Odda

Odda grew as a smelting town, with carbide and zinc works built from 1906 using power from the waterfalls above, and its identity has been industrial for most of a century; the smelter closed in 2003 and part of the plant is now protected as industrial heritage. Since then the town has been reinvented around outdoor tourism, primarily because Trolltunga, a slab of rock projecting over Ringedalsvatnet lake, became one of the most photographed places in Norway: the hike is twenty-eight kilometres return with 800 metres of ascent, ten to twelve hours, and it has strained both the town and the mountain rescue service. Odda also gives access to the Buarbreen glacier arm and the Folgefonna national park.

What you actually see

• The Trolltunga trail - a long day hike to the projecting rock slab.
• The industrial heritage - protected smelter buildings from the carbide era.
• Buarbreen - a glacier arm reachable by a scramble from the valley.
• The Sorfjord setting - the town at the head of a narrow fjord arm.

When to go

Mid-June to mid-September for Trolltunga without winter equipment; outside that window a guide is required and the route is genuinely dangerous. The town is quiet in winter with the glacier roads closed.

Honest expectations

Trolltunga is far harder than its photographs suggest, with rescues every season and a queue of hours at the rock in high summer. Parking is charged and shuttle buses are needed. Odda itself is a working town, not a scenic village.

Nearby

Buarbreen and Folgefonna are above the town; the Hardangerfjord and Roldal lie north and east.