Hiking holiday: Wild Reindeer Country Explorer
Holiday dates
2025
dates coming soon
Holiday price
Booking
- Easy online booking
- No deposit required, card details secure your place*
- Choose your preferred type of room
- Solo travellers – email us to book a shared twin room
- Add any extras as you book
*late cancellation charges may apply, please read our booking terms and conditions
Walking holiday grade
Intermediate mountain walking for experienced hikers.
Expect to be out 6 – 7hours (one longer day of up to 9 hours)
Typically 12-16km per day with two longer days, maximum 490m ascent in any one day. Longest day 24km. The distances given below are approximate.
Mountain paths, these are rocky and rough. There is the occasional rocky step. Please visit our walking grades page for more information.
We use short transfers by hotel minibus to help us explore the area.
Small group size
Minimum 4, maximum 10.
Please do not make travel arrangements until you have received your booking confirmation and the holiday has been guaranteed to run.
Enjoy wild walks and warm hospitality
Hike and explore the Nordic mountain landscape, immerse yourself in the space and silence of wild nature. A subtle landscape: see the interplay of the high latitude light with the shape of the mountains, valleys and water. Few places offer the active hiker such accessible yet wild terrain to explore on foot.
On this walking holiday we make Venabu Fjellhotell our base. We venture across the lichen and rock-clad mountains and deep into the boreal birch forests. Eastern Norway has a more stable, drier climate than the West Coast. On many days we can expect to be the only hikers in this vast wild land. The Rondane National Park and adjacent areas are home to about four thousand wild reindeer. These genetically unique reindeer have never been domesticated though they have been hunted here for over 6000 years. You may be lucky and encounter these beautiful and enigmatic creatures on one of your hikes.
Venabu has a reputation as a warm and welcoming hotel, and for its delicious food. The hotel’s friendly and inclusive atmosphere make Venabu a great destination for solo travellers. Read more about holidays at Venabu as a solo traveller.
This holiday will suit hikers who enjoy:
- peace and quiet
- open landscapes and big views
- the beautiful colours and textures seen in the Norwegian mountains
There are no big ascents but the going under foot is rough and some days are long and remote. The appeal of these hikes is the experience of wild places and unspoilt nature.
“Thank you again for a very warm and welcoming week!”
“I very much enjoyed your hospitality and the great walks with Wenche and Joy, during the Wild Reindeer Walking week.
I very much hope to be back”.
Margaret (The Netherlands)
holiday highlights
- Hike in unspoilt, wild reindeer country
- Walk in the Rondane, Norway’s first National Park
- Discover the Nordic flora and fauna, migratory and ground nesting birds, birds of prey and rare arctic alpine plants
- See how the forces of water, geology and time have created this vast landscape
- Enjoy a traditional lunch and storytelling at the hotel’s summer farm or ‘seter’
- Relax in our comfortable, family run mountain hotel on this centre-based walking holiday
- Enjoy our renowned dinner: “A Taste of Norwegian Tradition” served on Wednesday evening
- Ideal for solo travellers, friends and couples who would like to share their walking holiday with like-minded people
Holiday itinerary
Day 1. Arrival
19.00: Dinner is served.
This evening we will meet after dinner for the holiday briefing. After a day of travelling this is an evening to meet everyone and settle into your week.
Day 2. Dynjefjellet and Svartfjellet
Walk details: 13km Ascent: 420m
The stunning 360° views from each of these peaks give us a taste of what lies ahead this week. The high peaks of the Rondane are visible to the north. The wild land of Venabygdsfjellet opens before us. Distant to the west are also the glaciated peaks of the Jotunheimen, home to Northern Europe’s highest mountains. Learn about the lives of the wild reindeer that migrated here as the last ice age ended and the glaciers retreated. Humans followed the reindeer 6000 years ago and we will see the features they left behind.
19.00 Dinner is served.
Day 3. Rondane National Park: Store Ramshøgda
Walk details: 18km, ascent 460m
Today’s feature is a hike to the peak of Store Ramshøgda. We discover the Rondane, Norway’s first National Park, created to protect the genetically unique wild reindeer living here. Descending from our high point we explore an unfrequented valley where we may see merlin and fjellvåk hunting.
19.00 Dinner is served.
Day 4. Rondane National Park: Døralseter
Walk details: 24km, 400m ascent, 700m descent.
Today we take a transfer and hike into the sculpted, elemental landscape of the Rondane massif. We make a traverse through the heart of the park. Dramatic and imposing, the Rondane National Park is an ideal location to experience the high mountains of Norway. This is our longest day, 7-8 hours hiking.
19.30 Dinner is served.
Day 5. Canyons and waterfalls
Walk details: 15km 300 ascent.
The highlights of today’s hike, direct from the hotel, are sure to be the waterfalls of Dørfallet and Myfallet. Experience for yourself the powerful force that carved this landscape.
19.00 Venabu serves its special dinner: ‘A Taste of Norwegian Tradition’.
Day 6. Tour with traditional 'seter' lunch
Walk details: 16km, 490m ascent
Another contrast again today as we walk to our summer farm, Lykkesetra, set in the meadows below Forbundsfjellet. Over a lunch of local, traditional food the farmer will tell stories from lived experience about the history and folklore of summers spent in the mountains. We hear about life on the farm and the hard work of producing the fabled Norwegian delicacy, brown cheese. Time spent at the summer farm was always special, much enjoyed by the farming families and it remains close to the heart of Gundbrandsdalen today.
19.00 Dinner is served.
Day 7. Finnsjøvola
Walk details: 15km, 380m ascent.
Both tranquil and sublime Finnsjøvola offers us an easier yet spectacular day. We ascend steadily through delightful, pine forest to open land and sparkling lakes. There are views of the Rondane massif and east towards Sweden. As we walk and soak up the beautiful scenery, we may be lucky enough to see wild reindeer and the almost mythical cloudberries, ‘the gold of the mountain’.
After the walk we make a cultural visit in Sollia, where our tour ends.
19.00 Dinner is served.
Day 8. Departure day
Departure after breakfast.
Please note that the order of the itinerary may vary to adapt to the weather and the needs of the group.
What’s included
- 7 nights accommodation in our comfortable mountain hotel.
- Breakfast and evening meals, packed lunches and flasks filled.
- Guided walks on 6 days,
- The services of our expert hiking guide
- A traditional lunch and storytelling at our summer farm
- Transfers to and from Ringebu at the start and end of the trip.
- All transfers for guiding
“Fantastic!”
Susan and Jayne (UK)
