Norway hiking vacation

Planet

Norway is world-famous for it’s stunning trekking routes and panoramic views. As a result tourism has been on the increase and some of the more recognised routes have seen a big boom in tourists. One example of this is Trolltunga, which had 90,000 visitors in 2018, up from just 1,000 a decade ago. This sharp hike in tourists has led to significant trail erosion, traffic pollution and waste facilities being overwhelmed. Therefore this itinerary, limited to an intimate group of max 12 passengers, has been designed to showcase some of the other hidden gems of Norway which are equally as beautiful, and by supporting these lesser-known routes it helps to reduce the effects of over-tourism, spread economic wealth to places which need it and in turns leads to an enriching experience for the traveler.

Trekking by its nature is a low-carbon style of travel, however in addition to this our guides have a strict code of conduct which educates visitors on the need to be respectful of our precious natural, cultural and heritage environments, minimising our footprint and impacts at all times.

Your accommodations on this journey have been hand-picked for their strong community links and environmental credentials. One example is the accommodation in Loen, a family run hotel which has phased out all fossil fuels and is now run purely on renewable local hydropower, in addition to improving waste management systems, installing electric charging points for vehicles and all cooling systems are run off local seawater.

We believe that good ethics start at home, so we have applied a Green Office Policy which outlines the best practices for working in our offices and home offices to ensure a high standard of environmental sustainability. This applies to all aspects of our working environment but includes detailed policies and instructions on how to reduce waste, paper, plastic, energy, water and how we can avoid unnecessary transportation. It also encourages the use of local suppliers. We encourage an open dialogue to continually assess our working practices and how we can strive to make improvements.

People

As a company Sustainable tourism is at the forefront of our business philosophy, and supporting local people and their businesses to ensure socio-economic benefit and sustainability for local communities is at the heart of what we do. Supporting local businesses is core to this itinerary, with that in mind all of the accommodations have been selected for their ties to the community and for their best practices in supporting staff welfare.

We are a small, family run business with our headquarters in Norway. As a Nordic destination specialist we ensure that all of our outbound sales staff are Nordic in nationality, this not only provides our travelers with the expertise required to design an enriching experience, but it also ensures that we are providing employment opportunities for local people. Our employees are all paid above the living wage minimum, with additional financial benefits in place to create a fair working place for all. We also recognise the importance of creating employment opportunities for underrepresented populations, and as such over 50% of our management team are female. In addition to this we are proud to partner with education institutions and provide internship opportunities, which has led onto full time positions with our team.

Image Credits: photographer - Sverre Hjornevik, Loen Via Ferrata and Hotel Union Øye.