Summer

With its location in a beautiful mountain scenery, Hovden is an eldorado for hiking and other outdoors activities. 

Four of the summits surrounding Hovden are particularly well suited for trips with children. These are Otrosåsen (858 metres above sea level), Hartevassnuten (1,068 metres), Hovdenuten (1,119 metres) and Nos (1,209 metres).  

The routes are marked in blue, and all of them are signposted from the centre of Hovden.

If you have been to one or more of those summits, you can get a diploma at the tourist office. At each summit you will find a guestbook, in which you can write a greeting. A map with information about the names of the surrounding mountains is provided on a board.

Winter

With cross-country, mountain, alpine or randonnée-skis you will find many tour options in Hovden. There is a wide selection of cross-country-trails to choose from. Here are four favourites:

The Tusse Trail
This is where the youngest members of the family can get introduced to cross-country skiing – uphill, downhill and straight ahead – in an easy terrain. The cross-country arena at Hovden is an excellent starting point. Go from the parking lot to the end of the stadium. Turn right towards Røyrvikåsen. Follow the outer trail along Lake Hartevatn. The complete round is approximately three kilometres, but there is no shame in turning back if the little ones get tired.

The wide expanses
This trip, which should only be undertaken by people in good physical condition, should be reserved for the day when the weather forecast is good. Make sure you take extra clothing and food with you too. Take the red trail towards Auversvatn, then a detour to Øvre Badstogdalen before you proceed around Nordre Auversvasseggi and down towards Hovden. On your way down, you may wish to prolong the trip by including the Galten and Lundane trails. You will then have completed almost 25 kilometres at Austheia (the Eastern Hills).

For the family
The Lundane and Galten trails are suitable for family trips. You may combine a short and easy trip on the green Lundane trail with a slightly longer and more challenging trip on the blue Galten trail. See what shape you are in and consider the weather conditions before you choose to embark on the upward slopes of the Galten trail. The length of this trip varies from one to 16 kilometres or more.

Training and exercise 
There are many trails to choose from in the Hovden cross-country arena, and we highly recommend a session here - short or long, gentle or challenging. The conditions are excellent for both classic and skate skiing. You may also practise finishes at the stadium. The stadium and large parts of the trail network are floodlit every night until 11:00 pm. The Hovden cross-country arena is accessible on skis from almost every residential area in Hovden, so there is no need to drive - consider the trip to the stadium as part of your training session!

Groomed trails 
Almost all the trails in Hovden are groomed for classic and skate skiing. The trails on Lake Hartevatn, the floodlit trail starting in the centre of Hovden and the transport trails are groomed exclusively for classic skiing. During the season there are daily trail updates at hovden.com, including an overview of real-time grooming status.