Jotunheimen Cycling — Jotunheimvegen & Valdresflye Loop

From Vinstra the route heads southwest through Espedalen, climbing steadily out of the Gudbrandsdalen valley. The road narrows and the forest thickens as you gain altitude — by km 25 you are at 800 metres and the landscape has shifted from valley farmland to mountain terrain. There is a brief descent before the Jotunheimvegen toll road begins, and this is where the ride changes gear entirely.

Jotunheimvegen is 45 kilometres of gravel through Jotunheimen National Park, built in 1950 and free for cyclists. The surface is well-maintained but firm — proper gravel, not smooth tarmac — and the traffic is almost nonexistent. When I rode this, I did not see another cyclist for the entire Jotunheimvegen section. Mountain farms appear at intervals, small clusters of weathered timber buildings set against an enormous backdrop of peaks. Haugseter Fjellstue arrives around km 65 and is a stop I would not skip — proper mountain lodge food in a setting that feels untouched by the modern world.

From the end of Jotunheimvegen the route joins Fv51 at Bygdin and begins the climb to Valdresflye — Norway's second-highest public road at 1,389 metres. The day I was here, there were reindeer grazing right next to the road on the upper plateau. The Valdresflye Kafe at the summit is perfectly placed for coffee and a breather, with panoramic views across the Jotunheimen peaks that are genuinely hard to leave. The descent from the plateau is long and fast — the road drops back into the valley through Randsverk, where there is a welcome food stop around km 130, before the final stretch back to Vinstra along the Gudbrandsdalen valley floor. One of the great mountain rides in Norway.