Telemark

Telemark is a county in East Norway. In the east of the county is the area called Grenland, which includes Skien, Porsgrunn and Langesund. Cities Brevik - a seaside town with a bacallao festival. Bø - a small village in the heart of Telemark. Major attraction is Bø Sommerland. Kragerø - a seaside town which attracts many tourists in summer. Langesund - a seaside town with many concerts at Wrightegaarden in summer, also has a fish festival and a sea shanty festival. Notodden - holds a yearly blues festival in August. Porsgrunn - a town with a yearly street theater festival. Rjukan - a town deep in a valley that the sun doesn't reach there during winter. Also the home of the Industrial workers museum and the Skien - a town where the famous author Henrik Ibsen was born heavy water sabotage mission during WWII Vrådal Other destinations Nome - a municipality Gaustadtoppen - The highest mountain in south Norway. Rauland - Mountain Village in Vinje, Telemark. Haukeli - Mountain Village in East of Vinje, Telemark. Huge skidestination during winter. Understand Talk Norwegian is the main language (but beware of difficult dialects). Almost all Norwegians speak English well enough to help tourists with anything. Get in By air: Telemark is served by two airports with scheduled flights, Skien Geiteryggen Airport and Notodden Airport. Nearby Sandefjord Airport Torp [1] has direct flights from many European cities. From there, take a bus to Porsgrunn, Skien or Bø. You can also take the gratis shuttle bus to the nearby train stop ("Torp Sandefjord Lufthavn") [2] and then the train (to Porsgrunn or Skien), but this option is mostly used by people taking the train elsewhere. By car: E18, the main road of Eastern and Southern Norway, passes through Telemark in the districts of Porsgrunn, Bamble and Kragerø. There are several tollbooth stations, but they are of course not that expensive if you can afford renting a car and paying for fuel. E18 between Gardermoen is one of the best roads by Norwegian standards. Local roads and even other E18 stretches can require both patience and experience. During the worst summer traffic, you will need 5+ hours for a 200km trip on E18. By bus: Lots of buses from Oslo, around 270NOK/person. By train: From Gardermoen Airport via Oslo, STADLER Flirt train sets (new 2012) go along the coast to Porsgrunn (about 2h35m) and Skien (2h45m). Tickets are 300+NOK, 199NOK ("Minipris") if ordering a few days ahead. Another, newish train set (from early '00s) goes to Nordagutu, Bø (2h7m from Oslo), Lunde and Drangedal. Do not put wet luggage on the overhead, as the water will drip down on you. Get around By city bus Metrobuss [3] covers the urban parts of Skien, Porsgrunn and Bamble. A single adult ticket is 30NOK. See Ibsen's Venstøp, Skien - The place where the world-famous writer Henrik Ibsen was born. Telemarkskanalen (The Telemark Canal). Telemarkskanalen was hewn out of the rocks by hand, and stretches 105 km from Skien to Dalen in west and to Notodden in east. The Canal consists og eight locks with a total of 18 lock chambers, and a difference in height of 72 metres. The first part was completed in 1861 (Norsjø -Skien) and the Bandak Canal in 1892.  edit Itineraries Do Eat Drink Stay safe Telemark is considered extremely safe. There is really no need to avoid any places at any time, although you should probably not provoke drunk people in taxi lines around 2AM-3AM. Get out This article is an outline and needs more content. It has a template, but there is not enough information present. Please plunge forward and help it grow!