Buskerud County, Norway

Buskerud County is one out of 19 countys in Norway with a area of 14.927 km2 and a population of approximately 274,737.

Buskerud County has a beautiful nature and you will probably find everything what Norway has to offer in a nutshell. You can see and experience a lot of long, sun filled summer days, but also spring, autumm and winter offer a rich cultural life. The best skiresorts in Norway, Hemsedal, Geilo, Gol, Norefjell, Nesbyen and Kongsberg. The main city is Drammen.

Each County is divided into different municipality. For Buskerud County you will find the name of the municipality herunder, or read a short story given below.

DRAMMEN

The capital of Buskerud with a population of 56.000 inhabitants. In Drammen you have the opportunity to walk or cycle in motor-free precincts and along the river. We have followed the river known for its “salmon” catch from Rødtangen and upstream to Hellefossen. To visit unique manor houses, study rock engravings and beautiful, old churches. You can make outings in lovely countryside on excellent trails. Enjoy the view from Spiraltoppen and Haukås visit the Open-Air Museum or the Konnerud Mines. Take a cruise on the river or in the harbour and fjord, go fishing and swimming. In the city centre there is also a wonderful open-air pool with play tools for children. A wilderness walk in “Kjøsterudjuvet” ravine is another great attraction among the many that Drammen has to offer.

In the middle of Bragernes district is a cultural centre surrounding beautiful Drammen Theatre, the pride of the town. Drammen´s citizens cried bitterly when the theatre, which was built in 1870, burnt down in December 1993, and they rejoined when it was reopened in February 1996. We will give you a trip inside it, and you´ll understand why it receives so much attention and love.

GEILO

Welcome to one of Scandinavia´s largest and oldest winter sports resorts. Geilo has more than one hundred years of experience in modern tourism, and has something to offer for every taste. We offer holiday stays at first rate hotels, cozy apartments, or traditional cabins. Cabins, apartments, and hotel rooms are available in many different sizes and standards. Geilo can offer accommodations in various categories for more than 3.000 people, with or without dining included in the price, so that our guests may decide themselves whether cooking should be a part of their vacation or not.

KONGSBERG

The Silver City have several types of musea. The Norwegian Mining Museum, Kongsberg Ski Museum, The Royal Mint Museum and the Lågdals museum with examples of Norwegian rural culture. Kongsberg Church is the largest Norwegian baroque church and has an interesting history. You may go for a stroll in the mining hills, participate in a “mining safari”, or a sightseeing tour by train 2,3 km into the King´s Mine.

FUNKELIA

Funkelia a fine skiing centre just next to the centre of the town. Kongsberg is known for its long and active skiing tradition, with a stable, continental climate, is a focal point between hills and mountains, popular with both residents and visitors.

MODUM

Whoever visits Modum, is surprised to find how much this township has to offer.

Blaafarveværket, once the leading factory of coboltblue pigment in the world, Blaafarveværket is today a cultural museum, its annual art exhibitions are among the most important in Scandinavia.

The Cobolt Mines are seven kilometers from Blaafarveværket and Haugfoss. They were started in 1773 and closed down in 1893. In 1993, His Majesty King Harald reopened them as a museum showing an extensive mining industry in beautiful agricultural surroundings. Vikersundbakken where you can see skijump up to almost 200 metres. Open both summer and winter. More information

SIGDAL

The magnificent natural surroundings have attracted artists and inspired many well known works of art. Sigdal and Eggedal has two of the hest preserved homes of artists from the Golden Age of Norwegian art. Lauvlia

Theodor Kittetsen´s home. Lauvlia is beatifully located by Lake Soneren, 30 km from the rural art gallery Modums Blaafarveværk. The house is decorated with Kittelsen´s own carvings and paintings, and there are new exhibitions of Kittelsen´s original paintings and drawings each year. The toys Kittelsen made for his children are reproduced for sale at Lauvlia or online. In the loft, his easels, brushes and paints still stand, ready for use.

EGGEDAL

Half an hour´s drive from Lauvlia, high in the hills above Eggedal Church, lies Christian Skredsvig´s home, Hagan. A remarkable house, made up of several ditferent buildings. Both house and contents are in much the same state as they were while the artist lived. On the walls hang his own paintings and drawings and those of friends and contemporaries. The unique collection contains about 150 works.

Grøset Seter is located in beautiful natural surroundings, in the Troll country of Norwegian folk artist Theodor Kittelsen. Surrounded by thick, tar-impregnated timber walls peat roofs with the grass still groving on them, and with the sound of cow bells in the distance, you will be able to experience oldfashioned muntain dairying and taste real mountain food!

