About
Maihaugen offers activities and experiences for the whole family. Enjoy the idyllic surroundings and experience life like it was in the old days.
Every day during the main season from mid June to mid August you can participate in our popular walking plays suitable for both children and adults. There are also guided tours every day from May to mid October.
Living history in the summer
The open-air museum has more than 200 historic houses from as far back as the 13th Century to homes of the different decades of the 1900s.
These show how people have lived in the Gudbrandsdalen Valley.
Each day during the summer you can meet the farmer, his family and the workers at the farm around the 1890’s. You can also participate in an old-fashioned school lesson from the last half of the 1800’s.
A main attraction is the Garmo stave church from the 1200s.
Visit houses from each decade during the 20th Century and feel the nostalgic memories when you enter the 1970s and -80s house. You may also visit the childhood residence of Norway’s Queen Sonja from the end of August 2018.
The children love to watch the grazing animals, that are from old breed, in the open-air museum.
Open all year
During the winter season the doors at several houses are open for you to take a glimpse through.
All year you can enjoy several excellent exhibitions, like the indoor exhibition “We won the land” where you walk through tableaus from Norwegian history from the ice age till today.
The museum has several cafes and both a museum shop and a historic shop open in the high season. The museum shop and the café in the visitor center is open all year round.
In the visitor center you can also visit the Norwegian Olympic Museum, telling the history of the 1994 Winter Olympics, among other Olympic moments from all over the world.
Popular happenings
The Christmas market the first weekend of advent is worth a visit. Experience Christmas decorated historic homes, stalls selling quality products and lots of activities for children.
There is also a Children's Winter Day in February and a Children's Summer Day in the end of August, both with lots of activities for children of all ages. At June 23rd Maihaugen offers traditional Norwegian Midsummer celebration.
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Certificate of Excellence 2019
Sunday, 4th August 2019This is a wonderful way to see how Norwegians lived in the past. Particularly interesting are the farmhouses, which represented a large portion of the population in the country around Lillehammer. Read full review
Friday, 16th August 2019Really nice and large museum about the history of Norway in the open air. With a lot of old buildings and nice surroundings you can spend quite a bit of time here. There are also a few activities... Read full review
