Stegastein

Stegastein is the platform above the Aurlandsfjord on the Aurlandsfjellet scenic route, and the planning point is that it is two different stops depending on the month. From roughly May to October it is the first viewpoint on a 47 km mountain road from Aurlandsvangen to Lærdalsøyri, the slow alternative to the Lærdal tunnel; in winter it is the end of the road, because Statens vegvesen's scenic-route page states that the stretch from Aurlandsvangen up to Stegastein is kept open all year while the mountain beyond is not.

The page gives past closure dates rather than promises: the mountain has shut between 7 October and 6 November and reopened between 7 May and 3 June, and after reopening it can be closed at night and in bad weather for a period. If your route needs Aurlandsfjellet as a through road, check the vegvesen traffic map that morning; if it only needs Stegastein, go in any month.

Timing: twenty minutes is enough, three-quarters of an hour if you wait out a cloud. The climb from the village is a string of hairpins that coaches use, so the quiet windows are early morning and the last hour of light; on cruise-ship days in Flåm the platform is busy from mid-morning. The route page sets a maximum bus length of 12.4 m, which keeps the largest coaches off.

Nothing to buy at the top and no toilets in winter; fuel and shops are in Aurland or Flåm below. Combine it with the Flåm stop rather than counting it as a separate hour of driving, since the detour from the E16 is short.