Where to Stay Near Trolltunga: Odda, Røldal and Tyssedal for Families

If you are planning to hike Trolltunga with kids, your accommodation is just as important as your hiking boots. The trailhead is highly remote, the hike itself is incredibly demanding, and an early morning start is key if you want to make it there and back in time. We stayed 1hr away and the entrance to the P3 car park nearly closed by the time we arrived!

To help you get it right, this guide breaks down the absolute best places to stay across Odda, Røldal, and Tyssedal. We cover which bases offer vital early morning packed lunch services, where you can find self catering apartments to manage your own breakfast schedule, and exactly how far each option is from the crucial P2 and P3 trailheads.

For our full guide to completing this massive hike with a young child, including what to pack and how to manage a 13 hour day with a toddler, read our dedicated Trolltunga with a Toddler guide.

Where to Stay Summary

Property	Location	Price From	Best For
Trolltunga Hotel	Odda	£100 per night	Great restaurant, packed lunches, early breakfasts
Trolltunga Odda Apartments	Odda	£85 per night	Self catering, full kitchen, washing machine
Vikinghaug Apartments	Odda	£120 per night	Large family apartments, glacier and fjord views
Hardanger Hotel	Odda	£90 per night	Central Odda, walkable to shops, breakfast included
Røldal Hyttegrend	Røldal	£80 per night	Quiet family cabins with a kitchen 50 minutes away
Trolltunga Aparthotel	Tyssedal	£75 per night	Closest to the P2 trailhead, practical budget base

Choosing Your Base Location

There are three practical areas to base yourself for the Trolltunga hike, and each comes with different trade offs for families.

• Odda: This is the nearest actual town to the trailhead, offering the most accommodation choices, restaurants, a vital supermarket, and everything you need for hiking kit and food prep. The drive to the P2 Skjeggedal parking takes about 25 minutes, while the drive to the highest P3 Mågelitopp parking takes about 45 minutes. If you are doing the hike in a single day and want to be close to civilisation, Odda is the obvious choice.

• Tyssedal: This is a tiny village 6km from Odda and sits even closer to the P2 trailhead. It is significantly quieter than Odda but very limited in terms of restaurants and shops. This is the right choice if pure proximity to the trail is your absolute priority and you are happy self catering.

• Røldal: A beautiful mountain village about 50 minutes from the trailhead on the other side of the Seljestad gorge. It is significantly quieter than Odda and the surrounding landscape is spectacular in a completely different way. We chose Røldal because we wanted absolute peace the night before our hike but the trade off was a very early start. We drove to the trailhead early the next morning, hiked for 7 hours to reach Trolltunga carrying our 15kg daughter, camped overnight at the top, and came back down the following day.

1. Odda

Odda is a small industrial town set in a spectacular mountain location. The town sits right at the southern end of the Sørfjord with waterfalls visible from the main street and steep mountains on three sides. It has a large supermarket, several good restaurants, a tourist information office, and enough of a town feel to be genuinely highly useful as a hiking base.

The most important practical note for anyone hiking Trolltunga from Odda: book your parking at P3 Mågelitopp well in advance if you want the absolute closest starting point. P3 has only 30 spaces and access is strictly limited to specific time windows in the summer. If P3 is full, P2 at Skjeggedal is your starting point, where you can catch the shuttle bus up to P3. Trolltunga Active is based at P2 and hires out equipment including hiking poles.

Trolltunga Hotel (prices from around £100 per night)

Best for: Families who want a proper hotel with a great restaurant, an early breakfast service, packed lunch preparation, and lake views.

Trolltunga Hotel sits right by Lake Sandvevatnet on the edge of Odda with gorgeous views of the lake, the valley, and the Folgefonna Glacier from the rooms. They are used to hikers so the hotel will happily prepare packed lunches for your early morning departure. Staff can also safely store your luggage while you are up on the mountain and organise hot showers for your exhausted return. Cots are not available here, so this property strictly suits families whose children are safely past that stage.

Trolltunga Odda Apartments (prices from around £85 per night)

Best for: Families who want a fully equipped apartment with a kitchen, a washing machine, and a large supermarket just five minutes walk away.

This is a brilliant self catering apartment in central Odda featuring a fully equipped kitchen, a washing machine, private parking, and a very straightforward walk to the local Rema 1000 supermarket. The washing machine is vastly more useful than it sounds after a brutal 13 hour mountain hike in the mud! This is the absolute most practical choice for families who want to strictly manage their own schedule, cook their own massive pre hike dinner, and not depend on restaurant timings. Cots are available for an additional fee at this property.

