Drive it Yourself: Setesdalsveien (Rv9)
The Rv9 highway from Kristiansand to Haukeli covers southern Norway truly off-the-beaten path. The highway is often nicknamed Setesdalsveien as you’ll travel through the Setesdalen valley. The road itself has been constructed in various stages due to the remoteness and therefore difficulty of the region. The most difficult stretches of road are now tunnels. The Setesdal valley is known for its rich culture and traditions, and the first mention of people in this valley is from the 12th century.
In this article...
Download this guide to have it as a PDF ready to go for your road-trip!
All downloadable guides come with an interactive Google Map for easier navigation.
Online Guide
- Information about points of interest
- Images of each point of interest
- Historic overview of the neighbourhood
- Directions between points
- Historic photos
- Information about facilities along the way
Downloadable Guide
- Information about points of interest
- Images of each point of interest
- Historic overview of the region & towns
- Directions between points
- Historic photos
- Facilities including supermarkets, toilets, petrol, hotels, cafes, restaurants with addresses.
- Interactive Google Map for easier navigation
The drive: the Rv9 from Kristiansand to Haukeli
Kristiansand
Kristiansand was established in 1641 and is named after the Danish-Norwegian King Christian IV (who also renamed Oslo after himself to Kristiania). The city is strategically located on the Skaggerak coast and used to be an important military base as all traffic had to pass here in and out of the Baltic Sea. Kristiansand was also an important shipbuilding harbour, and experienced its golden age after the American Revolutionary War and up to the Napoleonic wars.
Mosby
Town
Mosby is the northernmost part of the Kristiansand municipality and has a population of 2000.
Vennesla Municipality
The first people came to this municipality in the Stone Age. Until industrialisation at the end of the 19th century, people here lived on agriculture, forestry and salmon fishing. The river was used as part of the timber export, and many sawmills were located along the river.
Salmon has been important to Vennesla and early on attracted foreigners to the village to fish. The most famous foreign salmon fishermen from earlier times are the English noble family Hawkshaw. Salmon disappeared in the early 1960s as a result of the river being polluted by emissions from the timber factory Hunsfoss. The river was cleaned in the 1990s and it is now possible to fish for salmon but only with a license. Hunsfoss was the largest workplace until it went bankrupt in 2011 after 125 years of operation. The main industries today are forestry.
Vigeland Hovedgård
Historic Site
Vigeland Hovedgård is a manor house located in the town of Vikeland. The property is from 1847, though it is sitting on the foundations of the old main building that was demolished. The property was built by a Swiss man called Caspar Wild, who owned a sawmill and Kristiansand and wanted a house for the summer. In 1894 the farm was sold to the Englishman John Clarke Hawkshaw.
Today the building is a restaurant or you can go on a salmon safari here.
Øvrebo
Settlement
Øvrebo is a small settlement. In the period between World War I and World War II, a ski was found in a bog. The ski is the oldest ski in Norway and is on display at the Ski Museum at Holmenkollen in Oslo. It is believed to be from the Bronze Age.
Hægeland
Town
Hægeland is a small town with a population of 364. In older, times, the population would be over 700. Hægeland is known for having a strong Christian congregational life, and the famous healing preacher Svein-Magne Pedersen had his offices here.
Hægeland Church is from 1830. The oldest mention of a church in history is from 1565. In the 17th century, the church owned several cows that were rented out to farmers. The church was in bad condition by the end of the 17th century and was sold by the King into private hands. The old church was demolished in 1829 and replaced with the present church.
Evje and Hornnes Municipality
Evje and Hornnes is a municipality that was created when two separate municipalities were merged in 1960. The municipality is rich in old cultural landscapes and has several distinctive cultural monuments after mining. For example, the Flåt nickel mine, formerly Northern Europe’s largest nickel mine, is located here.
This is one of the largest ‘moose municipalities’ in Southern Norway. Some landowners run hunting rentals for both deer and small game.
Evje
Town
Evje is the administrative centre of the municipality and has a population of 2,500 people. The town grew in association with mining that took place in the area, especially the nickel refinery that is now a museum. Called the Flåt nickel mine, the mine opened in 1872 and closed in 1946. For a time, it was the largest nickel mine in Europe and was even the world’s largest for a short period in the 1880s. There are several paths that you can follow at the site. This is a short detour out of Evje.
Another interesting attraction in Evje is the Galteland stone, a rune stone from the beginning of the 11th century. The original is kept at the Cultural History Museum in Oslo, while in Evje there is a replica.
Otra River
River
The Otra is the largest river in Southern Norway. It is 246km long and starts at the high end of the Setesdal valley and empties out into the harbour near Kristiansand. There are salmon in the river and some salmon fishing is permitted with a licence.
Bygland Municipality
Bygland is a municipality in the valley and traditional region of Setesdal. About 80% of the municipality consists of mountains, bogs, water, pastures, and forest. The river Otra runs through the valley and the municipality. The coat-of-arms represents the lynx, which can be found in the municipality. The lynx are sometimes hunted if they are causing losses to the sheep herd.
Byglandsfjord
Town
Byglandsfjord is the municipal centre and has a population of 330. The town is a communications hub that developed at the beginning of the 20th century. Here there was a change from transport on land to see. Byglandsfjord station was the end point for the Setesdalsbanen that ran down to Kristiansand. From here, transport was done on boat. The veteran boat DS Bjoren does summer routes from Byglandsfjord via Bygland to Ose. In Byglandsfjord is a Tine factory that produces butter.
