Svingvoll: Ski history at Skeikampen and trails to Prestkampen

Svingvoll draws visitors to alpine days at Skeikampen, the trail to Prestkampen and events at Skei Mountain Church. This mix gives your trip planning several possible focuses: Would you mainly like to ski, plan a summit hike or take cultural events into account? When choosing a holiday apartment in Svingvoll, it can help to decide first which of these experiences you want to shape your holiday.

Skiing at Skeikampen and trails to Prestkampen

Skeikampen Alpine Centre has 9 lifts, 2 magic carpets and 21 runs with a total length of 21 kilometres. Skeikampen Skiutleie offers complete equipment packages for alpine skiing, telemark, snowboarding, snowblading and cross-country skiing. The listed rental categories therefore range from alpine skiing to cross-country skiing. The Alpine Centre opened its first ski lift in 1959—a clear date in the area's ski history.

If you would like to plan a summit hike as well as ski runs, the trail to Prestkampen offers a different focus: it leads to Skeikampen’s highest peak, at 1,244 metres above sea level. From Svingvoll, the road to Skeikampen follows Skeisvegen. This makes it easy to consider the alpine area as a distinct part of your holiday planning, without treating ski days and mountain hiking days as the same.

Cycling options and church events

Skei ski & bike offers guided tours, bicycle repairs and a bicycle shop at Skeikampen. Availability may vary by season. You can use these different activities as a planning framework when deciding between skiing, cycling and mountain hiking; they represent different ways to spend time at Skeikampen.

Another place to visit in Svingvoll is Skei Mountain Church. Guided tours and events such as weddings, baptisms and concerts can be booked there. If you have a specific date in mind, check whether it is available: availability may vary. This also lets you plan your stay around a cultural or church event.

Nature and culture in Gausdal

Gausdal offers a distinct perspective on landscape and culture. Langsua National Park extends into Gausdal; the part in Gausdal includes birch forests, old coniferous forests, rolling plateaus and diverse wetlands. The area around Skeikampen in Gausdal also includes cycling trails, mountain hikes, and swimming and fishing waters. These natural attractions broaden the regional options without equating them with the specific offerings in Svingvoll.

Helvete Nature Park is in upper Gausdal. It has the largest potholes in Northern Europe, as well as a family park, an archery trail, a café and a souvenir shop; operations may vary by season. The descent to the potholes begins after a walk of a few hundred metres from the car park. This information about the route is useful when planning a visit to this nature park in Gausdal.

Gausdal's cultural sites also offer a variety of experiences. Aulestad is the historic home of Nobel Prize-winning writer Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and his wife, Karoline. Guided tours, exhibitions, authentic interiors and a garden offer insights into their lives and work; programme details may vary. Kittilbu Utmarksmuseum offers several tours and courses on flora and fauna, and presents seter culture at its own mountain farm dating from the mid-19th century. Dates for individual courses may differ. The medieval Østre Gausdal Church is also part of the region's architectural history: the stone church has a rectangular floor plan, with a chancel and nave of equal width and height.

The natural and cultural sites in Gausdal add an explicitly regional perspective to this selection.

Discover more destinations: Gausdal, Vestre Gausdal, Espedalen, Follebu, Svatsum, Østre Gausdal.

Return to the main travel overview: Gausdal.