After a long day leaving Gausdal and then visiting Lillehammer and Maihaugen, we drove the half hour to where we had booked us in for the night. The Hotel we were staying at was Scandic Hafjell, in the ski place Hafjell. The hotel was built for the athletes in the Winter Olympics in 1994 as Hafjell held some of the events and it is only an easy 30 minutes drive from Lillehammer.

The hotel is quite large, but nice. The downside was that the restaurant, the bar and the pool was closed. The pool being closed was the most disappointing as it was not due to Covid, but due to it needing some emergency maintenance. But a very positive was that the hotel had a nice arcade where we decided to try out some air hockey, whack-a-mole, pin ball and other things. It was very enjoyable and we had good fun. We also got some nice food and a few lovely cold beers at the restaurant just across from the hotel and this place got many extra points for having a really lovely staff. The breakfast was very tasty and well organized with Covid regulations. So we had a very enjoyable time all in all and being out of season we got good value for money, even if I was a bit disappointed with not getting to go for a lovely swim in the morning.

Hafjell is mostly known for being a winter sport place, but in the latter years they have become known for some summer sports as well. In the ski slopes in summer they have now got a bike Park. As we arrived out school holidays, this was not easy for us to get to when it was not a weekend. We did not want to go extreme cycling, but when the park is open you can take the gondola up to the mountain and get a great view. One of the most known amusement parks, Hunderfossen, a fairytale amusement park is situated just across the road from the hotel. We visited this when I was a child and I really enjoyed it, and we actually stayed in the same hotel back then. They also have a little park called Lilleputthammer, that has a miniature version of the streets of Lillehammer and some fun stuff for the kids. As we arrived late-ish and left early in the morning, we did not go in here either, but we walked passed it when we did our post-dinner stroll.