Rjukan and Vemork

UNESCO World Heritage Site: Rjukan Notodden Industrial Heritage Site (2015); Vemork, Target Of The 1943 Heavy Water Sabotage · Rjukan, Telemark

Rjukan and Vemork tell one of the great stories of the twentieth century in a deep, narrow valley in upper Telemark. Rjukan was built in the early 1900s by Norsk Hydro as a company town to turn waterfall power into fertiliser, and Vemork, a few kilometres west, was when it opened in 1911 described as the largest hydroelectric power station in the world. Its hydrogen plant also made heavy water, which made it an Allied target in the Second World War: in February 1943 Norwegian commandos of Operation Gunnerside climbed the frozen gorge and wrecked the heavy-water cells without a shot fired, and in 1944 a ferry carrying the remaining stock was sunk on Lake Tinnsjo. The power station now houses the Norwegian Industrial Workers Museum, and the valley is part of the Rjukan-Notodden Industrial Heritage Site, UNESCO-listed in 2015. Add the sun mirrors above town, the 1928 Krossobanen cable car and Gaustatoppen, and it fills a day or two. The caveat: this is a working valley town and a museum, not a pretty village, and much of the story is told indoors.

Vemork power station (Norwegian Industrial Workers Museum), about 6 km west of Rjukan, Tinn municipality, Rjukan, Telemark, Norway

The Vemork museum is open all year, with its longest hours and daily guided Operation Gunnerside tours from about June to August; outside summer it keeps shorter hours and may close on some weekdays - confirm the current pattern before driving up the valley. Rjukan town, the sun mirror area and the roadside viewpoints are open at all times. Krossobanen runs on a seasonal timetable (confirm), and Gaustabanen mainly in the summer and winter seasons. Rjukan is roughly 2.5-3 hours by car from Oslo via Kongsberg and Notodden, with buses on the same corridor - check Entur. Book Gunnerside tours and Gaustabanen ahead in July.

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