The DNT system and the hut network

The Norwegian hut network is not an afterthought to Norwegian hiking — it is the precondition for it. When a Norwegian walk is typically called walking «mellom hyttene», it is because the network of open, simple and affordable places to stay means you can cross a mountain plateau (vidde) without carrying a tent and stove. There is nothing directly comparable on that scale in most other countries, and it is perhaps the single reason why Norwegian multi-day trips can be physically hard but are rarely extreme in terms of equipment.

The Norwegian Trekking Association (DNT), founded by Thomas Heftye in 1868, is still the dominant owner and driving force behind the network. As of 2024, DNT has 56 member associations, well over 300,000 members, and around 550 huts spread across the whole country. The local hiking clubs (turlag) mark and maintain around 22,000 km of summer trails and around 7,000 km of stick-marked winter routes. It is infrastructure built over more than 150 years by volunteers.

The hut types — three levels

The DNT huts fall into three main types, which govern what kind of trip you can do and how much you have to carry yourself:

A staffed lodge has a warden, meals, often bedding, and as a rule a shop for some food and odds and ends. You pay per night and per meal. It is the simplest form of mountain trip — you arrive, hang up your pack, and eat dinner. Classic staffed lodges are Gjendebu, Glitterheim, Spiterstulen, Finse 1222 and Fondsbu.

A self-service cabin has no warden but is unlocked with the DNT key. There is a provisions store in the cabin — pasta, tinned food, dried food, coffee — that you can use and pay for through a self-service system. You sleep on a mattress with your own sleeping mat and sheet sack or sleeping bag, and tidy up after yourself. Many of the most-used huts in the hut network are self-service.

A no-service cabin has no food. You bring everything yourself. The cabin is open or can be locked with the DNT key, often a simpler standard. A classic choice for those who want to go far, light and cheaply.

For someone new to the hut network, a staffed lodge is the simplest first encounter. After one or two nights there, a self-service cabin gives more flexibility and lower cost.

The DNT key

The DNT key is a standard key that opens every self-service and no-service cabin across the whole DNT network. You get it by becoming a member and paying a key deposit. One key fits all DNT huts in Norway, and that means you can plan a ten-day walk from Femund to Røros and just keep that one key in your pocket.

The system is built on trust. The huts stand open to members, there are no guards, and people pay for what they use. It works because it mostly does — people have a sense of ownership of a common good that they have themselves been part of building. When someone abuses it, it is noticeable, but rare.

Booking, no longer an open door

The most important change over the past 10 years is the booking system for the most-used self-service cabins. At classics like Bjørnhollia, Rondvassbu and Fondsbu you can no longer simply turn up and expect a place in high season. DNT introduced advance reservation at the most pressured huts to ensure predictability and reduce overcrowding. The rest of the hut network, particularly the more peripheral huts, is still first come, first served.

For anyone planning a summer trip in popular areas, the thing to do is book early. For anyone wanting flexibility, it is often better to route the trip through huts that are not the busiest — that is where the hut network really comes into its own.

Other operators in the network

DNT is not alone. Several clubs have their own hut networks:

Norsk Tindeklub has its own huts, particularly in alpine areas and glacier terrain. A number of local mountain-sports clubs (fjellsportlag) also run their own huts around the country. Statskog and Statskog Fjelltjenesten run no-service cabins on state-owned utmark. Student and company clubs (the University of Oslo, Studentersamfundet i Trondheim, NTNUI Hytter) have their own networks. Local hiking clubs and associations have their own small hut networks around the country.

In practice, most of the huts that people actually use belong to DNT or a DNT member association. But it is worth knowing that other networks exist — and that a local association’s hut is often cheaper and less busy.

The hut network and nature — the difficult relationship

The hut network is not neutral in the landscape. It creates movement where the trails run, and that movement wears on the terrain. On the most popular routes — Besseggen, Galdhøpiggen, parts of Hardangervidda — the wear has reached levels where DNT, in consultation with the Norwegian Environment Agency (Miljødirektoratet) and the local landowner, has had to move or close routes to let the terrain recover.

In 2025, DNT is closing five huts and decommissioning around 125 km of trail out of regard for the wild reindeer’s habitat. The Norwegian wild reindeer is in a critical state, and huts and marked trails crossing important migration routes have proved to be part of the problem. It is a correction that has been considerably controversial internally, but also a reminder that the hut network is built in, not independently of, a vulnerable landscape.

For anyone planning a trip, it means that a route that was open five years ago is not necessarily open now. Check ut.no before you plan, particularly in national parks and around wild reindeer areas.

Membership and cost

DNT membership costs (as of 2024) in the order of 800–900 kroner a year for a main member, less for youth and family. It gives access to the hut network at the member price (often half the non-member price), the DNT key against a deposit, and the members’ magazine Fjell og Vidde six times a year.

The sums often add up by themselves after two or three nights at a self-service cabin. For anyone planning to go hut-to-hut more than once a year, membership is almost always a worthwhile investment — plus you support an infrastructure that has built the Norwegian walking tradition over more than 150 years.

Next steps

If you are new to the hut network: do one night at a staffed lodge before you plan a longer trip. You learn the rhythm — check-in, meal times, the dormitory system — without having to handle everything yourself the first time.

If you have done a staffed lodge and want to go further: plan a short trip with two or three self-service cabins in a row. You will find it is roughly as easy, but gives you an entirely different feeling of being out on a tour (turfølelse).

For longer walks, it is the classic routes that should be done first — Hardangervidda east–west, Jotunheimen Fondsbu–Memurubu–Gjendesheim, Rondane Bjørnhollia–Rondvassbu. They are classics because they work as a first longer trip in the network.

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Text: Snuitide (2026).