Kongeveien over Dovre · Stage 8
Walking time measured on the mapped line (TrailSplits time model, moving time; within 22 % on four in five test legs). Outside Switzerland our walking times often run short of the times route operators publish; treat them as optimistic. Climb measured on the mapped line, on terrain heights.
Where OpenStreetMap does not map the trail
From Rennebuskogen by the old King's Road towards Rennebu, partly on roads, partly through forest, to Stamnan: 19.4 km on our line, 20 km by the pilgrim centre. At Skjepphaugen you can take an easier way along the river Orkla, or climb by the trail to Slipran and on past the St Olav memorials at St. Olavskleiva. Just before Stamnan the mapped trail breaks for 154 m, and our router joins it on mapped roads: follow the waymarks there. Meslo Herberge, open all year, is 1.3 km before Stamnan.
Best season: Mid-June to mid-September. The pilgrim centre recommends 15 June to 15 September for the days over the Dovrefjell, and 15 May to 30 September from Oppdal north. Until about 15 June the way over the fjell is "technically closed": the bridges over the Hondyrju and Vesle Hondyrju go out about then, the rivers are full of meltwater and cannot be waded, snow lies late and can hide the waymarks, and the wild reindeer calve. Wait until 18 June for Hardbakken and Knutshø. Many lodgings close between August and mid-October: by 13 October 2026 Budsjord, Fokstugu, Hjerkinn Fjellstue, Ryphusan, Ry Gjestegård, Skaun's parish house and Lian Gård had closed for the year. Before you go
Facts read from the guide's sources and OpenStreetMap on 13 October 2026. A page can change after we read it, so confirm with your accommodation before you rely on a date or a bed.
Stage start
Town
The stage ends at Hæverstølen, open all year. Gjesteheim Havdal, also open all year, is 2.7 km further on.
A town or village: find accommodation yourself. TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Hæverstølen · Hostel or bunkhouse
Season 2026: 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026
Gjesteheim Havdal · Hotel
Season 2026: 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026
Stage end · overnight
Town
The bus stop at Stamnan. Meslo Herberge, open all year, is on the trail 1.3 km before it.
A town or village: find accommodation yourself. TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Meslo Herberge · Hostel or bunkhouse
Season 2026: 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026
The pilgrim centre gives 20 km for this day; it publishes no time for any day. pilegrimsleden.no, read 13 October 2026
Make it your trip
Most lodgings are small hostels and farms with few beds: book a couple of days ahead, earlier for a group, the pilgrim centre says. There is no common booking system, so book each place yourself. Ryphusan and Olskastet take no bookings; Svorkmo skytterhus gives its key by phone, and Lian Gård sends a key-box code with the booking. Outside the summer check each stay's season: by 13 October 2026, Budsjord, Fokstugu, Hjerkinn Fjellstue, Ryphusan, Smegarden, Langklopp, Ry, Ner-Grefstad, Skaun's parish house, Aunan Gård and Lian Gård had closed for the year. Open all year are, among others, Toftemo, Dovrefjell Lodge, Hageseter, Granmo, the Oppdal hotels, Hæverstølen, Gjesteheim Havdal, Meslo, Segard Hoel, the beds at Løkken Verk and Strandheimen.
The pilgrim centre's fourteen days, a night at the end of each.
Plan this journeyThe pilgrim centre's four days over the Dovrefjell, to the train at Kongsvoll.
Plan this journeyOver the Dovrefjell and Knutshø to Oppdal in six days.
Plan this journeyThe pilgrim centre's eight days from Oppdal to Nidaros, through farmland and forest.
