Trollstigen, Valldal & Fjord Sightseeing Tour from Alesund

Trollstigen, the Troll's Ladder

Trollstigen is one of Norway's National Tourist Routes and probably its most photographed road. Opened in 1936, it climbs the steep side of the Isterdalen valley in eleven tight hairpin bends, with an average gradient of around ten percent. At the top, a visitor area with viewing platforms hangs over the edge, so you can look straight down the zigzag road and the valley.

The road is open only in the warmer months, usually from late May to October, because snow and rockfall make it impassable in winter. A Trollstigen tour from Alesund is the easiest way to see it without driving the bends yourself. If the authorities close the lower road after a rockfall, the tour still reaches the viewpoint from the south side, so you will see the famous view even when you cannot drive down.

Gudbrandsjuvet gorge

Gudbrandsjuvet is a narrow ravine in the Valldal valley where the river Valldøla has cut a channel only about five metres wide and some twenty metres deep. The water rushes through polished rock in swirling pools, and modern walkways and a bridge let you stand right above it.

It is a short, easy walk from the parking area, and most visitors spend around 15 to 20 minutes here taking photos. The walkways are part of the Trollstigen National Tourist Route architecture, designed to sit lightly in the landscape. In early summer, when snowmelt fills the river, the gorge is at its most powerful and the spray can reach the bridge, so a light rain jacket is useful.

Sjoholt, Valldal and the Storfjord

The tour leaves Alesund heading east along the fjords. The first stop is the Kokarsteinen viewpoint, high above the Storfjord, with a wide view over the water, the islands and the Sunnmøre mountains. It is one of the best photo spots near Alesund and a fine introduction to the day.

Next you pass Sjoholt, a small village known for its furniture and wood industry, and then reach Valldal, a green valley famous across Norway for its sweet strawberries, which ripen late here thanks to the long summer days. Your guide talks about life in these rural communities, the farms on the valley floor and how the fjords shaped the region's history and trade.

Stigfossen waterfall

Stigfossen is the waterfall that tumbles down the mountainside right beside the Trollstigen bends, crossed by the road on an old stone bridge. Seen from the top, it falls in long white ribbons down the cliff; from below, it fills the valley with its roar in early summer.

The coach makes an extra photo stop here as you descend, one of the best moments for photos of the road and the falls together. The waterfall is strongest in June and July, when the snow on the high plateau melts. On cooler days mist can drift across the valley, which adds atmosphere to the pictures rather than spoiling them. Many travellers say the descent past the falls is the highlight of the whole day.

The Troll Wall and Andalsnes

Trollveggen, the Troll Wall, rises about a thousand metres straight up from the floor of the Romsdalen valley and is Europe's tallest vertical rock face. Its jagged summit ridge, the Trolltindene peaks, gave the area its legends of trolls turned to stone at sunrise. It remains one of the most demanding big-wall climbs in Europe.

From the valley floor the scale is hard to believe, and your guide points out the main routes and pinnacles. The tour ends with a drive through Andalsnes, a small town at the mouth of the Romsdalsfjord known as a base for mountain hikes, before returning towards Alesund. Note that the Troll Wall stop depends on the Trollstigen road being open.