The Skiers' Guide to Hemsedal

Nice village, slopes and lift and very convenient parking at the resort. They also offer other fun family friendly activities such as tobogganing

My trip started before the resort was open to the public. I was part of a group of about 150 people conducting trading for ski racing. The first two weeks I was teaching new skiers. This was my third trip to Hemsedal for this event.
The resort is one of the top in Norway. It’s about 3 1/2 hours from Oslo and this year there was enough snow on the main slopes that we use for training. They have green, blue, red and black runs from the top of the main lifts. They have a new 6 person lift with a canopy which is useful when it is cold. This year the temperature was relatively high, between -7 to +3. We had quite a lot of snowfall over the three weeks I was there but we had some thawing of some of that.
By the official opening most of the runs were open with a combination of natural and canon snow. They have a large snow park and were building some large jumps. I didn’t experience any off-piste as I was there for racing but lots of people used the ‘closed’ runs under the lift when the snow was deep enough.
We stayed in high quality lodges that were built to a high spec and include a sauna. Some of our group had large apartments in the main SkiStar hotel. There is a small shop in the hotel as well as a large cafe/restaurant/bar facility and a ski shop right next to the nursery slopes and new lift. They have a large ski rental shop in the basement.
There is a nightlife but it feels expensive to us Brits!! There is a relatively new climbing wall and a range of shops in the ski centre.
The town of Hemsedal is a short drive/taxi ride or a 40 minute walk. It has some good cafes, bars and restaurants. There is a fuel station, several outdoor/ski shops and a large chemist and a medical clinic.
It is much smaller than the big resorts in the Alpes but is also a lot less busy!
It is definitely worth considering as an alternative to France, Austria, Italy if you like trying new places. The staff and locals were very friendly and spoke great English.
Give it a go!

Good views, quite close to Oslo and good for offpiste if you know where to look! Be aware of avalanche terrain! World class apres ski, and good possibilities for backcountry skiing in the area!

Unfortunately some slopes were closed and mostly greens! A few more black slopes would be beneficial for the expert skiers. Lovely scenery and the people are so friendly! Loved the experience overall

Really enjoyed staying - lots of beginner and intermediate pistes and enough explore but not huge. Good food and accommodation too.

Second time we have visited Hemsedal. Really beautiful area and great accomodation. The area is very suitable for beginners and families with young children. The accomodations have the scandinavian feel to it. I can imagine for the experienced rider it is a bit small.

Stunning scenery, huge amount of snow making activity late November to early December to guarantee a long season.
Fantastic accomodation, saunas everywhere.
Afterski (apres ski) starts from 2pm, it's dark at 3:30 in December.
Reasonable number of slopes, the main blue might be considered red in the alps.
Great for a week's family skiing and has challenging slopes for those that want them. If you like to rack up the miles, you'll do the same runs several times.
The sun doesn't hit the slopes until February!

Lived in Hemsedal for 4 years and can honestly say some of the best powder days off piste of my life. True mountain wilderness and wonderful Scandinavian cabins, with crazy weekend nightlife and a really cool attitude to mountain sports.

Hemsedal is a fantastic snow sure resort. Plenty of options to keep your day on the slopes interesting. Eating out and having a drink can feel expensive but the quality of food is usually excellent.
Highly recommend.

Good off piste options when conditions allow. Cold dry snow. Apre ski is ok but cant compare to the Alps.