Plan this journeyLoading the forecast for low point (225 m) and high point (539 m)…
Typical weather on this stage: at the lowest point (225 m) and the highest point (539 m). Select a month to see why it is rated as it is.
| Month | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weather | Poor | Poor | Poor | Mixed | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Mixed | Poor | Poor |
| High point, day / night | 0°/-6° | 0°/-6° | 2°/-5° | 7°/-2° | 12°/2° | 15°/5° | 18°/8° | 17°/7° | 13°/5° | 7°/0° | 2°/-2° | -1°/-7° |
| Low point, day / night | 2°/-4° | 2°/-5° | 4°/-4° | 9°/0° | 14°/3° | 17°/6° | 19°/9° | 18°/9° | 15°/6° | 8°/1° | 4°/-1° | 1°/-5° |
| Rain, mm | 70 | 61 | 56 | 36 | 47 | 75 | 84 | 80 | 65 | 59 | 52 | 65 |
| Snow at high point | Likely | Likely | Possible | Possible | Frost | – | – | – | – | Possible | Possible | Likely |
| Daylight | 5 h 49 | 8 h 44 | 11 h 37 | 14 h 47 | 17 h 50 | 20 h 05 | 19 h 10 | 16 h 15 | 13 h 07 | 10 h 05 | 6 h 59 | 4 h 55 |
Source: TerraClimate 1991–2020 monthly averages. Averages for the area at each point’s elevation (4 km grid, corrected for height). Not a forecast or a report of current trail conditions. Snow at the high point is estimated with a simple snowpack model from these temperatures and precipitation, not observed; steep islands and high summits can hold more snow than it shows. Daylight is for the 15th of each month. Hut, transport and park seasons are separate: check them for your dates.
Before you go
Arrange your stays, food and travel first, then check conditions again near departure.
Until about 15 June the pilgrim way over the Dovrefjell is "technically closed", the pilgrim centre says (read 13 October 2026): the bridges over the Hondyrju and Vesle Hondyrju (day 2) go out about 15 June, the rivers cannot be waded before then, deep snow often lies into late June and hides the waymarks, and lodges may be shut. The wild reindeer calve on Hardbakken and Knutshø: wait until 18 June for days 2 and 5. Before 10 June take the train over the Dovrefjell, or from Kongsvoll to Oppdal. From Oppdal north you can start from about 15 May and walk until the end of September.
Pilegrimssenter Dovrefjell: season newsOn day 14, about 2.4 km after Øysand, our line crosses the Gaula by a summer boat crossing, drawn dashed and not counted as walking. The pilgrim centre's Oppdal to Trondheim tour does not describe the crossing; its Svorkmo to Trondheim tour says the Sundbåten can take you over here, and the boat's listing (read 13 October 2026) says it is for pilgrims staying at Lerfald gård, and groups on request. No season is published, and we found no official word on whether it runs in October or on a walking way round: book the boat with Lerfald gård, or ask the pilgrim centre, before you go.
Pilegrimsleden: the SundbåtenEven in midsummer the weather on the Dovrefjell can turn fast, with temperatures near 0 °C: check the forecast before you cross and carry warm clothes, gloves and a hat, the pilgrim centre says (Otta to Oppdal tour, read 13 October 2026). Dovre has the last food shop before the fjell; the next is in Oppdal, but most lodges on the way serve meals or sell food.
Pilegrimsleden: Otta to OppdalMany pilgrim lodgings open only in summer. On 13 October 2026 Budsjord, Fokstugu, Hjerkinn Fjellstue, Ryphusan and Smegarden on the Dovrefjell days, and Langklopp, Ry Gjestegård, Ner-Grefstad, Skaun's parish house, Aunan Gård and Lian Gård further north, were closed for the year; Kongsvold Fjeldstue gives no closing day in October. Each stay here shows its season, read on its listing on 13 October 2026.
Pilegrimsleden: places to stayHjerkinn Fjellstue carries luggage over the Dovrefjell from Dovre (Toftemo or Budsjord) to Kongsvold Fjeldstue, ordered by 20:00 the day before. Kongsvold Fjeldstue carries it on to Ryphusan or Smegarden. The Dovrefjell pilgrim centre offers luggage transport from Kongsvold to Skaun, per piece and per day, ordered by 19:00 the day before, and Strandheimen carries it from Skaun to Øysand and on to Trondheim. Prices are on each listing (read 13 October 2026).
