So, after 8 days in Florida for a conference (post about that later) I have finally arrived in Norway where I will be staying for 4 weeks visiting family. And while I will be staying at my sister’s place and there’s nothing touristy left to do here in Trondheim, we had two small trips planned. One to Røros and one to a cabin I have no idea where it is.

So last Saturday we went to Røros. There are 4 ways to get there, depending on where you are. We decided to rent a car since we were travelling with kids and my sister’s car wouldn’t fit everyone, and we were afraid it would be a bit limiting not to have a car there, again, specially with kids and my parents not being the kind of people who love to take long walks. But, it turned out we were wrong about this. I’m not saying renting a car was a mistake, because it gave us the opportunity to stop, take pictures (the view is amazing), we stopped for coffee, washroom brake even though it was only a 2 hours trip, but there’s absolutely no need to have a car there. It’s a really small town and you can walk everywhere even if walking is not your thing. I like walking, I can walk 20km in one day just exploring, but as I mentioned, my parents don’t like walking at all, they are in their 60s, my 5 year-old niece was with us and still, we did not have to take the car to go anywhere.

Getting There

By train it would take about two hours and 30 minutes and would cost between NOK200 – 350. The trains are not very frequent. If you miss the 4pm train for example, the next one would be only at 7pm from Røros to Trondheim. You can get to Røros by train from Oslo, Trondheim and Hamar.

By bus you can leave from Trondheim and there are a lot more options. You can find the transportation options here. But as I said, we decided to rent a car. We got it from Budget.com and it cost around CAD109.00 without insurance since my credit card covers the insurance (damage and theft). We left around 9:30am and took the RV30. It usually takes about 2 hours but we took 3.

Things to consider

Having a Canadian driver’s license I could rent a car without any issues. They didn’t even asked for my passport. As a main rule, driving licences issued in EU/EEA countries can be used in Norway for as long as they are valid. For licenses issued outside of EU/EEA, there are different rules that apply to different countries, so you can check it here.

Also, gas is pretty expensive. We rented a Polo which is a pretty economic car, we drove for approximately 350 km and the fuel went down for a little over a quarter of the tank. And we spent NOK240 for approximately 15l. Which is around CAD35 (CAD2.33/l – At home I pay between CAD0.98 and CAD1.30).

Norway has a right-hand driving like most of Europe. The traffic is usually pretty calm, and even though people (just like in Canada) tend to drive over the speed limit in the roads, they are usually law abiding. The default speed in the roads is 80km/h. You will see signs telling you when the limit has changed and when you see a sign with the current speed crossed out it means you can go back to 80km/h. The road to Røros from Trondheim has only one lane each way, which can be a bit annoying especially if you are used drive in the Canadian and American highways, but we had absolutely no issue. The view is mesmerizing. Lots of rivers and waterfalls and beautiful mountains throughout the way.

One thing I noticed and found very peculiar is that here (and as per I have been told it happens also in other European countries as well) there are some bridges that are very narrow (and I am assuming very old), so you are driving at 80km/h and suddenly you need to slow down to 40km/h because there is a bridge ahead and even though the road has two lanes (one each way) only ONE CAR can cross the bridge at a time.

Røros

Røros is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It used to be a mining town and the copper mine, even though it’s not active anymore, is still there, being turned into a tourist attraction. Today, the inhabitants of Røros still work and live in the characteristic 17th and 18th century buildings which have led to its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. It is a tiny town, with about 1,956-square-kilometres and close to 6,000 people living there. It has a medieval atmosphere which is enhanced by the dark wood buildings. The bright doors and windows, very characteristic here, give the place a fairy tale ambience.

We parked at the train station. I paid about Cad10.00 for the whole day and we walked everywhere from there. The mine is now a museum and you can book a visit and actually go into the mine. For some reason it was closed last saturday and I was not able to take the tour.

There are two main streets there, where you can find several stores, artcrafts, and food, lots of food. The area is been used by the Southern Sami people for reindeer herding, so you can try this delicacy at several different restaurants in the area.

Food

To my absolute surprise, it was amazingly easy to find Gluten Free food in a tiny mining town with 6,000 inhabitants. We asked in four different places, while deciding where to eat and ALL of them offered Gluten free options. And when I say Gluten free I’m not referring to a Greek Salad. I’m talking about gluten free pizza, burgers, pasta, cake, etc. Like REAL gluten free options. The thing about the food there is that they produce their own meat and cheese, amongst other things like their own local beer and soda.

We ended up deciding to at a place called KaffeStuggu. We tried their reindeer burger and blueberry soda and my dad tried their IPA. I did not enjoy the reindeer to be honest. I have tried many game meats before, and I love it (deer, moose, buffalo, etc). I’m not sure if it was the meat or the seasoning, but I did not like it. Everything else was amazing. My mom had a regular burger and I tried that too and it was really good. The blueberry soda is also surprisingly good.

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We came back right after 4:00 pm. I’m pretty sure we could very well spend 2 whole days there or maybe even more. There are lots of hiking trails, and I wish we’d had more time so we could hike a bit, but maybe some other time.

Extra tip: During winter, a traditional market called “Rørosmartnan” is organized and that draws an average of 60,000–70,000 tourists to the town of Røros each year. The market begins on the last Tuesday in February and lasts five days. However, be ready because temperatures can get pretty low at this time of the year.

To check more pictures of this trip click HERE!