board in the mountain cabins you will come up slightly above that.

Whether you choose to splurge or keep it simple, you’ll have a wonderful hiking trip exploring Norway’s highest peaks and most beautiful alpine landscapes – I am sure of it!

where will you go next?

Want more help with the planning for your hiking trek in Norway? Be sure to read this post on useful apps to download to your phone. And I have updated the new opening times of the mountain huts in Norway for the 2024 summer season; you can find their websites here. Are you looking to for more options for hiking without a car in Norway? You’ll find this and this blogpost useful.

getting to norway

For the Jotunheimen trek, flying into Oslo is your fastest option, as there is a direct bus from the central bus terminal to Jotunheimen. Best to check with your preferred airline or flight comparison site; My personal expenditure here was generally about 300 EUR, including luggage, on a non-budget airline for a return flight into Oslo Gardermoen Airport from (and back to) Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.

From Europe you could alternatively take long-distance buses and trains. Best to check rome2rio, flixbus or eurorail.

Photo credits: all photos taken by the author while hiking in Norway

Note, I have no affiliation with any of the websites I recommend in this article, other than where I refer to my own guidebook and where to buy it.