Genuine winter adventures in the Lillehammer region
Thursday, 19 April 2012 - 01:37 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Free Trade Association Category/Kategorie: GeneralReading Time: 4minutes
Lillehammer (literally “Little Hammer”) is a town and municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. As of May 2011, the population of the town of Lillehammer was 26,639 . The city centre is a late 19th century concentration of wooden houses, which enjoys a picturesque location overlooking the northern part of lake Mjøsa and the river Lågen, surrounded by mountains. Lillehammer hosted the 1994 Winter Olympics and will host the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics.
The basis for the city’s commerce is its position as the northernmost point of the lake Mjøsa and as the gateway for the Gudbrandsdal region, through which the historical highway to Trondheim passes. The Mesna river has provided the basis for several small industries through the years, but Lillehammer is now all but industry-less.
In addition to the Olympic site, Lillehammer offers a number of other tourist attractions:
Maihaugen, centrally located in Lillehammer, is the largest open air museum in Norway, with 185 buildings, mostly from Lillehammer and the valley of Gudbrandsdalen.
Garmo stave church (built around 1150)
The Norwegian Olympic Museum is the only museum in Northern Europe that shows whole the Olympic history from the ancient times and up to today, including all Summer- and Wintergames. The museum also houses the Norwegian Sports Hall of Fame and a special section about the Lillehammer ’94 Olympic Wintergames. The museum is located in the Håkons Hall.
The art museum “Flygelet” -> “The Grand Piano”
The PS Skibladner is the world’s oldest paddle steamer in scheduled service, launched in 1856. Summer sailings around lake Mjøsa: Lillehammer, Moelv, Gjøvik, Hamar, and Eidsvoll.
The ski jump at Lysgårdsbakkene.
Sjusjøen is a skiing destination with forest and mountain terrain only 20 km away (east) from the centre of Lillehammer in the municipality of Ringsaker.
The Sambandets Utdanning og Kompetansesenter is an army unit located in the camp Jørstadmoen 3–4 km northwest of Lillehammer.
The rock carvings at Drotten, Fåberg, west of Gudbrandsdalslågen about 1.5 km above Brunlaug bridge.
Nansen Academy – the Norwegian Humanistic Academy. The Nansen Academy is an educational institution for adult students with different political, religious and cultural backgrounds. The Academy is founded on the inheritance of humanism and aims at strengthening the knowledge about this inheritance.
