Driving east from Ålesund to the fjords is a fairytale drive across hills and valleys, through long tunnels, over narrow bridges, on car ferries across romantic lakes and past trolls and goblins. The drive is as dangerous as it is breathtaking as every hill or turn reveals a view of outstanding beauty that makes it hard for the driver to maintain complete focus on the tour buses in front, behind and zooming past them.
Geiranger fjord is one of the 2 World Heritage listed fjords that is famous for its 7 Sisters waterfall and narrowness of the water stretching between the steep cliffs. Our GPS took us directly to Hotell Utsikten which sits at the top of a zigzagging road up the foot of the valley at the end of the fjord. We were greeted by the friendliest and most helpful Swedish hotel management team and staff that we have never experienced even in Sweden.
The view from the reception lounge and restaurant is described by SAS Magazine this month as “the best in the world”. See below.
Every day was a new adventure for us. One day we hiked up through the clouds to a powerful waterfall that you can walk carefully behind. The next we went kayaking on the fjord, another we took a boat tour along the fjord and past the old deserted farms that sit proudly atop cliffs along reached only via rope ladders or a steep path. I smiled at the tour leader’s commentary that when the tax collector would visit these farms each year the farmers simply pulled up the rope ladder so he never got to collect!
One of the most spectacular things we did was a drive 1500m up to Dalsnibba mountain which is above the cloud line, tree line and still had a lot of snow on the ground. The lake up there was a dazzling blue but looked too cold to swim in.
Leaving the best to last, on the last day we went on a 6 hour hike to a summer farm called Grindsätra which is 820m directly above the hotel and the end of the fjord. Sheep farmers would over-summer their flock on the sweet pastures up there. We experienced 4 seasons of weather during the hike but the serentity and view was well worth it. My 8 year old son and I continued up after lunch to a snow dotted valley with a fresh water stream and rapids running through it. We saw eagles hunting and drank from the cold sweet water. We were the only ones in the entire valley!
Every night we returned to the hotel where Lisa and her team had organised a meal that fitted our peculiar dietary restrictions and we were impressed every night. Local fish, asparagus and the chocolate desserts were hungrily enjoyed by the children after their days immersed in nature. The wine featured a number of excellent Piedmonte and Alsace wines which went very well with the light fresh food. Our son gave the restaurant 5 stars which is the highest rating in our family and he was able to tell the chef personally!
It was one of the best vacations we have had and ticked all our boxes for what constitutes a perfect week away. We ignored the weather and just packed backpacks to survive through it all and closed our eyes to the cost which reminded me of Tokyo in the 1990s. But you get what you pay for – the world’s best view!
Cheers
Mark
Tags: 7 sisters waterfall, geiranger fjord, Hotel Utsikten, norway, Villa Utsikten
