Nesbyen is the main town in the upper part of Hallingdal, with about 3,500 people. The name comes from the Old Norse word "nes" meaning headland, referring to where the rivers Rukkedøla and Hallingdalselva meet.
The town holds an unusual distinction: on 20 June 1970, the temperature reached 35.6°C here, which remains Norway's all-time heat record more than 55 years later. Local newspaper Hallingdølen commented dryly at the time that the record "is not tourist advertising", in case anyone thought it was a PR stunt.
Heat records in Norway tend to happen in Hallingdal. The valley's geography creates a natural heat trap, with mountains blocking cooling winds while the south-facing slopes absorb summer sun. When meteorologists forecast extreme temperatures, they watch this valley closely. With climate change pushing temperatures higher, the first 40-degree reading in Norway will probably be measured somewhere in Hallingdal.
In the 1840s and 1850s, Nesbyen became an unlikely centre for Norwegian romantic nationalism in art. The judge Ove Gude lived at the Sorenskrivergården here, and his son Hans Gude, who would become one of Norway's most famous landscape painters, visited regularly. He brought artist friends including Adolph Tidemand, composer Halfdan Kjerulf, and author Jørgen Moe. They found inspiration in the valley's dramatic scenery along the Rukkedøla river.
Today you can walk the "Kunstlandskap Nesbyen" art trail, seeing copies of their paintings displayed at the exact spots where they stood.
The town also remembers a wartime tragedy. In September 1944, a Lancaster bomber from the famous 617 "Dambusters" Squadron crashed into the mountain Syningen while returning from bombing the German battleship Tirpitz. The crew had flown from Russia back towards England after the raid, but went off course and ran out of fuel. All aboard perished. Every 17th of May, Nesbyen honours these airmen at the local cemetery with a ceremony including "God Save the King".
Hallingdal Museum here is one of Norway's oldest open-air museums, founded in 1899. It has about 30 historic buildings, including Staveloftet from Ål, built around 1340. The old town quarter "Gamle Nes" preserves buildings from before 1900, when Nesbyen served as the administrative centre for all of Hallingdal.
For active visitors, Nesbyen has become one of Norway's top mountain biking destinations. The 17-kilometre HallingSpranget trail from Nesfjellet down to the town centre is one of Northern Europe's longest flow trails, dropping nearly 1,000 metres. Shuttle buses run during summer. The beach at Trytetjern lake is a popular swimming spot.