A tongue of rock jutting out 700 metres above Ringedalsvatnet, on the edge of the Hardangervidda plateau above Odda.
Hike across granite and snowfields, step out over the drop, and stay the night to watch the sun set almost alone.
The real distance, up frontKilometres and start point on every tour
The official guide companiesTrolltunga Active and Trolltunga Adventures
Free cancellationUp to 24 hours before on the day hikes
Season rules, checkedAgainst trolltunga.com and Visit Norway
Tours
Choose your Trolltunga tour
In the centre, the classic guided day hike with a shuttle start at Mågelitopp. Either side, the climbing route up
the cliff wall and a night on the mountain with sunset at the rock. Every card opens a full tour page.
Skip the crowded lower trail: you climb a cabled route up the cliff above Ringedalsvatnet, then walk the last stretch to the rock. Fit hikers only, and not if heights scare you.
The classic day: a shuttle up to Mågelitopp, then about 20 km of mountain trail to the rock and back with a guide. Poles and spikes are lent, and the guides take your photo out on the ledge.
You reach the rock around five in the afternoon, when the day hikers have left, and sleep in a tent nearby. Tent, sleeping bag, dinner and breakfast are carried up for you.
Three questions sort it out. Do you want a day or a night up there? Walk, or climb part of the way? And is your date
inside the summer season or outside it?
Every tour meets in Skjeggedal (P2) apart from the boat, which leaves from Odda. Parking at P2 costs NOK 550 a day
in 2026 and is not included in any tour.
Before you book
The rock is free. The walk is the trip.
Nobody sells a ticket to Trolltunga. The ledge sits on open mountain in Ullensvang, and in summer anyone fit enough can
walk to it. What every tour on this page sells is help with the walk: a guide who knows the plateau, a shuttle seat up the
first 4.3 km of road, a tent or a dome so you do not have to carry one, and in winter the only sensible way up at all.
The number that matters is the distance. From the main car park it is 27 km there and back, with about 1,200 m
of climbing over the day. Start at Mågelitopp and it is 20 km. Climb the via ferrata and it is 24 to 28 km with a cliff
in the middle. Pick the tour by the day you can manage, not the photo, because the photo is the same on all of them.
27
Kilometres from the Skjeggedal car park to the rock and back. Plan 8 to 12 hours,
and start early: the last shuttle down from Mågelitopp leaves at 19:00 and the road closes at 21:00.
Day hikeVia ferrataOvernightWinter snowshoe
Trolltunga stands about 1,180 m above sea level, 700 m above Ringedalsvatnet.
01
Do I need a guide?
Not from 1 June to 30 September if you hike a lot. Outside it, go with one.
02
When is the season?
June to September on your own. Guided snowshoe trips run in winter.
03
How fit?
Fit enough for 8 to 12 hours on rough ground. Weak knees struggle on the descent.
04
How old?
12 and up, says trolltunga.com. The tours ask 13 or 15 depending on the trip.
Your day
How a guided day hike runs
About ten hours from meeting point to car park. This is the shape of the summer day hikes.
01
Meet at Skjeggedal
Most guided day hikes meet at 07:30 by the P2 car park. Gear check, poles handed out, a short safety talk.
About 30 minutes
02
Up to Mågelitopp
The shuttle climbs the 4.3 km road to P3 and saves you an hour or more of tarmac, then the steep part of the trail begins.
15 minutes by bus
03
Across the plateau
About 10 km of granite, bog and snowfield past Gryteskaret, Floren and Tyssehøl, with Ringedalsvatnet below on your left.
3.5 to 5 hours
04
The rock, then back
Queue for the ledge, eat, take the photo, then the same way back to the last shuttle down.
The guided hikes start at the P2 car park in Skjeggedal, about 7 km up a private toll road from Tyssedal and
roughly 20 minutes from Odda. The road is open from 06:00 to 21:00, and vehicles longer than 5.2 m, camper vans and
buses must stay at P1. No car? A seasonal shuttle runs from Odda to P2 in about 30 minutes.
Your legs will want a day off after Trolltunga. This fast boat leaves Odda for about an hour and a half on the Sørfjorden and Hardangerfjord, with flotation suits provided and stories about glaciers, fruit farms and the smelter town. Ages 8 and up.
Trolltunga went from a few hundred hikers a year around 2010 to roughly 80,000 a year. The rock did not change.
The way people get to it did. Here is what you are choosing between.
What the rock is
Trolltunga, the troll's tongue, is a slab of ancient gneiss that sticks out horizontally from the cliff at about 1,180 m,
some 700 m above Ringedalsvatnet. The usual explanation is frost: about 10,000 years ago, at the edge of the retreating ice,
water froze in the cracks and broke away the blocks around it, and the tongue was left hanging. It is a few metres long and
wide enough to sit on with your legs over the edge. Four iron steps help you down onto it. There is no rail.
Since 2021 the route has been a certified Norwegian Scenic Hike, and money from a scheme set up in 2017 has paid for
emergency shelters, bridges, path work and mountain rangers. It shows: the trail is well marked with red T signs, and the
number of rescue call-outs fell sharply once the rangers arrived.
