The popular tourist road Lysevegen in Forsand in Ryfylke (FV500) goes from Lysebotn innermost in the Lysefjord to Sirdal. Lysebotn is a village of the municipality of Forsand at the Lysefjord in Rogaland county in the southwest of Norway.
Nearby is the road Lysebotnvegen. The road was built as a works road during the building of the Tjodan hydroelectric power station and was officially opened in 1984. Prior to that, boats were the only regular means of communication with the outside world for people in Lysebotn. The first road was built in 1953-64 inside the mountain, and it was used to get rid of all the removed stone-masses during construction.
It opens in May, and closes in October/November (depending on snow conditions). Both dates are selected by the weather, not by people - sometimes it can be quite late in May before the snow ploughs finish their work, and you can still see snow well into the summer.
The road going down to Lysebotn have 32 sharp curves, a drop of 800 height metres on the last 8 kilometres (0.5 miles). The last 1.1 kilometer (0.7 miles) is driving through a steep 340 degree curved tunnel also with three switchbacks inside, called Lysetunnelen. This is the view 900 meters down, once you get on top. The highest point on the road is by Andersvatn lake, 950 metres above sea level.
If you aren’t intimidated by the many accidents on this road, it should be real fun to drive on. Once arrived to the summit, continue further - and hike to the most spectacular piece of rock in the Universe - Prekestolen, or the Pulpit Rock.
