Vinter på Voss
Visit Voss
Strong experiences
Paragliding from the top of the gondola – a great viewpoint and a nice start for skiing. A restaurant is situated on the mountain top.
Image courtesy of Nils-Erik Bjørholt/VisitNorway.com
Voss is well known for a couple of things – smalahove – smoked head of sheep – and the Extreme Sport Festival. Both extremes, but Voss is also all about great skiing for everyone and good food not looking you in your eyes.
Getting there: 103 km, 1 hour and 35 minutes from Bergen, E16. 118 km, 2 hours and 30 minutes from Sogndal, Fv55 and Rv13 + ferry.
Voss is not only skiing. You get a city feel when you arrive at Vossevangen. It´s just an hour and a half from Bergen and a good half hour from Myrkdalen, tempting with 9 lifts and 22 ski slopes.
And then there is smalahove – one of the more peculiar dishes in Norway, and that says a lot. But a sheep is more than head. In Voss will you also have fenalår – cured leg of sheep – like a good, cured ham, pinnekjøtt – dried rib of sheep and great sausages – often smoked over wooden shavings in a smokehouse.
Dining:
Fleischer´s Hotel
Evangervegen 13
5704 Vossevangen
The wooden hotel built in 1889 is one of the really traditional hotels in Norway. Parts of the old interior is intact, and the restaurant is known for good food.
Hangurstoppen
Voss Gondol
Evangervegen 5
5704 Voss
The gondola takes you from the train station to the top of the mountain hill and a restaurant with a good view. The menu changes with season, but the burger is an all time favorite, and meat, bacon, sausages and cured meat comes from local farms and producers.
Store Ringheim Hotell & Restaurant
Mølstervegen 44
5705 Voss
This small boutique hotel also houses a restaurant serving local and regional produce, mostly from nearby farms.
Smalahove is a regional speciality, and Smalahovetunet in Voss is specializing both in making it and serving it. The heads are smoked over smoking shavings – and afterwards it´s time for party.
Image coutesy of Thomas Rasmus Skaug/Visit Norway
Accomodation:
See Fleischer´s Hotel and Store Ringheim Hotell over for more information. You will also find hotels, apartments and cottages for rent at Voss Resort and Myrkdalen Fjellandsby.
Located at the foot of the mountain hills Vossevangen still has a city feel to it. Only an hour and a half from Bergen and some 30 minutes from Myrkdalen skiing eldorado and snowy Vikafjell.
Images courtesy of Tadas Dziautas/VisitNorway.com
Local food:
Evanger Landhandleri
Bjørgåsvegen 6
5707 Evanger
This small shop at Evanger, 20 km west of Vossevangen, is an inviting little store selling local produces and interior design. Jon «The Baker» comes by every Friday and Saturday to bake crusty bread and his famous cinnamon rolls. You can also buy local beer.
Evanger pølsefabrikk
Teigdalsvegen 296
5707 Evanger
The small sausage producer in Evanger, 20 minutes west of Vossevangen, specializes in cured meat, dried rib of sheep, bacon and sausages – all smoked over wooden shavings. Buy them in the factory outlet and in food stores in Voss.
Smalahovetunet Voss
Strandavegen 789
5710 Skulestadmo
In the farm shop you will find the famous smalahove, but also sausages, sylte – a traditional ham with spices, sausages, pinnekjøtt – dried rib of sheep, and the more exotic sheep testicles …
Voss and surroundings are perfect for long hikes, great skiing resorts and the amazing feeling of being weight less at Voss Vind.
Images courtesy of: Foap/VisitNorway.com
and Asgeir Helgestad/VisitNorway.com
Outdoor activities:
Voss is all about skiing and outdoor activities in the Voss Resort right outside of town and with more lifts and slopes in Myrkdalen:
Paragliding
Voss Resort
5710 Skulestadmo
Voss is one of the best places in Norway for paragliding. Get on the gondola from the train station and to the top of Hangurstoppen and do a little winter paragliding. Head off to the south and land in the village close to the lake Vangsvatnet.
Skiing in the paths of Nansen
Wild Voss
Klypeteigane
5713 Vossestrand
Nothing compares to a trip to the North Pole, but Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen also had a rather tough excursion crossing Vossaskavlen alone. During the winter you can join a guided tour along the same route, starting by train from Voss to Finse where the real journey begins.
On snowshoes to the igloo
Wild Voss
Klypeteigane
5713 Vossestrand
On top of Myrkdalen resorts you will find a rather spacious igloo. Join a tour on showshoes and have lunch in the snow cave. Wild Voss also arranges other snowshoe trips.
Voss Gondol
Evangervegen 5
5704 Voss
With the gondola from the train station in Voss you will reach Voss Ski Resort in 8,8 minutes. There´s a great view from the top, and the restaurant serves contemporary local food.
Voss Vind
Oberst Bulls veg 28
5705 Vossevangen
Not exactly a winter activity, but sometimes it feels good to shelter from the cold. In the wind tunnel you can float/fly/glide with a feeling of weightlessness.