Jotunheimen

Its Old Norse name, Home of the Giants, anticipates what lies inside: 250 peaks above 1,900 m, including Galdhøpiggen and Glittertind, the two highest summits in northern Europe. Declared a national park in 1980 though effectively protected long before that by its own inaccessibility, Jotunheimen has fed Norwegian mythology since the Middle Ages — hence its name — and is today the heart of Norwegian hillwalking, with the Besseggen ridge, immortalised in countless photographs for the contrast between the emerald lake Gjende and the deep blue of Bessvatnet, as its most iconic crossing.