Cheap Trondheim Day Trips: Røros & Stiklestad
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Trondheim’s real day trips run cheap, if you pick the right one
Trondheim itself is honestly a compact two-day city, so the question for a longer stay is which day trip earns its place. Stiklestad covers the history that Nidaros Cathedral only hints at, Røros is the UNESCO town Trondheim doesn’t have, and Hell is a five-minute photo stop, not a destination. None of the three need a rental car. Building a longer stay around one of these? The 5-day itinerary budgets a full day for Stiklestad, and the 6-day itinerary does the same for Røros.
Trondheim day trips at a glance
| Trip | Time from Trondheim | Cost (verify) | Worth it for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stiklestad | ~1.5h by car or bus | NOK 150-200 entry | The 1030 battle where St. Olav died |
| Røros | ~2.5h by train (Rørosbanen) or car | NOK 300-500 return train | Norway’s UNESCO copper town; Trondheim itself has none |
| Hell | ~30-35min by local train | NOK 100-150 return | A free station-sign photo, nothing more |
| Bymarka | Tram to Lian, ~21min | Tram fare only | Forest trails without leaving the city |
Stiklestad: where St. Olav’s story actually ends
Nidaros Cathedral is built over St. Olav’s grave, but the battle that put him there happened at Stiklestad, about 90km and 1.5 hours north of Trondheim. King Olav II Haraldsson died here on 29 July 1030, fighting a local peasant army, and was made a saint within a year of his death. The Stiklestad National Cultural Centre covers the battle with dioramas and a short film, sits next to the 1180 Stiklestad Church, and includes a folk museum of 30 historic buildings; a summer medieval-themed program runs alongside it (verify current-year dates). Entry runs roughly NOK 150-200 (verify); a rental car or a scheduled bus both work. Treat it as a full day out, not a half-day add-on to a city itinerary.
Røros: the UNESCO town Trondheim doesn’t have
Worth saying plainly: Nidaros Cathedral is not a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and neither is anything else in Trondheim. Røros is, about 2.5 hours southeast by car or the scenic Rørosbanen train. It’s a former copper-mining town founded in 1644, one of Europe’s best-preserved wooden towns, with guided tours of the old Olavsgruva mine and a strong local-food reputation. The distance makes this a long day trip; if your schedule allows it, an overnight turns a rushed day into an actual visit rather than a dash for the last train. Return train fare runs roughly NOK 300-500 (verify), and it’s worth booking ahead in peak summer.
Hell: a free five-minute stop, not a destination
Hell is a small village about 30km and 30-35 minutes northeast of Trondheim by local train, on the line toward Trondheim Airport Værnes. The entire appeal is the station sign itself, next to the “Gods Expedition” freight-handling sign, both free to photograph. Ten minutes on the platform covers it; pair it with an airport transfer rather than a dedicated round trip, since there’s genuinely nothing else to see.
Bymarka and the Ladestien: the day trip that costs nothing extra
Bymarka, the roughly 80km² forest on the city’s western edge, has 200+ km of trails and is reachable by the Gråkallbanen tram, the world’s northernmost, to Lian in about 21 minutes for the price of an ordinary tram fare. The Ladestien, an 8-9km coastal path from Ladehammeren to Rotvollfjæra, is a free 2-2.5 hour walk past old farms and sea views, no transit needed if you start from the city side. Neither involves a boat trip on the Trondheimsfjord, which is wide and gentle rather than the dramatic western-fjord scenery around Geiranger; any fjord boat trip here, such as the short crossing to Munkholmen island (covered in the things to do guide ), is a calm history-and-birdlife outing, not a fjord-cruise highlight.
Whichever day trip you pick, check train and bus times before you leave the hotel. Stiklestad and Røros both run on schedules built around a full day out, and missing the last return service turns a planned day trip into an unplanned, unbudgeted overnight.