Norway
Eidfjord, Norway
Eidfjord: A Fjord-End Village Below the Hardangervidda
Eidfjord is the last village at the inner end of the Hardangerfjord, home to a few hundred people, and its waterfall, Vøringsfossen, has drawn travelers since the 1800s. Most of what there is to see lies up the valleys rather than in the village, so allow for time on the road.
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Arriving in Eidfjord
Cruise ships berth at a deep-water quay in the village itself, so you walk ashore straight into Eidfjord's small center. The village sits on a strip of land between the fjord and the lake Eidfjordvatnet, and the main sights beyond it lie up the valleys by road.
- Eidfjord is the main village of a municipality of fewer than 1,000 people, where nine-tenths of the land lies above 900 meters, most of it on the Hardangervidda.
- National Road 7, the road between Oslo and Bergen over the Hardangervidda, runs through the village and climbs the Måbødalen valley past Vøringsfossen.
- In summer a fast passenger boat links Eidfjord with Ulvik, Utne, Kinsarvik, Lofthus and Norheimsund.
- The tourist information office is in the village, at Ostangvegen 1.
Eidfjord on Your Own
The village is small enough to see on foot, and its medieval church and the Viking-age burial mounds above it are within walking distance of the quay. For the waterfall and the national park visitor center you need a tour, taxi or hired bike, because both lie beyond the lake.
- Old Eidfjord Church: This whitewashed stone church in the village dates from around 1300 and seats about 100. It now serves mainly as a museum and for special occasions, and inside it is arranged as it looked in the 18th century. Ask at the tourist office whether you can see inside on your day.
- The Hæreid mounds: On the Hæreid plateau above the village, about 20 minutes' walk from the center, a large field of burial mounds dates from the Iron Age and Viking age. The tourist office has a guide with a map.
- Gallery Nils Bergslien: Beside the hotel in the village center, the municipality's gallery shows work by the painter Nils Bergslien, with free entry.
- Norsk Natursenter: The visitor center for Hardangervidda National Park is in Øvre Eidfjord, at the far end of the lake. Besides a restaurant, it has an exhibition on the area's animals and people, aquariums, and a film of the landscape shown on a panoramic screen 21 meters long. It opens from late March to October; check before you go.
- Vøringsfossen: Route 7 climbs the Måbødalen valley through tunnels to the waterfall, where the viewing platforms are free, though parking in front of the hotel is paid. Warning signs mark the danger of falling, so keep to the viewing areas.
- Getting back on time: All-aboard is usually about 30 minutes before sailing, and your ship posts the exact time. A ship will not wait for passengers touring on their own.
Getting Around
Eidfjord's sights are spread along Route 7 and the side valleys, so most visitors use a tour, a taxi or a hired bike. Walkers and cyclists are not allowed in the Måbø tunnel on Route 7, so do not plan to walk or cycle up to the waterfall that way.
- The tourist office and a local activity company rent bikes.
- The road to the mountain farm of Kjeåsen, 530 meters above the inner fjord, runs through a one-lane tunnel, so traffic goes up on the hour and comes down at half past. Walking and cycling in the tunnel are not allowed.
- The Sima hydroelectric power station, about 7 km from the village in the Simadalen valley, runs guided tours in the summer season.
- In summer, the fast boat on the Hardangerfjord is a way to see other fjord villages from the water.
Tipping in Norway
Tipping is not expected in Norway, where restaurant staff are well paid, and rounding up the bill is the usual habit. The currency is the Norwegian krone (kr), and euros are generally not accepted in shops.
- For taxis, practice varies, and a driver will not mind if you do not tip.
- If you want to thank a guide, cash is useful where card payment is not possible.
Art, Music and Legend
The landscape around Eidfjord drew a scientist, painters and a composer in the 19th century, and the village keeps a legend about its church. Reindeer, hunted by the first known settlers, appear in silver on the municipal coat of arms.
- Edvard Grieg spent the summer of 1896 at the Fossli Hotel above Vøringsfossen and composed his Norwegian Folk Songs, Opus 66, there. The hotel owns a Zimmermann piano where he composed them.
- The painter J.C. Dahl sketched in Måbødalen in 1826, and his painting of the valley from 1854 belongs to a collection in Bergen.
- A legend first written down in 1822 says the old church was built by a rich woman, Rike-Ragna, to atone for her sins, the worst of them leaving her husband on a skerry where he drowned as the tide rose. A gravestone in the chancel shows a kneeling woman holding out a model of a church to the apostle James.
- The old church has almost the same measurements as the Norse church ruin at Hvalsey in Greenland, which has raised the question of whether the same builders or plans were used.
A Brief History
People have lived at the head of the fjord since prehistoric times, first as reindeer hunters on the plateau. Tourism began once 19th-century travelers found Vøringsfossen, and by around 1900 large cruise ships were already calling.
- The name: Eidfjord comes from Eið, the isthmus that separates the fjord from the lake, which is made of two plains: Lægreid, the low eid, and Hæreid, the high one.
- Iron Age and Viking age: The Hæreid plateau holds one of the largest burial grounds of the period in western Norway.
- Around 1300: The stone church was built, and a letter from about 1309 records a gift toward its construction.
- A bishop's road: Until the 17th century Eidfjord belonged to the diocese of Stavanger rather than Bergen, because it gave the bishop of Stavanger the shortest route over the mountains to Hallingdal and Valdres.
- 1821: Until then the waterfall was hardly known outside the valley. That year Professor Christopher Hansteen, crossing to the plateau for astronomy, timed stones over the edge with his pocket watch and put the drop at about 280 meters; a line lowered in 1893 found 163 meters for the main fall.
- 1872 to 1891: A bridle path was built in 1872 to carry English tourists to the falls, and the Fossli Hotel at the top was completed in 1891, the year Eidfjord became a municipality of its own.
- Around 1900: Large cruise ships began calling, and their passengers were taken up the valley by horse and cart.
- 1900 to 1928: Workers from the surrounding districts built the old road up Måbødalen by hand between 1900 and 1916, and in 1928 it became part of the first road link between eastern and western Norway over the Hardangervidda.
- 2013 and 2020: The Hardanger Bridge replaced the ferry across the fjord in 2013, and a stepped footbridge across the gorge at Vøringsfossen opened in 2020.
- To learn more ashore: Norsk Natursenter, at Sæbøtunet 11 in Øvre Eidfjord, shows how people settled the area and lived from nature.
Eidfjord with Children
Eidfjord suits families who like being outdoors, and the national park visitor center up the valley gives you an indoor plan if it rains. Waterfall viewpoints need close supervision, because the drops are dangerous and the site has warning signs about falls.
- Younger children: At Norsk Natursenter, small children can watch the fish in the aquariums, see the animal displays and sit through the landscape film on the wide screen. In warm weather there is a beach a short way from the village toward Simadalen.
- School age: Walk up to the Hæreid burial mounds with the tourist office's map. At Vøringsfossen, the footbridge over the gorge is 47 meters long, and one end is 16 meters higher than the other.
- Teenagers: The guided tour of the Sima power station takes you to a machine hall 700 meters inside the mountain, and lasts about an hour. The Hardangerjøkulen glacier, visible from the plateau road, was a location for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
- Opening times: The visitor center and the power station tours are seasonal; check before you go.
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