Dalen

Dalen sits at the western end of the Telemark Canal, the waterway completed in 1892 that lifts boats 72 metres through eighteen locks between Skien and the inland lakes, an engineering project of its day called the eighth wonder of the world by contemporary enthusiasm. To receive the passengers, the Dalen Hotel was built in 1894 in the dragestil, a huge timber building with towers, carved dragon heads and a galleried central hall, and it still operates, restored, with a period interior. The canal boats Victoria and Henrik Ibsen, both over a century old, run the route in summer, taking most of a day. Above the village, the Eidsborg stave church and the Vest-Telemark Museum sit on the hill.

What you actually see

• The Dalen Hotel - an 1894 dragon-style timber hotel with a galleried hall.
• The canal terminus - the inland end of the Telemark waterway.
• The historic boats - century-old canal steamers running in summer.
• Eidsborg above - a stave church and museum on the hill.

When to go

May to September, when the canal boats run and the hotel is open; the season is short and sailings need booking. Autumn colour along the canal in September is good, but services wind down.

Honest expectations

The full canal trip takes about ten hours in one direction, so it needs planning around return transport. The hotel is expensive. Dalen village itself is small with limited alternatives for eating or staying.

Nearby

Eidsborg stave church is above the village; Roldal and the Haukeli road lie west.