Geilo Resort Reviews
Visitor reviews for Geilo Ski Resort
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(NOTE: Reviews may be edited by our content team for the purposes of ensuring accurate and relevant information)
(NOTE: Reviews may be edited by our content team for the purposes of ensuring accurate and relevant information)
Latest
February 04, 2019
Edwin Harrell from
United Kingdom
Edwin Harrell from
United Kingdom
I have skied at Geilo many times with my family. I have been told that Geilo is the oldest downhill ski resort in the world and that Dr Holms is the oldest ski-in ski-out hotel. Fly to Oslo/Bergen and take the train (easy to book online in English); one of the top 10 train journeys in the world. The resort is a brilliant place to learn to ski. The instructors are multilingual and very good with children. The runs are not challenging for advanced skiers but the cold crisp snow creates a perfect environment to improve technique.
February 28, 2014
Bruce Belfield from
New Zealand
Bruce Belfield from
New Zealand
Just spent early February mostly skiing at Slaata; about 5 days and across the road at Geilolia for a day.
I work as a ski instructor in NZ in our winter and having only skied in Australia it was good to try out cold dry snow.
We were skiing Canada, at Whistler, after this trip for more dry powder.
The cold at this latitude keeps the snow set and having no real heat in the sun stops any melting, causing ice.
If you got on the lifts early you could almost ski the whole mountain without cutting any skiers tracks and sometimes some runs weren't used for half the day.
if you wanted mogul runs then head for the black runs as some weren't groomed often so left you with a lot of lumps to play with.
The snow was so consistent that my wife, who is an intermediate skier, managed to improve her skiing to a greater level through having these wide open runs to use.
She managed to do a lot of the red runs as well.
I was also able to perfect my skiing as I like to turn as tight as I can and was using a lot of the soft snow left on the edges to play in, perfect!
There was enough new snow, while we were there, that there was a lot of people doing off trail. Did see one guy on a board sink to his waist while I was on the chair, and he was wondering how to get out!!
The self timers are a neat idea and help with the confidence to try some racing and to see if your skills are improving over the day and when a group of you do it makes it a great challenge.
They had also just got a new Adaptive ski which I got a chance to sit in and try down the slopes, also to give the instructor a workout (I can see why the adaptive guys love their skis).
There seemed to be a lot for the kids to do, with well set up jumps and a good rail park as well.
The café food was great as well as the staff.
Loved the Norwegian breads.
Expensive for food and drink but that is Norway (Europe) as a whole.
Deer skins and blankets were great to sit on outside, nice Norwegian touch and top notch with the fire going.
Loved the scenery and very friendly people in the ski centre.
January 07, 2012
Judy from
United Kingdom
Judy from
United Kingdom
Positive: plenty of things to do other than downhill skiing such as cross-country skiing, skating, dogsledding ; no lift queues or crowded slopes (during New Year's week), attractive resort with many trees, pretty cabins and houses - no concrete blocks of flats like some resorts in the Alps
Negative: transportation between the two main ski areas is limited except in the morning and just after the lifts close. Outside of these times you need to call a taxi and they are not always reliable.
Staff in hotels and ski shops not very familiar with the area as they tend not to be locals. Best tip is to plan in advance what activities you want to do using the internet then go to Tourist Info office in the centre of Geilo to book and find out exactly where things are. Geilo is quite spread out and transportation can be an issue.
Though we had several snowfalls during our visit quite a few runs were closed. There are snow cannons but we only saw them used once. As is stood there were only enough runs open on the two sides of the valley to provide interesting skiing for 3-4 days. The skiing is good for intermediates - plenty of wide motorway type pistes, no mogels. The pistes with slalom courses and ski jumps were very popular with our young teens.
February 11, 2011
Lynn from
United Kingdom
Lynn from
United Kingdom
We've skied in Geilo four times and have been very happy there. We've found it no more expensive than the Alps when we've arranged it ourselves (very easy - fly to Bergen or Oslo and take the train), especially when traveling with children as there are good discounts in the hotels and on the trains. Alcohol is eye-wateringly expensive though, so if this plays a big part in your holiday the price will go up a lot. We stay at the Ustedalen hotel, which is convenient for the slopes, relatively inexpensive and very friendly. The skiing is fine for beginners and unambitious intermediates, although we've found a 5 day break (hotels are less expensive Sunday - Thursday) enough in the past. What it lacks in long slopes it makes up for in uncrowdedness, especially mid-week. The Geilolia side is probably better for complete beginners, while the Geilo side has a better variety of runs (buses between the two are included in the lift pass). My kids are snowboarders and they love it because of the good snowparks and jumps - they've preferred it to the Alpine resorts we've visited. It's also a great resort for allowing older children and young teenagers independence as soon as they can handle the slopes, as they're unlikely to get lost.
December 08, 2005
Mark from
United Kingdom
Mark from
United Kingdom
What a fab resort - excellent for beginners, skiers wanting to improve, and of course children learning to ski at the troll club, we're going back for our 3rd year in the same hytte on the Vestlia side. Definitely not a resort for wild party animals looking for nightlife or even those chasing difficult runs - better off in Chamonix or 3-Valleys for that. Its no more expensive than the high altitude french resorts (esp. Courcheval), but soooo much more friendly!
February 18, 2005
Mike from
United Kingdom
Mike from
United Kingdom
The nearest airport is Fagernes which is about a 1hr 45 min coach trip from the resort. Geilo is a small town with a good variety of slopes on both sides including a couple of longish cruising greens/blues on the north side and two board parks on the south side. Also on the south side you can drop over the back from the top of the express lift and access a nice long run on the plateau. Off piste is very limited but you can use the tree breaks between pistes for a bit of variety.
As for apres-ski, check out Recepten in the Dr Holms hotel and Lille Blu, they start late (about 11 or 12) cos alcohol seems to have about the same per ounce value as platinum! You get 0.4 of a litre for between £5 and £8 depending on the bar you're in so DO take advantage of your duty free allowance on the way out. There are at least 3 mini supermarkets and a couple of good ski/board shops. The standard of accomodation is very good and the locals are friendly.
February 03, 2005
John from
Norway
John from
Norway
Geilo is a nice place for beginners and to some extent intermediates.
Having spent most of my childhood holidays here I know the place quite well. The slopes are wide and fairly well prepared. The quality of the accomodation is high and the after ski are suitable for the not so hip set.
There are no off piste to speak of and the advanced skiers does not have a lot of choices.
Bottom line if you are a beginner or mediocre on skis and are looking for a nice place with high quality on the hotels and restaurants Geilo is perfect. My personal favorite among the hotels are Dr. Holms albeit that the hotel these days are an aging beauty.
Me ? I prefer Chamonix.
March 12, 2004
Tim from
United Kingdom
Tim from
United Kingdom
Geilo is great for beginers or people with young kids. Our daughter is 15 months loved the creshe where they were very welcoming. We cryed when we left her for the day but she had a great time. We are first time skiers and left a week latter confident on blue runs and managing reds. We are going back in April to fine tune our new found skills. If you into wild night life go somewhere else. We stayed in the Vestlia hotel which we are staying in on our next visit. Convenient for child care, ski lifs, ski school and good food. What more could you want. I suspect advanced skiers would find Geilo not challenging enough on the slopes but for us it was just great. Roll on April