Hovden is a village in the municipality of Bykle

Bykle

Bykle is a municipality in Aust-Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional region of Setesdal. The administrative center is the village of Bykle in the southern part of the municipality. Another village nearby is Nordbygdi...

 in Aust-Agder

Aust-Agder

is a county in Norway, bordering Telemark, Rogaland, and Vest-Agder. In 2002, there were 102,945 inhabitants, which is 2.2% of the total population in Norway. Its area is . The administrative center of the county is in Arendal....

 county, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. It is located along the eastern shore of the lake, Hartevatnet

Hartevatnet

Hartevatnet or Hartevatn is a lake in the municipality of Bykle in Aust-Agder county, Norway. It is located near the village of Hovden. The lake is a good fishing spot and it contains lots of brown trout....

. The village is located along the river Otra

Otra

The Otra river is the largest river in the Sørlandet region of Norway. It flows from the Setesdalsheiene mountains in Bykle municipality in Aust-Agder county in the north, down to the municipality of Kristiansand in the south, where it flows into the Skagerrak.The Otra is long, making it Norway’s...

 about 27 kilometres (16.8 mi) north of the village of Bykle. The area is a tourist area for winter sports in the Setesdal

Setesdal

Setesdal is a valley and a traditional district in Aust-Agder County in southern Norway. It consists of the municipalities of Bykle, Valle, Bygland, Iveland, and Evje og Hornnes....

 region since it is located up in the Setesdalsheiene

Setesdalsheiene

Setesdalsheiene is the collective term for the mountains to the west and east of the Setesdalen valley in Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder counties in Southern Norway. The river Otra flows through the valley between the mountains....

 mountains and near many lakes such as Skyvatn

Skyvatn

Skyvatn is a lake in the northern part of the municipality of Bykle in Aust-Agder county, Norway. It is located south of the lake Holmavatnet and northwest of Hartevatnet. The village of Hovden in Bykle is located about southeast of the lake....

, Holmavatnet

Holmavatnet

Holmavatnet is a lake the Setesdalsheiene mountains of Southern Norway. It is located on the border of the municipalities of Suldal , Vinje , and a small part in Bykle . The European route E134 passes through the village of Edland in Vinje, about northeast of the lake...

, and Vatndalsvatnet

Vatndalsvatnet

Vatndalsvatnet or Vatnedalsvatnet is a lake in the municipality of Bykle in Aust-Agder county, Norway. The nearby lakes Ormsavatnet and Store Urevatn flow into the lake through dams and canals. Vatndalsvatnet also has a dam on it and the water flows out of the lake from the dam into the Otra river...

. The population (2009) of the village of Hovden is 385, and the village area covers 0.84 square kilometres (207.6 acre).