Ottadalen ( en, Otta Valley) is a valley in the municipalities of

Skjåk Skjåk is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bismo. Most of the municipal residents live in the Billingsdalen a ...

, Lom,

Vågå Vågå () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Vågåmo. Other village areas in Vågå include Lalm and Besshe ...

, and

Sel Sel is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Otta. The municipality also includes several notable villages including ...

Innlandet Innlandet is a county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (the municipalities of Jevnaker and Lunner were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken on the same date). The ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. The valley is one of the side valleys that branch off of the large

Gudbrandsdalen Gudbrandsdalen (; en, Gudbrand Valley) is a valley and traditional district in the Norwegian county of Innlandet (formerly Oppland). The valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from Lillehammer and the lake of Mjøsa, extending towa ...

valley. It lies on the northern edge of

Jotunheimen National Park Jotunheimen National Park ( no, Jotunheimen nasjonalpark, "Home of the Giants") is a national park in Norway, recognized as one of the country's premier hiking and fishing regions. The national park covers and is part of the larger area Jotunhe ...

. Historically, the Ottadalen has been widely used as a transportation

artery An artery (plural arteries) () is a blood vessel in humans and most animals that takes blood away from the heart to one or more parts of the body (tissues, lungs, brain etc.). Most arteries carry oxygenated blood; the two exceptions are the pu ...

between western and eastern Norway through the Breidalen valley in

to Stryn, through the Breidalskrysset to Stranda, along the

Jostedalsbreen Jostedal Glacier or is the largest glacier in continental Europe. It is in Vestland county in Western Norway. Jostedalsbreen lies in the municipalities of Luster, Sogndal, Sunnfjord, and Stryn. The highest peak in the area is Lodalskåpa at a ...

glacier to the Jostedalen valley and Luster, and across the Sognefjellet to

Sogn Sogn is a traditional district in Western Norway ''(Vestlandet)''. It is located in the county of Vestland, surrounding the Sognefjord, the largest/longest fjord in Norway. The district of Sogn consists of the municipalities of Aurland, Balestr ...

. There is also a road from Vågå, through

Jotunheimen Jotunheimen (; "the home of the Jötunn") is a mountainous area of roughly in southern Norway and is part of the long range known as the Scandinavian Mountains. The 29 highest mountains in Norway are all located in the Jotunheimen mountains, in ...

Fagernes is a town in Nord-Aurdal Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the largest urban/commercial centre for the Valdres region. It is located just northwest of the village of ...

. The Otta River flows through the valley. The Otta River begins in the municipality of Skjåk and flows into lake

Vågåvatn Vågåvatn or Vågåvatnet is a lake located in Lom and Vågå municipalities in Innlandet county, Norway. The lake is part of the river Otta, which begins in Skjåk municipality, flows into lake Vågåvatn. It then exits the Vågåvatn at Vå ...

et. Exiting Vågåvatnet at Vågåmo, it continues its journey through the valley, leaving the municipality of Vågå to meet the

Gudbrandsdalslågen The Gudbrandsdalslågen (or simply ''Lågen'') is a river which flows through the Gudbrandsdal valley in Innlandet county, Norway. The long river runs through a large valley in Eastern Norway before emptying into Mjøsa, the largest lake in Nor ...

river at the town of Otta in the municipality of

Reinheimen National Park Reinheimen National Park ( no, Reinheimen nasjonalpark) is a national park in Norway that was established in 2006. The park consists of a continuous protected mountain area. It is located in Møre og Romsdal and Innlandet counties in Norway. The ...

, which consists of much of the

Tafjordfjella Tafjordfjella or Tafjordfjellene ( en, The Tafjord mountains) is a mountain range in Møre og Romsdal and Innlandet counties, Norway. It is located in the municipalities of Fjord, Stranda, Rauma, and Skjåk. The area takes its name from the villa ...

mountain range, includes the reindeer habitat in the northern part of the Ottadalen valley.

References

External links

''Fjuken'', local newspaper for the Ottadalen areaOtta website
Lom, Norway Sel Skjåk Vågå Valleys of Innlandet {{Innlandet-geo-stub

See also

References

External links