Indre Ofredal is a tiny fjord village on the Årdalsfjorden that would be completely unremarkable if it weren't for the tunnel you have to drive through to get there. The Ofredalstunnelen, opened in 1992, is the steepest road tunnel in the world. It climbs at a 15.5 percent gradient, which is nearly double what Norway's road authority considers acceptable.
The gradient was not planned. Engineers started drilling from Seimsdalen on one side using maps that turned out to be wrong. Halfway through, they realised the tunnel was heading to the wrong spot. Rather than start over, they simply tilted the remaining half sharply upward to come out where they needed to in Indre Ofredal. The result is a tunnel that feels like driving up a ramp. In winter, with ice, it is exactly as terrifying as it sounds.
Before the tunnel, the only way here was by boat or by footpath over the mountain. But don't let the isolation fool you. People have lived here since the early 1600s, and the village grew into something genuinely surprising. The forests and waterways powered sawmills and a grain mill, and by 1920 Indre Ofredal had 11 buildings including a post office, a telegraph station, a sawmill, a grain mill, and a fruit drying facility. It was the most important commercial and industrial centre in all of Indre Sogn. That is hard to believe when you see it today: a handful of preserved houses, a jetty, and a view across the fjord. Since 2015, a local group called Indre Ofredals Venner has been working to preserve what remains of this cultural-historical pearl of Norwegian industrial history.
The gradient was not planned. Engineers started drilling from Seimsdalen on one side using maps that turned out to be wrong. Halfway through, they realised the tunnel was heading to the wrong spot. Rather than start over, they simply tilted the remaining half sharply upward to come out where they needed to in Indre Ofredal. The result is a tunnel that feels like driving up a ramp. In winter, with ice, it is exactly as terrifying as it sounds.
Before the tunnel, the only way here was by boat or by footpath over the mountain. But don't let the isolation fool you. People have lived here since the early 1600s, and the village grew into something genuinely surprising. The forests and waterways powered sawmills and a grain mill, and by 1920 Indre Ofredal had 11 buildings including a post office, a telegraph station, a sawmill, a grain mill, and a fruit drying facility. It was the most important commercial and industrial centre in all of Indre Sogn. That is hard to believe when you see it today: a handful of preserved houses, a jetty, and a view across the fjord. Since 2015, a local group called Indre Ofredals Venner has been working to preserve what remains of this cultural-historical pearl of Norwegian industrial history.