Hovden is a village in the municipality of

Bykle Bykle is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Setesdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bykle (vil ...

Agder Agder is a counties of Norway, county () and districts of Norway, traditional region in the southern part of Norway and is coextensive with the Southern Norway region. The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Au ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It is located in the northern part of

Setesdalen Setesdal (; older name: Sætersdal) is a valley and a traditional district in Agder County in southern Norway. It consists of the municipalities of Bykle, Valle, Bygland, Iveland, and Evje og Hornnes. The Otra river flows through the valley o ...

valley, on the

Norwegian National Road 9 Norwegian National Road 9 (, ) is often called the ''Setesdal Road'' () and it is the main thoroughfare through the Setesdalen valley. It runs from the city of Kristiansand in the southern coast of Norway, through the Torridal and Setesdal v ...

and the river

Otra The Otra is the largest river in the Sørlandet region of Norway. It begins in Setesdalsheiene mountains at the lake Breidvatnet in Bykle municipality in Agder county, just south of the border with Vinje municipality in Telemark county. The r ...

, on the eastern shore of the lake

Hartevatnet Hartevatnet or Hartevatn is a lake in the municipality of Bykle in Agder county, Norway. It is located along the river Otra, on the south side of the village of Hovden. The lake is a good fishing spot and contains many brown trout. The Norwegian ...

. The village sits about north of the village of

and about east of the village of Breive. The village has a population (2019) of 413 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

of . Fjellgardane Church is located in Hovden.

Tourism

Cabin in Hovden - Flickr - Graham Grinner Lewis

The Hovden area is a major winter tourism area since it is located in the

Setesdalsheiene Setesdalsheiene () is the collective term for the mountains to the west and east of the Setesdalen valley in Agder county in Southern Norway. The river Otra flows through the valley between the mountains. This area is primarily located in the m ...

mountains and near many lakes such as

Skyvatn Skyvatn is a lake in the northern part of the municipality of Bykle in Agder county, Norway. The lake is located south of the lake Holmavatnet and northwest of the lake Hartevatnet. The village of Hovden in Bykle is the nearest village, locat ...

, Holmavatnet, and Vatndalsvatnet. Hovden has many

leisure activities Leisure (, ) has often been defined as a quality of experience or as free time. Free time is time spent away from business, work, job hunting, domestic chores, and education, as well as necessary activities such as eating and sleeping. ...

in the wintertime, especially

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...

and

ice fishing Ice fishing is the practice of catching fish with lines and fish hooks or spears through an opening in the ice on a frozen body of water. Ice fishers may fish in the open or in heated enclosures, some with bunks and amenities. Shelters L ...

. There is a major downhill

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area–a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North Am ...

in Hovden as well as a water park and

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa health treatments are known as balneotherapy. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters and hot springs goes back to pre ...

. In the summertime, tourists come to go hiking and fishing in the lakes. The Ørnefjell Golf Course in Hovden is a 9-hole

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...

. The area has

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

's southernmost occurrence of wild

reindeer The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, taiga, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only re ...

. In the autumn, Hovden is known for its abundance of

bilberries Bilberries () are Eurasian low-growing shrubs in the genus ''Vaccinium'' in the flowering plant family Ericaceae that bear edible, dark blue berries. They resemble but are distinct from North American blueberries. The species most often referre ...

lingonberries ''Vaccinium vitis-idaea'' is a small evergreen shrub in the heath family, Ericaceae. It is known colloquially as the lingonberry, partridgeberry, foxberry, mountain cranberry, or cowberry. It is native to boreal forest and Arctic tundra throug ...

, and cloudberries.

References

External links

Hovden

Summer in Hovden

Winter in Hovden
* {{authority control Ski areas and resorts in Norway Villages in Agder Setesdal