Vikinghaug Apartments (prices from around £120 per night)

Best for: Families who want a large multi bedroom apartment with glacier views, fjord views, and plenty of space for an extended family group.

These are huge apartments offering three to four bedrooms, a full kitchen, a spacious living room, and incredible panoramic views of both the Folgefonna Glacier and the Hardangerfjord directly from the property. The extra bedrooms make these work perfectly for larger family groups or families travelling with friends, where having a separate quiet space to put exhausted children to bed while the adults debrief over dinner truly matters. Cots are available on request at this property.

Hardanger Hotel (prices from around £90 per night)

Best for: Families who want a highly central hotel in walkable Odda with breakfast included, fjord views, and incredibly easy access to the shops.

This is the most central hotel in Odda, located within very easy walking distance of the main supermarket, the best restaurants, and the local bus station. It features lovely fjord views from many of the rooms, with some offering private balconies facing directly onto the water. Breakfast is included and the staff are specifically praised for providing boxed lunches for early morning hike departures when requested in advance. It is a highly practical, well located hotel at a very sensible price point. Cots are available on request at this hotel.

2. Røldal

Røldal is a tiny mountain hamlet sitting at 400 metres above sea level, surrounded by huge mountains and the beautiful Røldal lake. It sits on the E134 route, about 50 minutes by car from the Trolltunga trailhead. We chose it as our pre Trolltunga base because it was a much more affordable option but the distance to the trailhead does mean that you have to get up and go quite quickly.

Røldal Hyttegrend Camping (prices from around £80 per night)

Best for: Families who want a beautiful self catering cabin with a full kitchen and two bedrooms in a quiet mountain village.

These are fantastic family cabins located just 200 metres from the famous Røldal stave church, with each cabin featuring two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a cosy living room. Having a proper self catering cabin meant we could prepare our lunch and dinner to bring with us on the hike. Whilst it was a bit further out form the trailhead the views were stunning with a real sense of calm. Cots are available on request at this property.

3. Tyssedal and Skjeggedal

Tyssedal is a small village 6km from Odda and serves as the absolute closest base to the P2 Skjeggedal trailhead, which is exactly where Trolltunga Active is based and where the shuttle bus to P3 departs. If getting to the trailhead as quickly as humanly possible is your priority and you are happy with a much more limited village setting, this is the most practical choice.

Trolltunga Aparthotel (prices from around £75 per night)

Best for: Families who want the most practical, absolutely no frills base as close to the P2 trailhead as possible, at the lowest price point.

This is a simple apartment hotel in Tyssedal, located 6km from the P2 trailhead and serving as the absolute closest indoor accommodation to the start of the Trolltunga hike. The rooms are very simple and the facilities are totally basic, which is entirely fine if your pure priority is proximity to the trail and getting out onto the trail early. It works perfectly as a Trolltunga base and Trolltunga Active next door at P2 is incredibly easy to reach for equipment hire. Cots are available on request at this property.

Booking Tips for Trolltunga Accommodation

• Book incredibly early: Trolltunga is one of the most visited hikes in all of Norway, and accommodation in Odda, Tyssedal, and Røldal fills up massively in advance during the peak summer months. If you are planning a summer visit, your accommodation should be the absolute first thing you confirm once your flights are set.

• Allow two nights if possible: In our main Trolltunga post, we highly recommend building in two full days for the hike. Weather conditions on the mountain change incredibly quickly, and having a backup day perfectly protects you against being forced to turn back on day one. Booking one night on either side of a flexible two day window is the absolute smartest approach.

• Pre book P3 parking separately: Your accommodation and your mountain parking are two completely separate bookings. If you are driving up to P3 Mågelitopp, the 30 space car park must be booked far in advance through the official Trolltunga website. Do not ever assume that simply booking accommodation nearby means you magically have a parking space waiting for you!

For the full guide to completely surviving this hike and camping on Trolltunga with young children, read our Trolltunga with a Toddler guide. For the wider Hardangerfjord accommodation picture including Eidfjord and Lofthus, read our Where to Stay in the Hardangerfjord with Kids guide. And for the full Oslo to Bergen road trip that Trolltunga sits perfectly within, read our Norway Road Trip with Kids!