Pilegrimssenter DovrefjellRennebu church, on day 9, marks 100 km to Nidaros: the last place you can join the way and still get the Olavsbrev, the pilgrim certificate. At the pilgrim office by Nidaros Cathedral you get the Olavsbrev, your last stamps in the pilgrim passport and entry to the cathedral. The Dovrefjell pilgrim centre is in Eysteinkyrkja at Hjerkinn, on day 4, every day from 14 June to 13 September 2026; outside that by appointment.
Pilegrimsleden: Oppdal to TrondheimGetting there
Travel around Rennebuskogen to Stamnan.
Google Maps journey searches, not confirmed services. A mountain endpoint may need a booked transfer or an additional walk.
Trains on the Dovrebanen between Oslo and Trondheim, and on the Raumabanen from Åndalsnes, stop at Dombås; only one train a day from Oslo stops at Dovre station. From Dombås take the local bus or a taxi to Dovre, 13 km; from Otta a local bus runs to Dovre, 34 km. Entur has the bus and train times.
Pilegrimsleden: Dovre to KongsvollSJ Nord's trains on the Dovrebanen stop at Hjerkinn, Kongsvoll, Oppdal and Berkåk in Rennebu; at Kongsvoll book your ticket ahead, or the train will not stop. AtB buses run from Oppdal to Støren and Trondheim (480), from Berkåk by Meldal to Orkanger (460), and in Skaun (310, 410, 505 and 511). AtB closed the Grut stop in Orkland from 30 September 2026 for roadworks; use the Stene stop instead.
AtB: Rennebu, lines and trainsThe trail ends at Nidaros Cathedral in the centre of Trondheim. Trains leave Trondheim S on the Dovrebanen south by Oppdal and Dombås to Oslo.
Bane NOR: Oslo S to Trondheim STake your trip with you
Prepare each day while you still have a connection: on the Dovrefjell and in the side valleys the signal can be weak.
Keep your route and maps on your phone for places without a signal. For multi-day trips, prepare them in the installed TrailSplits app.
Saving a bookmark is not a map download. Storage can be cleared by your device; keep a backup map for remote trips.
Route & sources
The national pilgrim centre (Nasjonalt pilegrimssenter, pilegrimsleden.no) publishes no fixed stages for this part of the Gudbrandsdalsleden, the pilgrim way from Oslo to Trondheim. Its tour proposals cover it in fourteen days: Dovre to Kongsvoll in four (4, 14, 21 and 17 km, by Hageseter), the last two days of Otta to Oppdal (22 and 28 km), and Oppdal to Trondheim in eight (22.5, 20, 14, 18, 20, 20, 16 and 25 km), 261.5 km in all. It publishes no stage times and no climb, so every time here is measured on our line. The line here is the trail on OpenStreetMap, six hiking relations of the Gudbrandsdalsleden (3917970, 3918309, 1671572, 5677571, 5697677 and 5659103) from the planet of 11 October 2026: 253.6 km, cut at the fourteen day ends, from Dovre church to Nidaros Cathedral. Ten of the fourteen days are within 1 km of the pilgrim centre's figure. Day 9, Stamnan to Ry, is 1.8 km shorter (12.2 km against 14), and three differ more: day 6 ends at Oppdal church at Vang, 3 km above the town centre where the pilgrim centre's 28 km end, so ours is 25.1 km; day 7 runs from that church to Hæverstølen, 26.0 km against the pilgrim centre's 22.5 km from the centre to Rennebuskogen; and day 11, Meldal to Gumdalen, is 17.6 km against 20. The pilgrim centre's alternative by Hjerkinn on days 3 and 4 is not mapped; our line takes the Hageseter days and passes Hjerkinn on day 4. At Stamnan (day 8) the mapped trail breaks for 154 m, and our router joins it on mapped roads. On day 14 our line crosses the Gaula past Øysand by a summer boat crossing, drawn as a dashed line and not counted as walking: the pilgrim centre's Oppdal to Trondheim pages do not describe it (see that day). Our climb is measured on terrain heights, so short steep steps are smoothed out.
Official guidance and mapped-source comparison checked 13 October 2026. Map data is a route reference, not confirmation of today's path, weather or accommodation availability.
Nasjonalt pilegrimssenter: GudbrandsdalsledenMap data © OpenStreetMap contributors · Source relation