The Network

Norway has this thing that most countries don't: a network of over 550 mountain huts maintained by the Norwegian Trekking Association (DNT) scattered across the backcountry, spaced out just far enough that you can hike from one to the next in a day. It turns what would otherwise be a serious expedition into something you can do with a daypack and a sleep liner.

There are three types of huts. Staffed lodges are the most comfortable — you show up, someone hands you dinner (usually trout or something caught nearby), there's a bed, sometimes a shower. These are open roughly late June through mid-September. Self-service huts are the workhorses of the system: unlocked cabins stocked with firewood, gas burners, cooking gear, and provisions like tinned goods, coffee, rye crackers, and soup packets. You cook for yourself, chop your own wood, and settle up using the DNT app or by leaving a payment form in the box — they'll invoice you later. No one checks. It works because it's Norway. No-service huts are the most basic, same setup but no food stocked, usually in the more remote spots.

Staying in the self-service huts in the middle of nowhere is the real experience. You hike out into the plateau, nothing around for miles, and eventually this little wooden cabin materializes out of the fog. Inside it's warm and dry, there's a stack of firewood by the door, and some other hiker is already making coffee. I ended up at a couple of these in southern Norway that I couldn't have found unless I was specifically looking for them — that sense of stumbling into a fully operational shelter in genuinely remote terrain doesn't really get old.

Membership and Costs

DNT membership (around 725 NOK per year) is worth it if you're staying at more than a few huts. Members get discounted rates — accommodation at self-service huts runs around 200–315 NOK per night without food, and full board at staffed lodges is roughly 1,100 NOK member price — plus you can borrow the universal DNT key (100 NOK deposit, refundable) that opens locked self-service and no-service cabins. Non-members can still use staffed huts and many unlocked self-service ones, they just pay more.

Planning Your Route

For route planning, UT.no is the main resource. It's Norwegian-only but Google Translate gets you most of the way there. The trails are marked with red T's on cairns and rocks, which makes navigation surprisingly straightforward once you're on a marked route. Distances between huts typically run 15–25 km depending on the route, with most days taking 6–8 hours at a moderate pace.

The best time to go is late June through August. The staffed huts are open, the snow is mostly gone, and the light at that latitude is long enough that you're never really racing the sun. If you're going to the most popular huts — places like Gjendesheim in Jotunheimen — book ahead in July. Most others don't require reservations, and there's always somewhere to sleep even if the bunks fill up.

Worth Knowing: Flor & Fjære and Fjord Saunas

If you're spending time in the Stavanger region between hut trips, two things are worth knowing about. Flor & Fjære is a tropical garden on the island of Sør-Hidle — a 20-minute boat ride from Stavanger harbor. The Bryn family has been cultivating it since the 1960s, and it's now 50 acres of palm trees, 50,000 annual flowers, exotic plants, and ponds, all sitting in the middle of a Norwegian fjord. It's genuinely surreal. There's a guided garden tour followed by a 3-course dinner using local ingredients. The season runs May through September; book ahead.

The other thing: fjord saunas. Norway has embraced the floating sauna concept hard in recent years, and the Stavanger and Flåm areas have some good options. The ritual is simple — get extremely hot, jump into the fjord, repeat. After a week of hiking, it's exactly what your legs need.

If you're splitting time between hiking and flying, check out our piece on paragliding in Voss and Stavanger.