Hiking to a Tiny Home Village in the Norwegian Wilderness

About

When deciding where to stay and what to experience in Norway, the one thing we knew for sure was that we wanted to stay at the tiny home village: DNT NYE Skåpet.

Experiencing the wilderness and being completely off the grid for an evening sounded very enticing to us.

The tiny homes are located in the southwest part of Norway. To get there, we drove from Oslo along the southern coast. Instead of going straight to the tiny homes, we chose to spend one night in the nearby city – Stavanger.

Getting to the tiny home village was just as good as staying there. The drive to the parking lot takes you past farm land, waterfalls, grazing sheep and along a beautiful lake. Once you’ve reached the trailhead the hike is approximately 2.5 miles.

WARNING: There is no Wifi or cell service during the hike or in the tiny home village, so if you need to text loved ones – do so before the start of your hike! Also, there is a downloadable map on the AllTrails app that allows you to make sure you’re on the right trail. Though the trail is marked well with a red painted letter “T”, I decided to download the map prior.

The Hike experience

I wouldn’t say that I’m an avid hiker by any means. This trail, however, was my favorite hike to date. If you’re using the AllTrails app you’ll notice that the hike is listed as “moderate” difficulty. This rating comes from wet and rocky terrain rather than elevation gain or length. While it is a bit challenging it’s definitely doable as long as you have waterproof hiking boots. The trail follows a meandering river and requires you to cross multiple times. I used these boots, and my feet stayed dry the entire hike. *We hiked during early October which definitely impacted the rainy/muddy aspect of this hike.*

The TINY HOMES

Okay, how cute are these tiny homes? Not only did KOKO Architecture group design them to look nice, but they’re also very ecocentric. They are heated using firewood and the electricity for lighting comes from solar panels. If you generally run cold, the cabins have a wood burning fireplace and plenty of chopped wood to keep you warm and cozy during the night.

The homes are modern and weatherproof from the outside and comfortable on the inside. The design choice to have an enormous floor to ceiling window was a huge added bonus. The windows are equipped with blinds if you’d like to close them for a bit of extra sleep after your hike! We chose not to shut the blinds so we could wake up to the sunrise over the beautiful lake.

The tiny homes come with twin beds that have a fitted sheet, comforter and pillow. Personally, I didn’t love the idea of sleeping on these sheets as I have no idea the last time that they were washed. I brought my own sleeping bag liner and slept wonderfully!

The communal areas

There are a few communal areas that make this place even more special. The main hut is where you’ll find the full kitchen and living area. The living area has a map, games and a guestbook. There’s also a pantry with foods such as spaghetti, canned beans, pasta sauce and more for you to use (at an added cost). We brought ramen, chocolate, lefse, fruits, veggies and granola bars to eat while we were there.

They also had a sauna and outdoor shower that unfortunately burnt down prior to our stay. I was informed that they have received permits to begin rebuilding the sauna – which would be a fantastic addition to any stay.

respecting the tiny home village

These homes are self-service meaning that the honor system is in full-effect. You are expected to reserve and pay for your cabin ahead of time and sign into the guest book when visiting this very special place.

Each tiny home is assigned a different cleaning task. That way, these cabins will remain clean and comfortable for future guests. Our cabin was tasked with sweeping, but we also just tidied up anything we noticed.

This was such a special experience. Though we loved coming in autumn, we can only imagine how fabulous this would be in the summer too!