Besseggen is a mountain ridge above Lake Gjende, which attracts 30,000 tourists a year to its beauty. Almost the whole way you will have a view of Lake Gjende, from the Besseggen ridge of Lake Gjende and Lake Bessvatnet, which each have a different colour of water and are separated by more than 100 metres in height.
The Besseggen Trek is in any case a day hike and you can take several routes.
The most popular option is to take an early boat ride on Lake Gjende from Gjendesheim to Memubur and then walk along Lake Gjende through the Bandet lookout, up the Besseggen ridge and back to Gjendesheim via Mount Veslfjellet.
The other option is the exact opposite route, where you start in Gjendesheim and walk over the top of Veslfjellet, descend via Besseggen past Lake Bessvatnet and continue on, boarding the afternoon boat in Memubur to take you back to Gjendesheim. The big disadvantage is that you don’t know the terrain and you have to always count on the boat’s departure time and have a considerable reserve. In the summer months, you can’t even take advantage of the late sunset and you have to adjust your time on this tour to the boat’s schedule.
The third option is completely independent of the ship. It starts in Gjendesheim and climbs to the top of Veslfjellet. The Bessegen mountain ridge will be right in front of you, and you will head down it to the Bandet lookout between Gjende and Bessvatnet lakes. From here you follow the northern shore of Lake Bessvatnet to its eastern edge, where the river Bessa flows out of it, and from there down to Gjendesheim. This journey will take you about 8 hours, you will walk 20 kilometres with an elevation gain of 777 metres.
The advantage of starting in Gjendesheim is that you will descend the Besseggen ridge and have the most beautiful views right in front of you the whole way.
Only hike the Besseggen in good physical and mental condition and in good weather. If you are not sure about the weather, you can postpone the hike and instead of Besseggen for the time being go for example. to the nearby summit of Knutshøe and wait for the next day.