Lillehammer

Visit the host city of the 1994 Winter Olympics.

Lillehammer is probably best known as the host city of the 1994 Winter Olympics, and the legacy lives on here at attractions like the Norwegian Olympic Museum and the Lysgårdsbakken Ski Jumping Arena, the venue of the opening and closing ceremonies of that year’s games.

But there’s more to this city than winter sports. Lillehammer is also home to Norway’s largest open-air museum, Maihaugen. Spread over three sections, the site includes over 200 carefully preserved buildings mainly from the 1400’s to early 1900’s, though its most popular building, the Garmo stave church, was built around 1150.

The city centre of Lillehammer is just as charming with its concentration of colourful 19th-century wooden houses that overlook the northern shores of Lake Mjøsa, with mountains in the distance.