Lillehammer [September Update]

Lillehammer is a well-known city located about 50km north from Gjøvik on the north side of lake Mjøsa. I have heart a lot of praise about it when compared to Gjøvik and I have to admit that Lillehammer is really a beautiful place, but not because of its most famous Olympics Games attractions.

Mesnaelva

River Mesna flows through the city and practically from the city center it is possible to follow its stream by perfect trails. The path is well-marked and ascents next to many beautiful waterfalls up to the Kroken area.

Finna bridge	First waterfalls	Next waterfalls

A few steps	Another one	Perfect trail

More of them	Collets bru	Himmelriksfossen

Kroken

Kroken is an area above the Mesna trail and it includes DNT Krokbua hytta and lake / canal with bird watching houses, benches and tables and nice places to bath.

Jumping over river Mesna	Canal in Kroken	Krokbua

Balbergkampen

My main goal was Balbergkampen - 671m high hill north of Lillehammer. Most people arrive there by car, but even the walk from Lillehammer is very nice and the climb well worth it.

Balbergkampen in the middle	Lillehammer from Balbergkampen	Almost there

Lysgårdsbakkene

Definitely the biggest attraction in Lillehammer are its ski jumps known mostly from the 1994 Winter Olympics. It offers great view on the city, but it is a very busy place with tourists buses arriving all the time.

Lillehammer from ski jumps	936 stairs down	Ski jumps

Maihaugen

Maihaugen is an open-air museum showing Norwegian buildings and life from different eras. Most of the buildings can be explored from inside and there are also live actors demonstrating various life skills like porridge-cooking. Area is quite large and there are a lot of amazing places for picnic or just to enjoy the scenery. With an optional forest walk (which nobody else did), it took us about 4 hours to explore everything. It is a good idea to bring your own snacks and drinks as there are very limited options available.