The Sognefjell road curving across the high plateau towards two snow-capped summits, heather and bare rock on either side of the tarmac

Shore excursion · Skjolden Explore

Jotunheimen — Home of the Giants

Up the hairpins of the Fortun valley to the highest mountain pass in Northern Europe.

Over the Sognefjell road · 3 hours

Duration
3 hours
Guests
10–45 a coach
Season
May–October
Tour code
SKJ-JOT

The road out of Skjolden climbs the Fortun valley in a chain of hairpins, past summer farms, and comes out at Oscarshaug with the Hurrungane lined up across the valley like the teeth of a saw. It keeps climbing onto the Sognefjell plateau to Mefjellet, the highest point of the pass, where the Fannaråk and Smørstabb glaciers are in view, and comes back down past the Åsafossen waterfall.

Three hours at its shortest. Take four, and you carry on to Krossbu for coffee and waffles made while you wait.

  • The Fortun valley hairpins
  • The Hurrungane from Oscarshaug
  • Two glaciers from Mefjellet, top of the pass
  • Waffles at Krossbu, on the four-hour version

The day, hour by hour

Three hours, gangway to gangway

  1. 00:00 – 00:15 Depart the pier through the Fortun valley onto the Sognefjell road (Fv 55), a National Tourist Route
  2. 00:15 – 00:50 Up the hairpins of the Fortun valley, past the summer farms
  3. 00:50 – 01:10 Photo stop at Oscarshaug, facing the jagged Hurrungane
  4. 01:10 – 01:25 Across the high plateau of Sognefjellet towards Mefjellet
  5. 01:25 – 01:45 Photo stop at Mefjellet, the highest point of the pass, with the Fannaråk and Smørstabb glaciers in view
  6. 01:45 – 02:40 Back down towards the fjord
  7. 02:40 – 02:50 Photo stop at the Åsafossen waterfall
  8. 02:50 – 03:00 Into Skjolden and back to the cruise pier

00:00 is the moment the group leaves the pier — not a clock time. The four-hour version (SKJ-KROS) continues from Mefjellet to Krossbu Turisthytte for coffee and freshly made waffles, 02:00–02:40, and is back at the pier at 04:00.