Snø

Can you imagine an indoor ski hall that has a 500-meter slope, is regularly used by World Cup teams for practice, has a separate elevated pathways for cross-country skiing, a park for the snowboarders, a snow castle for parties, a hotel, a game area, restaurants... and an indoor ice climbing wall. No? Well you guessed it, such a thing can only exist in oil-rich countries. Norway in this case. Seriously though, Snø and Snøbyen (the village) are a major destination and a delight for skiers. I wonder why I have not been here before. Well done, Norway!

Their advertisements mention the fact that you can get to the cross-country ski tracks from your hotel bed in one minute. That may be pushing it, if you have to wait for the elevators, but yes, this truly is the wonder thing for the winter sports enthusiasts!

But I was mostly blown away by the fact that they had a massive ice climbing wall. Sadly, I was unable to try it, I would have had to book it in advance. Very nice, maybe on some next trip I'll try this too:

The official home page of Snø is here. It is half an hour from downtown Oslo and 50 minutes from the airport by car. Taxis in Norway cost a fortune, however. On my second trip here I rented a car rather than pay 2x 60€ for the ride...

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My travel here was wet, rain in Finland, rain in Norway, but ... inside it was shiny winter!

Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot, TGR. For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites. Photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko.