Every year nowadays people all over the world are waiting for the last week in November when Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Black Week are trying to sell as much consumers products as possible with big discounts – an event that was artificially established during the last years to increase turnovers in online and retail stores.

But especially in the outdoor and travel industry we see an opposite movement as brands and provider of according products and offers are not participating in these Black Week madness. They want, that people are consuming in a more sustainable way. That means buying products that last longer, repairing and caring of products and only buying things, when needed.

When it comes to travelling people can also decide for a more sustainable path and this is also our recommended way of travelling. What does this mean specifically for us?

Travel Green with Public Transportation

We are always starting into so called Black Week by traveling green with our public buses. One of our goals when it comes to sustainability is using the public transportation when heading to the mountains. As a part of your booked trip, you start right from the lively city centre of Oslo or directly from the airport Oslo.

Just step on-board of our comfortable buses, grab yourself maybe a cinnamon bun and a coffee in forehand and start your trip by sitting relaxed onboard.

Besides the green advantages of public transportation, you will have no hustle with rental cars, no stress with driving on unknown roads, no need to find a place for parking your car when embarking on your hiking trip. Enjoy the passing landscape of spectacular Norway and calm down when traveling relaxed through the changing scenery when coming closer to the mountains of the Jotunheimen and Valdres area.

Using the public transportation is one of our basic key-points when it comes to sustainability while traveling with Jontunheimen Travel

Enjoy Locally Farmed Food from the Area

Delicious food from the area or as we say „kort reist mat“ in Norway is also a big part of your green journey with us. In lodges, cabins and hotels the hosts are proud to serve you meals with a local touch and that have ingredients that are locally farmed. The Valdres and Jotunheimen region is well known for its great local food.

The Valdres area is also well known for its lively tradition of mountain summer farms. The small mountain farms are producing milk and cheese, so also meat like pork or beef, but you will also find meat from reindeer, elk or deer. When it comes to fish especially the trout is the fish that will be served a lot in any kind of variety and maybe you will get the chance to taste a bite of famous Rakfsik – a variety of trout that will be salted and autolyzed for quite some time to preserve it and make it tastier.

When traveling with us you will receive a beeswax wrap from us. This is part of your welcome package and allows you to participate in the well-used Norwegian tradition of preparing your own packed lunch for the day. The beeswax can be used again and again by cleaning it just with some fresh water at the next accommodation and saves a lot of waste – no need to use one-time wrapping anymore for your packed lunch.

Eating food from the area is a sustainable way to strengthen local farms and local farming traditions and reduces the consumption of energy for transportation of food and the waste of food. So, we see serving local food also as a part of our green journey and are proud to offer this as a part of your green travel with us as well!

Explore Valdres and Jotunheimen by Bike

Exploring the Valdres and Jotunheimen area by bike is truly one of the best ways besides hiking. The area is well known for its Mjølkevegen, a bike route that leads you on gravel roads through the countryside with spectacular views to the high mountains of Jotunheimen and some mountain passes, that are only open during summertime. These roads connect the summer farms and make it happen that the milk from the cows and goats can be collected during summertime – so that is where the Norwegian name Mjølkevegen has its origin.

When it comes to cycling Norway and the Valdres are is truly a hidden gem, as not many expect so many good gravel roads here. But when you start your trip, either with a normal mountainbike, an electric bicycle or with a sporty gravelbike, you will quick recognize why its worthy to embark here on a bike trip from lodge to lodge. So called champagne gravel roads connect the places where to stay, accompanied by spectacular views behind every corner and every hill and a variety of landscape, that is special. From the lush valleys to high mountain passes, from open spaces to dense forest areas, we have it all here. And we will take care of your luggage and assist you bringing this from accommodation to accommodation.

Besides all this traveling by bike is one of the most sustainable ways to discover this area. We want to engage people to discover our home turf by bike, and you will be surprised, how cool it is to spend your time in Norway with cycling through this fantastic area with a great infrastructure for bike-riders! So cycling is also a big part of traveling green with us!

Acting as a Partner in a Strong Local Network

When it comes to sustainability a great partnership in a strong local network is one of the keys for acting successfully together in a mountain area like Valdres. We only can offer great hiking, biking and skiing experiences together with our local partners when working together on eye level.

Acting and working green and sustainable means also strengthening the local actors to a benefit for all of them – so that everyone in the network can participate successfully. Working as partners in a local team is one of our key-values and we want to extend and strengthen this network by offering trips that include these partners and their big efforts delivering great experiences for our clients.

Traveling green with us means not only obvious things like using locally farmed food at the accommodations or using public transportation, but it also means working together with local vendors to enable local benefits and success for all of us in the Valdres and Jotunheimen area.

Creating Memories Instead of Buying Things

Green Friday is the best chance to look back to all the great memories you made while hiking or biking in Valdres and Jotunheimen. Being outdoors and enjoying nature creates experiences, feelings and memories that last probably for ever – quite the opposite to all the short time offers of consumption items where demand is artificially created through supposedly low prices and large discounts.

Creating positive memories while traveling with a green focus is our main target. We offer trips including public transportation, locally farmed food is highly appreciated at the accommodations we are choosing for you and offering bike-trips as an alternative to travel individually with cars and vans is another key-point to reduce our footprint.

Our goal is to be well known as reliable partner in strong local network and we work hard for your hike, bike-ride or ski-tour with us. Not only on this specific day or in this specific week of the year but all the year around. Taking care of our surrounding and nature is key for traveling green with us, that is our green way of enabling positive memories that last for ever!