Dezeen Magazine

Aurlandsfjellet Tourist Route opens

Next month marks the official opening of the Aurlandsfjellet Tourist Route; a scenic mountain road that begins at a wooden viewing platform perched 650 metres above Norways's longest and deepest fjord (+ slideshow).

Aurlandsfjellet Tourist Route

The 30-mile road is a popular detour for travellers and winds across the Aurlandsfjellet mountain plateau from one branch of the Sognefjord to another.

Aurlandsfjellet Tourist Route

The Stegastein Viewing Platform was the first completed project on the route and was designed by architects Todd Saunders and Tommie Wilhelmsen.

Aurlandsfjellet Tourist Route

Architect Lars Berge later added a toilet stop within a tilted concrete cube, as well as a winding concrete pathway and bench offering views from the north-eastern end of the plateau.

Aurlandsfjellet Tourist Route

Most recently this path has been extended to lead into a cave, where artist Mark Dion has placed a sleeping model bear on top of a pile of human junk to question whether it is man or animal that reigns over civilization.

Aurlandsfjellet Tourist Route

Aurlandsfjellet Tourist Route is one of 18 national tourist routes in Norway and will be officially opened on 7 September.

Aurlandsfjellet Tourist Route

Stops on some of the other tourist routes that we’ve written about include cantilevered viewing platformspublic toilets in a rusty steel cabin and a memorial commemorating suspected witches by Peter Zumthor.

Aurlandsfjellet Tourist Route

See all our stories about the Norwegian tourist routes »

Aurlandsfjellet Tourist Route