The hike to the Besseggen ridge is a must for all visitors to Jotunheimen National Park. The view of the narrow Besseggen ridge, which is surrounded by the two lakes Gjendevarnet and Bessvatnet, is impressive!

However, the hike is challenging. You have to climb a little in places and the path leads over rugged terrain. In total, the hike (circular route) is 14 km long and you will climb 1200 meters in altitude. It is best to plan between 6 and 8 hours for the hike. You can either hike from the tourist hut in Gjendesheim to Memurubu and return by boat. Or you can take the boat to Memurubu first and hike back to Gjendesheim. You can find out about the boat times here. As we were traveling so late that there were no more boats, we simply started from Gjendesheim and hiked back there. That went well too!

...we suddenly passed a river with icy blue water. We stopped immediately and walked around a bit. Bene then looked to see exactly where we were; we were in the “Three National Parks Corner”, so to speak. The ice-blue river lay right between the Reinheimen, Breheimen and Jotunheimen national parks. It was so beautiful! Maybe we'll make another trip just to this region and explore all the parks a little better...

We parked our car in the (paid) parking lot in Reinsvangen, from where it is about 1.5 km to Gjendesheim. There was a huge meadow near the parking lot where dozens of people had set up their tents. So we joined them. Conveniently, the parking lot had very large toilets where we could wash up and brush our teeth.

The parking lot cost EUR 15 for 24 hours.

Jotunheimen National Park is huge! So you should definitely bring some time with you. We spent far too little time in Jotunheimen and regretted it afterwards as there is so much to see! You could spend much more than a week in Jotunheimen and the surrounding region and see and experience something new every day!