Historic Hadeland - Vikings, Churches & Everyday Lives

Day 1 – Arrival and first taste of Granavollen
Check in at your hotel on historic Granavollen, the perfect base for exploring the area. After check‑in, a gentle walk around this thousand‑year‑old meeting place introduces you to the landscape: stone churches, old rectory buildings, traditional farmhouses and wide views over fields and forest. In the evening you gather for dinner at the hotel, with time for good conversations and a relaxed start to the historic journey ahead.
 
Day 2 – Glass, ancient heritage and dinner behind former prison walls
After breakfast, you travel to Hadeland Glassverk, where Norwegian glassmaking has been practiced since the 18th century. The visit focuses on Skattkammeret, Scandinavia’s largest museum of glass, a unique treasure trove of objects from the glassworks’ 260‑year history. Here you follow a curated journey through more than 260 years of glass production, royal commissions and everyday design classics. It ranges from fishing net glass floats and the original Norgesglass jar to glass made for the Norwegian royal family and embassies around the world. There is also time to experience the atmosphere in the historic courtyard, with its mix of workshops, galleries and design shops.

Here you follow a curated journey through more than 260 years of glass production, royal commissions and everyday design classics. It ranges from fishing net glass floats and the original Norgesglass jar to glass made for the Norwegian royal family and embassies around the world. There is also time to experience the atmosphere in the historic courtyard, with its mix of workshops, galleries and design shops.

When Veien Cultural Heritage Park is open, the day continues among burial mounds, stone settings and a reconstructed longhouse that bring pre‑Christian Hadeland to life. Your guide shares stories of power, belief and everyday life in the centuries before the Viking Age and the coming of Christianity, giving new context to the monuments you passed on the way. In the evening, the bus takes you to Hønefoss for dinner at Brasserie Fengselet, where good food and local flavours are served within the atmospheric walls of the town’s former prison. The combination of historic surroundings and modern cuisine makes this a memorable closing to the day.
 
Day 3 – Stone circles, folk museum and guided stories at Granavollen
The morning begins at the stone circles at Bilden, where mysterious formations in the landscape invite curiosity and reflection. Here you hear how such stone settings have been interpreted through time, and how people on Hadeland have used and marked the landscape from prehistory until today. Then you continue via a former stave church site and on to several medieval churches – including Old Tingelstad Church, St. Petri, the Sister Churches and the idyllic Lunder Church – to explore how people on Hadeland have understood faith, power and the sacred landscape from prehistory to the Middle Ages.

The programme continues at Hadeland Folk Museum, an open‑air museum with historic buildings and exhibitions that show how people in the region have lived for centuries. This is where you see the famous Dynna rune stone, visit the grave of a Viking king and wander among farm buildings that tell the story of everyday life on Hadeland through changing times. A guided tour takes you through old houses where you sense traces of real lives rather than abstract dates, with tools, textiles, furniture and architecture that together show how rural society developed.

For groups who want to dive deeper, the visit can be tailored with different themed experiences (subject to availability):

•  A Viking tour that first takes you to the Dynnasteinen runestone and Halvdan Svarte’s burial mound, followed by a guided bus tour through the cultural landscape where you hear vivid stories from the Viking Age, including a stop at Røykenvika where, according to saga tradition, King Halvdan Svarte went through the ice over a thousand years ago.

• The Historic Vorspiel, a themed tour that explores Hadeland’s history through alcohol – from Viking mead and the dark Middle Ages to prohibition, home distilling and today’s microbreweries, complete with colourful local tales, songs and the story of Christopher Hammer, often called “the father of Norwegian aquavit”.

• A behind‑the‑scenes meeting with one of the museum’s craftsmen, where you discover how traditional Norwegian log construction and timber work made it possible to build durable houses, barns and churches that could withstand harsh Nordic winters and limited resources.

• Join a cooking class on a farm, where you learn how to make traditional Norwegian Lefse or flatbread.

In the afternoon you return to Granavollen for a guided historic walk that ties many of the threads together. The walk typically includes visits to the Sister Churches; Nikolaikirken and Mariakirken, Steinhuset with its garden, and the small Telthuset, which today houses exhibitions developed in collaboration with local artists. Along the way you hear both the famous legend of the two sisters who would not worship together, and the more likely story of how the churches were actually used, as well as how Granavollen became a key point on both the old King’s Road and the pilgrimage route to Trondheim. The day ends with dinner in the atmospheric Klosterkjelleren, a setting that invites good conversations and reflection on everything you have experienced so far.
 
Day 4 – Slow morning and departure
Your final day begins with breakfast at the hotel, with time to enjoy the views and the calm surroundings one last time. Those who wish can take a short walk in the cultural landscape around Granavollen, perhaps with a visit to the local pilgrim centre. For groups who want to make the most of the morning, it is also possible to a visit to local creative environments such as Glasslåven art centre or a woodturning workshop, subject to season and availability. Afterwards it is time for departure, with stories of Viking kings, medieval stone churches and everyday rural lives still fresh in your mind.


Optional regenerative elements

Citizen science on walks: use a simple app during walks on historic sites to register plants, birds or cultural heritage, contributing real data to local nature and culture management.

Shared harvest: (seasonal) help pick surplus fruit, berries or invasive plants from local gardens and landscapes that would otherwise go to waste; part of the harvest is used by local producers, part becomes a tasty souvenir. 

Make juice or jam: (seasonal) join a mini cooking class making jam, condiment or juice from surplus fruits or berries, while learning how this reduces food waste and strengthens local communities. Enjoy bringing home a tasty souvenir you have made yourself.