The climb to Gryteskaret is the hardest stretch of the day.
Three car parks, three different hikes
Where you start decides how long your day is. P1 in Tyssedal, down by the fjord, means 38 km and about 15 hours, and almost
nobody does it. P2 in Skjeggedal is the main trailhead: 27 km and 8 to 12 hours, and the first 4.3 km is a steep paved road.
P3 at Mågelitopp, at the top of that road, cuts it to 20 km. You reach P3 on the shuttle bus or with a permit for one of only
30 parking spaces, pre-booked in high summer.
The old start, a steep path next to the Mågelibanen funicular, is history. The funicular closed for good in 2010 and part of
its track has been removed.
The honest small print: a guide does not make Trolltunga shorter. Every summer tour still walks most
of those kilometres. What the guided day hikes add is the shuttle seat, the pace, the gear you would otherwise rent and someone
who turns the group around if the weather goes. If you hike a lot and the forecast is clear, going alone in July is reasonable.
When a guide is the point
Outside 1 June to 30 September, the plateau is a winter mountain. trolltunga.com says plainly that in winter you should
only hike with a guide, and the tourist boards put it more strongly. The snowshoe trips start on foot from P2, because there
is no shuttle, and cover up to 28 km in short daylight. They are graded expert for a reason.
A guide is also the only way onto the via ferrata unless you are an experienced climber. The cabled route goes up the cliff
wall above the lake, avoids the busy first climb, and joins the main trail for the last few kilometres to the rock.
Overnight trips reach the rock in the evening and come back at sunrise.
Day hike or a night up there
The midday queue for the photo runs 30 to 45 minutes on summer weekdays and up to 90 on Saturdays. The overnight tours are
built around avoiding it. You set off late morning, reach Trolltunga around five, and sleep in a tent or a dome a short walk
away, with dinner and breakfast carried up for you. It costs more than twice as much as a day hike, and for many people it
is the better trip.
Red T markings guide you across the plateau the whole way.
Straight answers to what people ask most about hiking Trolltunga.
How long does it take to hike Trolltunga?
From the main car park at Skjeggedal (P2) it is 27 km there and back, and most people need 8 to 12 hours. Start at Mågelitopp (P3), by shuttle or with a pre-booked parking permit, and it drops to 20 km and 7 to 10 hours. From Tyssedal (P1) it is 38 km, about 15 hours. The distance and time guide has the breakdown.
How difficult is Trolltunga?
Hard, mostly because of the length. The Norwegian Trekking Association grades it "extra demanding", and trolltunga.com calls any hike over 20 km "very demanding". From P2 you climb about 1,200 m in total over the day, with the steepest work on the way up to the Gryteskaret pass. See how hard Trolltunga really is.
Do you need a guide to hike Trolltunga?
Not in summer, if you are an experienced hiker: from 1 June to 30 September you can go on your own. Outside those dates trolltunga.com says "you should hike only with a guide", and Visit Norway says a guide is required. Read guided or on your own before you decide.
Is Trolltunga free?
The hike has no entry fee. Getting to the trailhead costs money: in 2026 a day at P1 is NOK 330, P2 is NOK 550 with the road toll, and P3 is NOK 600 plus the NOK 220 toll. The shuttle from P2 to P3 is NOK 150 up and NOK 100 down. The 2026 parking and shuttle post has every fare.
How do I get to Trolltunga?
Get to Odda first: about 3 hours by car from Bergen, 4 from Stavanger and 6 from Oslo, and there are direct buses from Bergen. From Odda a seasonal shuttle runs to Skjeggedal in about 30 minutes. Guided tours meet at P2, so you still need to get there. Full details in how to get to Trolltunga.
Has anyone ever fallen off Trolltunga?
Yes, once on record. In September 2015 a 24-year-old Australian student fell to her death while posing for a photo; police said she stepped too far to the right. There are no fences at the edge. Most rescues on the route are for sprained ankles and exhaustion. See the safety guide.
When is the best time to hike Trolltunga?
The self-guided season runs from 1 June to 30 September, and snow often lies on the path until June. Mid-July to early September is the most reliable. In 2026 the road to the trailhead stayed shut until 8 June after rockslide warnings, so check before you book an early June date.
Can you camp at Trolltunga?
Yes, in the mountains, at the spots marked with a tent on the official map, but not at any of the car parks. If you would rather not carry a tent, the overnight guide compares the camping and dome tours that carry the gear for you.
How long is the queue for the Trolltunga photo?
In peak summer, expect 30 to 45 minutes around midday on weekdays and 60 to 90 minutes on Saturdays, according to trolltunga.com. The worst window is roughly 12:00 to 15:00 between late June and late August. Overnight trips reach the rock after the crowd has gone.
Can children hike Trolltunga?
trolltunga.com recommends a minimum age of 12. The guided tours set their own limits: 13 on the summer day hike, 15 on the via ferrata and most overnight and winter trips. Toddlers and babies do not belong on this route.
Can I cancel a Trolltunga tour?
The day hikes here cancel for a full refund up to 24 hours before. The winter sunset overnight needs 4 days notice. If the guides cancel for dangerous weather, you get a refund or a new date. Check the terms on each listing before you pay.
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