Vettisfossen Waterfall

With a free fall of 275 metres Vettisfossen is the highest protected waterfall in Norway. You can get there on foot by walking up the beautiful Utladalen in Øvre Årdal.

With its free drop of 275 metres (about 900 feet), the Vettisfoss is the highest waterfall in Norway which has not been regulated. The waterfall is situated at Vettismorki in Årdal, and it was protected as early as 1924. In his book "Under Storen", the writer and photographer Jan Schwarzott has described it as the queen of waterfalls: "once the queen gets to you, she will never leave your heart".

Vettismorki marks the lower end of the valley of Utladalen. It is in this monumental natural setting that you can imagine that the Sognefjord in a way has cut its way into the biggest mountain massif in the country - Jotunheimen. In this area you find about 50 mountain tops higher than 2000 metres (6600 feet).

Down in the town of Årdal, aluminium is produced in gigantic metal plants, where the furnaces are generated by hydro-electricity from the surrounding mountains and glaciers. And in this landscape you can find traces of people's activities and settlements in the distant past.