Discover Gjøvik

Gjøvik combines trails by Mjøsa with city culture and unusual places to explore. Your travel plans could include walks along the shore, marked hiking trails, museums and a sports and activity centre located deep inside Hovdetoppen. When choosing your holiday rental, first consider whether you want to spend your days mainly being active, by the water, enjoying culture, or combining different experiences.

Hiking and walking by Mjøsa

Five marked hiking trails begin at Gjøvik stasjon, with a combined length of about 13 kilometres. They lead to destinations ranging from the shore of Mjøsa and the viewpoint on Hovdetoppen to the city forests of Øverby. Together, they offer a variety of landscapes: the lake, views over Gjøvik and the city’s forests.

The Mjøspromenaden is another option for a walk by the water. This 2.4-kilometre path follows the shore of Mjøsa from the Hunnselva outlet, past Fredvika, to Rambekk harbour. If you would like to combine a trail with a viewpoint, consider the hiking route over Hovdetoppen and Fastland: it leads to the 258-metre-high Hovdetoppen and offers views over Gjøvik.

Further afield in the region, Mjøstråkk is a well-signposted cycling route around Mjøsa. At 245 kilometres long, it offers a different kind of outing from the local walking and hiking trails. When planning, you can decide whether your trip should focus on individual trails and stretches of shoreline, or also include longer cycling tours in the region.

Museums and unique places

Gjøvik Gård brings together two aspects of the town: its protected park is in central Gjøvik, and Gjøvik Gård is also a museum. Eiktunet, Gjøvik’s open-air museum, offers another way to explore local history and landscape. Historic wooden buildings characterise its beautiful cultural landscape.

A distinctive attraction is the Gjøvik Olympiske Fjellhall. It lies 120 metres deep inside Hovdetoppen, in central Gjøvik. The mountain hall includes, among other facilities, an ice rink, a climbing wall, a swimming pool and rooms for martial arts. It also houses a permanent exhibition of Norway’s largest collection of rock carvings. Sports facilities and an exhibition are thus part of the same complex; as you plan your trip, you can consider which of these interests you most.

Learning, water and getting there

At Vitensenteret Innlandet, visitors learn about mathematics, science and technology through hands-on experimentation. It is the only centre in Innlandet with its own planetarium. A visit offers a different focus from a walk or a museum visit, with hands-on activities and scientific topics at its heart.

Water-based activities are also among the options in Gjøvik. Fastland is a free outdoor swimming pool complex with a 200-metre pool and a 10-metre-high diving tower. If you are interested in a trip on a historic paddle steamer, Gjøvik is the home port of the Skibladner, with sailings from there on all operating days.

Gjøvik station is in the town centre and offers train connections towards Oslo. The old station building also houses a tourist office with information about attractions in the district. If the station and central destinations are important to your trip, you can take this into account when searching for a holiday rental. You can also visit the pages for Biri, Bybrua, Snertingdal and Hunndalen for more places in the area.

For the main travel overview, visit Gjøvik.