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, 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). ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, 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 ...

. 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 tow ...

valley. It lies on the northern edge of Jotunheimen National Park. 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

Stryn Stryn is a municipality in the county of Vestland, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Nordfjord. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Stryn. The municipality is located along the innermost part of ...

, through the Breidalskrysset to

Stranda Stranda is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Stranda. Stranda consists of three smaller villages and one larger central vill ...

, 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 Sognefjellet ( en, Sogn Mountains) is a mountainous area and mountain pass which connects Lustrafjorden and its surrounding valley with the Ottadalen valley in the Jotunheimen area. Sognefjellet is located in Luster Municipality (in Vestland count ...

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, Bales ...

. There is also a road from Vågå, through Jotunheimen to Fagernes. The Otta River flows through the valley. The Otta River begins in the municipality of Skjåk and flows into lake Vågåvatnet. 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, which consists of much of the Tafjordfjella 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