NEDRE EIKER

The township is divided by the Drammenselva river. Bewitching, conifer forests with beautiful, quiet tarns contain the largest selection of orchids in Norway, as much as 24 different varieties. On the southside lies Steinberg, Mjøndalen with Åsen and Ytterkollen. Åsen is a residential area with possibilities for Golf and bathing at Hagatjern. On the northside lies Krokstadelva and Solbergelva. In Krokstadelva lies two big shopping malls called Buskerud Storsenter and Krokstad Senter. Up in the mountain side lies the residential areas Hovjordet, Langløkka og Stenseth.

The poet Herman Wildenvey was born 20th July 1885 at Portåsen, Mjøndalen. In 1955 he was honoured with the “Order of Saint Olav” in merit of his writing. This was the last order handed by the late King Haakon 7, before he became ill and died the same year. This is the highest order any Norwegian can receive and only a few does.

ØVRE EIKER

The landscape along the lower part of the Drammen river system is rich in fine farms, forests and vantage points, including the villages Skotselv, Darbu, Vestfossen and Hokksund. Interesting are the old parts of Hokksund and the Eiker countryside, including Nøstetangen glassworks and Hassel ironworks, silver mines and burial mounds, with Fossesholm Manor in Vestfossen as the main attraction. You are also welcome to the vast opportunities for water sports, hiking or biking and fishing in tarns and rivers.

At Nøstetangen Glass in the old county court judge house next to the Hokksund centre bridge, you can watch glass artists at work. Glass is blown using the models from old Nøstetangen, Norway´s first glassworks, established in 1741, but also in modern design.

An estate since the Middle Ages, Fossesholm was expanded to 5O.000 acres in 1541, making it the largest farming and forestry property in the country. Today a cultural centre, art exhibitions and concert are organized at Fossesholm, also featuring exhibitions of dolls, the War Resistance, a shop for hand-crafted articles and a café.

Lake Eiken offer fine opportunities far water sports. A small paradise, Sundhaugen between the lakes of Eikern and Fiskum, has beaches and diving boards, kiosk, cafe and parking areas. Boat transport on the lakes will be resumed again, after having been suspended for 70 years. More than 200 different species have been observed at the Lake Fiskum bird reserve.

HURUM

The township of Hurum and Røyken are the coastal district in the county of Buskerud. The long coastline stretches from Slemmestad by Oslofjorden, round the Hurum peninsula to Lahell by Drammensfjorden. Things to discover at Hurum, Tronstad gård, Håøya (the whole island is a war memory), museum of Explosive. Along this unique coastline you will find natural qualities together with cultural areas in fine combination.

The idyllic village of Holmsbu with small cafès and shops. The Holmsbu picturegallery situated at Støa with different exhibitions, antique sales in the wharfhouse also at Støa and the “cattery-galery” (Malekatteriet), in Holmsbu are cultural offers to be found between Holmsbu and Rødtangen.

LIER

Lier´s external face is that of its landscape fertile soil, forestry areas and characteristic ravine valleys, exciting animal and plantlife. 10% of the vegetable produce of Norway comes from Lier, and the municipality is very well known for its apples, strawberries, lettuce and cabbage. Lier offer a variety of areas for outdoor activities, both by the fjord, in the Lier valley and in the woods.

You have the possibility to experience quiet and beauty in Lier; activites related to fishing and swimming, walking in the wild or in the open fields during the summer as well as the winter. Visit for instance the Asdøl juvet Canyon, climb the Storstein Mountain or the Hørtekollen and take a rest at Engersand beach by Drammen”s fjord. A popular festival with lots of fun can be enjoyed during the Lier Days in June, every second year.

RINGERIKE

The sculpture known as the Sash Saw is placed in the middle of waterfall of Hønefoss City, the natural center of this district. The first part of the name, “høne”, derives directly from the name of a farm at the northern side of the town. We believe this word literally means corner, because the town is situated at a “corner” made by the river. The name ending, “foss”, simply means waterfall.

This waterfall was previously known as the Weien Falls, which indeed is mentioned in an old diploma that dates back to 1337 AD. It”s therefore obvious to us that the two farms (northern) Hønen and Veien (modern form) once owned the area, of which the River Begna must have been their common border. The bridge was built in 1952, for the 100 years anniversary of the city.

It commemorates the once so prosperous lumber businesses that surrounded the waterfall from the latter stages of the 16th century and onwards to our time. However, this period of time is really nothing compared to many millenniums of history before the lumber businesses settled here. Ringerike is like a Norway in miniature, and both the wildlife and the nature is breathtakingly beautiful.

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