Jostedalsbreen National Park

Norway · Europe · Visited 5 November 2025 · Established 1991

After six Belgian parks in a week, Jostedalsbreen was a reminder of what a national park can be when a country has the landscape to back it up.

The park covers 1,310 square kilometres of western Norway and is built around the Jostedalsbreen glacier, the largest on the European mainland. The glacier alone spans nearly 500 square kilometres, spilling dozens of arms down into surrounding valleys, each one a different shape, a different approach, a different experience. The park sits between the Sognefjord to the south and the Nordfjord to the north, and the scale of it is difficult to overstate. This is proper wilderness.

The glacier

Jostedalsbreen is the kind of place where you can walk right up to a glacier arm, or, if you book a guided tour, strap on crampons and climb it. I didn't do the glacier hike (next time), but even from below the scale is humbling. The most accessible arms are Nigardsbreen and Briksdalsbreen, both well set up for visitors with marked trails leading to viewpoints. Nigardsbreen in particular is worth the effort: you follow a path through a moraine landscape left behind by centuries of glacial retreat, cross the glacial lake by boat, and then hike up to the ice itself. The blue of the glacial ice, where crevasses crack open and light filters through, is unlike any colour you'll see anywhere else.

But the real showstopper was the drive in. The lake on the road approaching the glacier was the clearest, most intensely blue water I have ever laid eyes on. I've seen glacial lakes in the Rockies and in the Alps, and none of them came close to this. It was almost unreal, the kind of blue that looks like someone has tampered with the saturation. I pulled over three times just to stare at it.

Mount Skala — my best hike ever

Instead of the glacier climb, I opted to hike Mount Skala. What followed was the best hike I have ever done.

The date meant I was the only person to climb it all day. Not another soul on the way up, not another soul at the summit, and not another soul on the way down. I went a full 24-hour period without seeing another person — something I'm not sure I've ever experienced before in my life.

At the top, there's an incredible mountain hut. I got the fire going, made pasta, and sat with the whole of western Norway spread out below me. The long, constant climb up makes the arrival feel earned. The silence, the fire, the food, the view. I'll insert a photo here later — words don't quite do it justice.

The drive

Norway's national parks are as much about the journey as the destination, and Jostedalsbreen is no exception. The roads through and around the park wind between mountains that rise steeply on both sides, through valleys carved by ice thousands of years ago. It's the kind of drive where you arrive two hours later than planned because you keep stopping.

Who it's for

Jostedalsbreen is a national park that earns the title. Whether you climb the glacier, hike the mountains, or simply drive through the valleys and stop at the viewpoints, the scale and beauty of this place is undeniable. It's remote and requires planning, but that remoteness is part of the appeal. If you're visiting western Norway, this is essential.