Hemsedal is Norway's freeride flagship, set under the dark walls of Totten at 1,450 m and nicknamed the Scandinavian Alps for good reason. The snow comes early in November and the bars stay open late, which is rare for a Norwegian fjell resort.
Run counts and piste kilometres are indicative. Green runs only exist in France, Spain, Andorra, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Japan, the United States, Morocco, Algeria, Lesotho, South Africa, Egypt, Canada, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand; Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Germany start at blue. Indicative average snow depth near the top of the resort, in cm.
A handful of well-rated hotels in and around the resort. Pick one, then compare live prices across Booking, Expedia and Hotels.com.
Very good · 975 reviews
A long-standing favourite in Hemsedal, trusted by thousands of guests before you.
Guests rate this hotel as very good (4.3/5 from 975 reviews). It sits about 850 m from the slopes. A mid-range option for Hemsedal, with live nightly rates shown for your exact dates so you always see the best price.
Very good · 787 reviews
A long-standing favourite in Hemsedal, trusted by thousands of guests before you.
Very good · 711 reviews
A long-standing favourite in Hemsedal, trusted by thousands of guests before you.
Good · 470 reviews
Moments from the lifts in Hemsedal, so you can ski back to the door and skip the morning queues.
Great · 145 reviews
Moments from the lifts in Hemsedal, so you can ski back to the door and skip the morning queues.
Good · 34 reviews
Moments from the lifts in Hemsedal, so you can ski back to the door and skip the morning queues.
Ratings from Google, prices indicative per night. Live availability and rates via our booking partners.
True ski-in/ski-out is concentrated around the main gondola base and the Hemsedal Skisenter complex, with a smaller cluster at Tinden; everything labelled village-side off-mountain needs a five-to-ten-minute ski-bus.
From a base village at 640 m, the lifts climb to 1,450 m on Totten and open onto bowls, ridges and chutes that feel a lot bigger than 53 km of marked piste suggests. The off-piste between the Skarsnuten and Roni peaks is the lift-served terrain everyone comes for, while the home runs back to the village are wide, well-prepared blues and reds that keep families happy on the same lift pass. Snow records start in the second half of November and hold through to the very end of the season, with the cold Hallingdal climate giving dry powder more often than coastal Norway. Three and a half hours from Oslo by car or train-and-bus, and three from Bergen if you take the high mountain road in clear weather. The après-ski scene is small but real, with a handful of bars in the base village that actually fill up. The lodging mix is heavy on apartments and lodges, lighter on hotels, and Booking, Expedia and Hotels.com all list the slope-side blocks above the main lift.
Hotels and apartments around the lifts. Compare prices on Booking, Expedia and Hotels.com.
Hemsedal offers 53 km of pistes across 22 lifts, from 640 m to 1,450 m. Whether it suits beginners depends on the dedicated learner zones at the base of the slopes, so check the local ski-school options for green and blue run access.
The season runs from Nov 23 to May 1, with a snow score of 86/100. The best conditions are usually from late January through February, while spring skiing in March and April brings longer days and softer afternoons.
True ski-in/ski-out is concentrated around the main gondola base and the Hemsedal Skisenter complex, with a smaller cluster at Tinden; everything labelled village-side off-mountain needs a five-to-ten-minute ski-bus.
Hemsedal has 53 km of marked pistes served by 22 lifts, between 640 m and 1,450 m of altitude.
Hemsedal counts about 53 marked runs in total. The colour breakdown above shows how they split by difficulty, a good guide to whether the resort fits your level.
Similar style, different mountain.
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