Byglandsfjord station is a historic building in town. The station is built in ‘dragestil’ or the dragon style.
Grendi
Town
Grendi is a small village with an interesting building. The Landeskogen Tuberculosis Sanatorium is in Grendi. It was the first of a series of government health measures against tuberculosis at the beginning of the 20th century. The buildings are from 1912 and the sanatorium opened in 1916. It could fit 134 patients. In 1962, the building was turned into a home for the developmentally disabled, and in 2005 the Pentecostal congregation Filadelfia in Kristiansand opened a rehabilitation centre for drug addicts. In 2010, Aktive Fredsreiser established the non-profit Landeskogen peace centre, which it still is today.
Årdal Church is an octagonal church from 1828. In the cemetery is a monument for Even Thorkildsen Lande, a politician who was active during the writing of the Norwegian constitution. The current church likely replaces a stave church from before the year 1300.
Hanehaug
Historic Site
North of Bygland is Hanehaug, a burial mound and archaeological site. Here graves have been found from the Stone Age, Iron Age, Bronze Age, Migration Period and Viking Age at Nese in Bygland. The diameter of the bound is 16 metres.
King Hane is said to have lived here in the 11th century and ruled over the whole of Bygland. Legend says that St. Olav came on a Christian journey to Setesdal. King Hane gathered an army from all the surrounding villages to fight against the King. The battle is said to have taken place in an area north of Bygland. King Hane fell and was buried in Hanehaug. His holy white troll cow, Audhumbla, was buried in a mound next to him.
The site is marked with a white sign that says “Gravfelt”
Valle Municipality
Valle is a largely forested municipality with most of the settlement living along the river Otra. In older times, when the road to the mountains was more important, the communications conditions were such that Valle and the rest of Setesdal was very isolated from the west of the country. At Lysebotn in the western part of the municipality there was a meeting point between the people from Western Norway and the people from Setesdalen. Because of its isolation, Valle has unique cultural traditions. The instrument “Munnharpe” is important here, along with the fiddle. Valle also has a unique folk costume.
Valle has a special secondary school for students who want to learn to be a goldsmith. Hydropower is an important income for the municipality.
Rysstad
Settlement
Rysstad is a hamlet that is regarded as the cultural centre of Valle. Rysstad is the historic centre of the municipality. In Rysstad you’ll find Hylestad Church (Hylestad Kyrkja) – it’s by the highway. It is an octagonal church from 1839 and seats 200. In the church are copies of the Hylestad Portal, with motifs from the legend of Sigurd Fåvnesbane. The portal came from the stave church that used to stand on the site. Hylestad Stave Church was demolished in the 17th century.
Sylvartun
Historic Site
Sylvartun is a historic building that is on the northbound side of the highway. The folk music environment in Setesdal is in many ways unique with strumming on the Hardanger fiddle and harmonica, kveding and dance handed down in an unbroken tradition. The oldest practitioners today learned everything the old-fashioned way – directly from fellow villagers who were born at the end of the 19th century.
In addition, music and dance have for a long time been mediated through performers at a very high artistic level. Folk music is one of the trademarks of Setesdal that people expect when they come to the valley.
From its establishment in 1961 until the end of the 2000s, through four decades, Sylvartun was the central sylvsmed and folk music arena in Setesdal. Setesdalsmuseet has seen it as a task to make arrangements so that Sylvartun can welcome visitors again. There are new exhibitions with a focus on musical instruments and visualization of music and dance traditions in Setesdal but with great transfer value to the surrounding area. We call it a center for intangible cultural heritage.
In addition to being an exhibition arena, Sylvartun is also an activity center and an offer for children and young people in the whole valley with a view to promoting intangible cultural heritage as a practice arena for the playground, cultural school, etc.
The museum is open in the summer months. https://www.setesdalsmuseet.no/faste-utstillingar/sylvartun/
Valle
Town
Valle is the administrative centre of the municipality and has a population of around 300. The town used to be a popular destination for artists and there were three hotels in the town. Valle is also where the secondary school for goldsmiths is.
Hovden
Town
Hovden is a population of 410 and is a large centre for tourism. Hovden is particularly known for its ski facilities. Before the ski facilities were constructed in the 1980s, the region was mapped and excavated to look for remains from the iron mining in the Viking age. Hovden holds the cold record for the county, with the temperature reaching – 38C in 1982.
The Hovden Iron Museum is a museum about the history of iron ore in the region. The area was mined during the Viking and Middle Ages.
Vinje Municipality
Vinje municipality is a remote municipality with about 1.2 inhabitants per square kilometre. The municipality is located at the northern end of Telemark and extends into the Hardangervidda National Park.
Haukeli
Town
Haukeli is a small settlement. Here you’ll find a café and place to eat called “Haukelo Turisthem”. Haukeli is the last settlement in Telemark you’ll visit before crossing over into the county of Vestland, which is part of western Norway.
If you liked this drive, or if you have any travel tips, please leave a comment in the section below!
Download this guide to have it as a PDF ready to go for your road-trip!
All downloadable guides come with an interactive Google Map for easier navigation.
