Dalsnibba — scenic viewpoint
Image by IK3 from Pixabay

Dalsnibba

  • Elevation1,476 m
  • 1 min read
  • 62.049° N 7.269° E

Interesting facts

  • The summit straddles a major watershed: rain on its west side flows to the Geirangerfjord, while the east side drains via the Otta into Norway's longest river, the Glomma.
  • The idea of a road to the summit was first floated about 50 years before construction by road director Hans Hagerup Krag, who had laid out the Geiranger road himself.
  • Much of the 50-strong workforce that built the summit road in 1937–39 had gained their experience on Trollstigen, opened the year before work began.
  • The Nibbevegen was built just 3.5 metres wide, with ten bends whose tightest radius is only 6 metres.
  • The road was formally opened in July 1948 by transport minister Nils Langhelle, timed with the visit of Stella Polaris, the first tourist ship to reach Geiranger after the war.
  • Building the summit road cost 145,000 kroner, at a time when its labourers earned around one and a half kroner an hour.
  • The final stretch of the Nibbevegen to the summit was only paved with asphalt in 2013, more than six decades after its opening.
  • The Geiranger – From Fjord to Summit running and cycling race starts at sea level in Geiranger village and finishes on top of Dalsnibba.

Why it is worth it

Dalsnibba is a mountain at the head of the Geiranger valley in western Norway, and from its summit at around 1,500 metres the view drops all the way down to the Geirangerfjord — a narrow blue arm of the sea wound between near-vertical walls, with the village of Geiranger small at the water's edge. It is often described as the highest fjord view in Europe reachable by road, and the scale is the point: from bare rock, snow patches and meltwater lakes to the fjord far below, the whole descent from high mountain plateau to sea level is laid out in one sweep.

The summit plateau has an austere beauty of its own. Snow lingers here well into summer, and to the south-east lies Djupvatnet, a lake cupped in the bare rock. Across the valley the Blåbreen glacier shows white against dark mountainsides. Since the Geiranger Skywalk was built at the top, visitors can stand on a platform of open steel grating with glass rails, projecting over a drop of about 500 metres. The Geirangerfjord below belongs to the West Norwegian Fjords World Heritage Site, and Dalsnibba is one of the few places where its setting within the wider mountain landscape can be grasped all at once.

The toll road to the top, Nibbevegen, is itself part of the experience. Built in the 1930s and completed in 1939, it could not be formally opened until 19 July 1948 because of the Second World War. Its last five kilometres climb through eleven hairpin bends at a gradient of around ten per cent.

Getting there

Dalsnibba lies in Stranda municipality, Møre og Romsdal, about 21 km by road from Geiranger via the Nibbevegen toll road. The nearest town is Molde, about 77 km away in a straight line, and the nearest airport is Molde Airport, Årø (MOL), at a similar distance.

Plan your visit

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Nearby places

On these lists

The Most Beautiful Places in Møre og Romsdal 6The Most Beautiful Places in Norway 38The Most Spectacular Viewpoints 33The Most Beautiful Squares, Streets and Monuments 173

From the encyclopaedia

Dalsnibba is a mountain in Stranda Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located at the end of the Geiranger valley, about 7 km (4 mi) south of the village of Geiranger and the Geirangerfjorden. The 2-square-kilometre (0.8 sq mi) lake Djupvatnet lies directly to the southeast of the mountain. The mountain is located very near the county border with both Innlandet and Vestland counties, in the southeastern part of Møre og Romsdal county.

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62.04861, 7.26917per Wikidata