The route connects two UNESCO-listed fjords via a mountain pass that shouldn't be drivable. It's exactly as dramatic as the tourism brochures claim. This is the most visited scenic route in Norway, and for good reason.
Quick facts:
- 104 km
- 6-8 hours minimum, depending on stops and ferry timing
- One ferry crossing (Eidsdal-Linge)
- Seasonal: mid-May to October
This route starts at the northern end, you can just as well flip the itinerary and start at Geiranger instead.
The drive from Åndalsnes
Start from Åndalsnes, the small town at the base of Romsdalen valley. The E136 runs through the valley floor with Trollveggen, Europe's tallest vertical rock face at 1,000 metres, looming to the south. A viewing area sits directly across from the wall, and the scale only registers if you are so lucky as to spot climbers on the wall.
The road climbs from the valley floor into the hairpins of Trollstigen itself. Eleven switchbacks carved into a mountainside that rises nearly vertically, each named after the foreman who oversaw its construction in the 1930s. The gradient hits 9% in places, and the road narrows to the point where meeting a tour bus requires someone to reverse. During peak season when traffic is high, this frequently creates deadlocks which takes several minutes to resolve. The Stigfossen waterfall crashes directly across the road surface, spraying mist over your windscreen.
Trollstigen Plateau
At the top, the Trollstigen Plateau visitor centre designed by Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter sits like a piece of industrial sculpture against the rock. Steel and glass walkways cantilever directly over the hairpins. Stand on the lower platform and you're looking straight down at the road you just drove, the waterfall thundering beside you, the peaks of Bispen (1,462m), Kongen (1,614m), and Dronninga (1,544m) filling the sky.
Explore the locations
View of Trollstigen from the top viewing platform
The building houses a café with panoramic windows, a souvenir shop, and toilets. Allow half an hour to one hour here, more if you walk the trails toward Bispevatnet lake.
Parking note: The plateau car park fills by mid-morning in summer. Start early.
Trollstigen can close without warning after heavy rainfall. Check vegvesen.no or the NPRA traffic app before you leave. The road authority is more cautious than it used to be, and they will gate the road on short notice if conditions deteriorate.
Valldal and Gudbrandsjuvet
Descending the south side of Trollstigen brings you into the strawberry-farming village of Valldal. The contrast is stark: one minute you're on an exposed mountain road, the next you're passing orchards and farmhouses in a sheltered green valley.
Twenty minutes beyond Valldal, stop at Gudbrandsjuvet. This is a narrow gorge where Jensen & Skodvin Arkitekter built zigzag steel bridges that cross and recross the ravine. The Valldøla river churns 20-25 metres below through gaps in the steel grating. The architecture here is different from Trollstigen: raw, industrial, the bridges appearing almost temporary against the ancient rock. The sound of the water echoes off the canyon walls, and in high summer the spray creates rainbows in the morning light.
Gudbrandsjuvet in Valldal
Juvet Landskapshotell
If you're going to spend one night on this route, spend it at Juvet. The hotel sits in a birch forest above the Valldøla river, a few minutes' drive from Gudbrandsjuvet, and it was designed by the same architects: Jensen & Skodvin. Seven glass-walled cabins perch on stilts among the trees, each one angled to frame a different view of the river, the forest, or the mountains across the valley. Two smaller "bird houses" sit higher up. A restored 19th-century barn serves as the restaurant, where guests eat together at a communal table.
The rooms are deliberately minimal. No TV, no phone, no hairdryer. The walls are dark wood, the beds face floor-to-ceiling glass, and you fall asleep to the sound of the river. A bathhouse by the water has a steam room and outdoor hot tub with a 15-metre glass wall looking out at the current. The whole place feels like staying inside an architectural installation.
Cabin at Juvet Landskapshotell nestled in the forest
Juvet opened in 2010 and became briefly famous when Ex Machina used it as a filming location. You need to book well in advance. There are only nine rooms, and they fill up months ahead in summer. Expect to pay from 6,000 NOK per night for a double, with dinner extra. The four-course communal meal is worth adding.
Juvet sits between Trollstigen and Geiranger, so you can drive the hairpins in the afternoon, check in, and continue to the fjord the next morning. It's about 30 minutes from the Trollstigen plateau and 90 minutes from Ålesund.
Where to eat
Two notable stops between Trollstigen and Geiranger, both in Valldal near Gudbrandsjuvet.
Jordbærstova sits 5 km outside Valldal, heading toward Trollstigen. Valldal is strawberry country, and this place has built its reputation on a single dessert: strawberry cream cake made with local berries, sponge, and enough whipped cream to require a nap afterward. July and August are the months to get it with the fresh fruit. The café operates out of a restored farmhouse and serves proper hot food too. The Sunday lunch buffet is the main event if you time it right, with bacalao, meatballs, and stews. Weekday lunches are simpler but still filling.
Gudbrandsjuvet Café is at the gorge itself, in a building designed by Jensen & Skodvin to match the viewing platforms. You're not here for the hot food. The café does coffee, pastries, and cinnamon rolls, and occasionally a venison burger with lingonberries shows up on the menu, but don't count on the hot food being available. Prices run a bit high for what you get, which is the usual story for such a stop on a major tourist route. The café open mid-May to mid-October, roughly 10:00 to 17:00, depending on when Trollstigen itself opens. Stop for the architecture, coffee, pastries and the gorge. If you want a proper meal, get it at Jordbærstova.
Eidsdal-Linge ferry and Ørnevegen
The route requires one ferry crossing between Eidsdal and Linge. The crossing takes about 10 minutes, and ferries run frequently in summer. From Linge, the road climbs again via Ørnevegen, the Eagle Road, another series of 11 hairpin bends descending toward Geiranger.
Read more about payments for ferry crossings in our Scenic Routes main article
Near the top, pull into Ørnesvingen, the Eagle Turn viewpoint. From here you look straight down into the Geirangerfjord with the Seven Sisters waterfall cascading down the opposite cliff face. Cruise ships appear as toys on the water far below. The parking area is small and often full by mid-morning.
Ørnesvingen viewpoint above Geirangerfjorden
Geiranger and the viewpoints
Geiranger itself sits at the head of the UNESCO-listed fjord. The village is small, the facilities good, and the tourist traffic heavy in summer. Stay long enough to take a fjord cruise past the waterfalls, or at minimum drive the four kilometres up to Flydalsjuvet, a rest area and viewpoint that provides the classic panoramic view of the village, the fjord, and the surrounding mountains. This is where the famous photographs are taken.
For an even higher perspective, continue 12.5 kilometres beyond Flydalsjuvet to Dalsnibba, at 1,500 metres above sea level. The Nibbevegen road is private and tolled (expect around 300-400 NOK per car), but the Geiranger Skywalk at the summit is Europe's highest fjord viewpoint accessible by road. Whether the toll is worth it depends on the weather: in clear conditions, the view extends across multiple mountain ranges; in cloud, you're paying to sit in fog.
Route-specific logistics
Ferry payment: The Eidsdal-Linge crossing is short and frequent. For a single crossing, register at FerryPay and drive on without thinking about it. The full-price fare is modest, and tying up a 2,200 NOK deposit for the 50% discount makes no sense for one crossing. More in our Scenic Routes main article.
Direction of travel: Most guides suggest driving north to south (Åndalsnes to Geiranger), which puts Trollstigen's most dramatic hairpins on the ascent. The alternative, driving south to north, means descending Trollstigen, which some drivers find less nerve-wracking.