Nystuen is a village in

Vang Municipality Vang is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Valdres. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Vang i Valdres. Other villages in Vang include Hænsgardane, Nystuen, � ...

Innlandet Innlandet is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (Jevnaker Municipality and Lunner Municipality were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken ( ...

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 ...

. The village is located at an elevation of about above sea level. The village area sits at the western end of the lake Otrøvatnet in the

Filefjell Filefjell is a mountainous area in Norway. It is located between Lærdal in the Vestland county and Valdres in Innlandet county. It is the historical, as well as modern, main route, linking Western Norway and Eastern Norway. The European route E1 ...

mountain area. The village is the site of an old state hotel.

History

From time immemorial, there has been a road through Nystuen over the

mountain area connecting

Oppland Oppland is a former county in Norway which existed from 1781 until its dissolution on 1 January 2020. The old Oppland county bordered the counties of Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The ...

Eastern Norway Eastern Norway (, ) is the geographical region of the south-eastern part of Norway. It consists of the counties Oslo, Akershus, Vestfold, Østfold, Buskerud, Telemark, and Innlandet. Eastern Norway is by far the most populous region of Norw ...

with

Lærdal Lærdal is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on the south side of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Lærdalsøyri. The old Filefjell Ko ...

Western Norway Western Norway (; ) is the Regions of Norway, region along the Atlantic coast of southern Norway. It consists of the Counties of Norway, counties Rogaland, Vestland, and Møre og Romsdal. The region has no official or political-administrative fu ...

. The old road followed the south side of the lake Otrøvatnet and there was an old inn where the village now sits. Traffic through the area increased during the 17th century. In 1627, the St. Thomas Church was built just west of the village. A new "modern" road was built through the area in the 1790s and this road was built to accommodate the increased use of horse and buggy transportation. This new road was built along the north side of the lake. During this time the mountain lodge in Nystuen became one of the most important in all of

. As tourism developed by the second half of the 19th century, the lodge was expanded several times into the Nystuen Hotel. It was an important starting point for mountain trips both towards

Årdal Årdal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located at the end of the Årdalsfjorden in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Sogn. The village of Årdalstangen is ...

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 ...

, and

Hemsedal Hemsedal is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Buskerud Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hallingdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Trøym ...

. Nystuen was a very popular high mountain hotel for a long time. Starting in 1936,

Widerøe Widerøes Flyveselskap AS, trading as Widerøe, is a Norwegian airline, and the largest regional airline operating in the Nordic countries. The airline's fleet of 48 aircraft includes 45 De Havilland Dash 8 turboprops as well as 3 Embraer 1 ...

flew tourists with sea planes to the lake. Between 1951 and 1961, an important attraction in the village was the bears Pekka and Lisa who lived in an enclosure near the hotel. In 1958, the hotel burned down and most of the building stock was lost. A new main hotel building was ready in 1964. Towards the turn of the century, Nystuen Hotell struggled with profitability and it was converted into apartments in 2005–2006. Today the area has many holiday cottages.

References

Vang, Innlandet Villages in Innlandet {{Innlandet-geo-stub