Bessvatnet
Lake in Innlandet, Norway
title: "Bessvatnet" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["vågå-municipality", "lakes-of-innlandet"] description: "Lake in Innlandet, Norway" topic_path: "general/vaga-municipality" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessvatnet" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Lake in Innlandet, Norway ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox body of water"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Bessvatnet |
| image | Besseggen1.jpg |
| caption | Bessvatnet to the right. Gjende is the lake to the left. Seen from the Besseggen ridge. |
| mapframe | yes |
| mapframe-zoom | 10 |
| mapframe-caption | Interactive map of the lake |
| coordinates | |
| location | Vågå Municipality, Innlandet |
| basin_countries | Norway |
| length | 6 km |
| width | 1 km |
| area | 4.6953 km2 |
| max-depth | 102 m |
| shore | 13.31 km |
| elevation | 1373 m |
| reference | NVE |
| :: |
|name = Bessvatnet |native_name = |native_name_lang = |other_name = |image = Besseggen1.jpg |caption = Bessvatnet to the right. Gjende is the lake to the left. Seen from the Besseggen ridge. |image_bathymetry = | mapframe = yes | mapframe-zoom = 10 | mapframe-caption = Interactive map of the lake |coordinates = |location = Vågå Municipality, Innlandet |type = |inflow = |outflow = |catchment = |basin_countries = Norway |date-built = |date-flooded = |length = 6 km |width = 1 km |area = 4.6953 km2 |depth = |max-depth = 102 m |volume = |residence_time = |shore = 13.31 km |elevation = 1373 m |frozen = |islands = |cities = |reference = NVE
Bessvatnet is a glacial lake in Vågå Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The 4.7 km2 lake is located in the Jotunheimen mountain range and also inside the Jotunheimen National Park. The lake lies just east of the mountain Besshø. The lake Bessvatnet is known to everyone that has hiked the Besseggen ridge, as the narrow mountain ridge runs between the southern end of the dark blue lake Bessvatnet on one side of the ridge and the green lake Gjende lies below the other side of the ridge.
Name
Bessvatnet is named after the river Bessa. The name of the river is derived from Old Norse word bersi which means 'bear' thus the river name means 'Bear river'. The last element is the finite form of which means 'water' or 'lake'.
References
References
- "Innsjødatabase".
- "Informasjon om stadnamn". [[Norwegian Mapping Authority.
- {{Cite SNL. Bessvatnet. Bessvatnet. 2025-08-11. Thorsnæs. Geir. 2024-11-25
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