Stalheimsfossen

As far as we were concerned, the best view probably came from the third or fourth hairpin turn on Stalheimskleiva. I didn't recall there were any formal pullouts from this spot so we had to make do with finding whatever space we could find to get out of the way of traffic.

At the end of the paved walking path, which followed the Nærøy River (Nærøyselva), there was a railed lookout where we were right at the base of the powerful waterfall. The walk took us about 10 to 15 minutes.

It's worth noting that Stalheimskleiva (I believe "kleiva" is translated to mean steep, rocky ascent) is considered one of the steepest roads in Northern Europe with its 20% grade. For this reason, I think only smaller passenger cars should bother driving the road (though I saw at least one or two skillfully driven tour buses take it). However, I think this would've been a more enjoyable excursion if we would've taken the time to walk or bike the road (of course you'll always have the problem of the arduous climb up!). If you don't want to drive this road, they do have a bypassing tunnel route but then you'd miss out on most of the fun.

And at the top of this road is the Stalheim Hotel where they have a beautiful terrace overlooking the Nærøy Valley (Nærøydalen), which I learned was named along with the narrow Nærøy Fjord (Nærøyfjorden) as UNESCO World Heritage Sites as of 2005. While we were able to see Kjelfossen from here, we weren't able to see Stalheimsfossen nor Sivlefossen from up here.

Directions: To get to Stalheimskleiva from Voss, we drove north on Rv13/E16 for about 30km. Rv13 and E16 splits up at a junction in Framnes so we continued on the E16 by staying on the right. In another 5km, we had the option of taking a tunnel on E16 (thereby bypassing Stalheimskleiva) or heading towards the Stalheim Hotel where the steep road begins shortly thereafter. Obviously, we headed for the hotel.

Immediately past the hotel, the E16 steeply descends 1.3km down Stalheimskleiva before rejoining the main thoroughfare of the E16 after passing by a small car park. But this car park was the start of the easy walk to the base of Stalheimsfossen.

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Wildflowers blooming before the falls as we started the walk to its base

Julie on the well-developed walk

The walk now followed the Nærøy River

Julie approaching the end of the walk and the base of Stalheimsfossen

The Stalheim Hotel Terrace

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TRIP REPORTS

• June 27, 2005

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NEARBY WATERFALLS

• Kjelfossen
• Tvindefossen
• Sivlefossen

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