Hemsedal is a municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Hallingdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Trøym. Hemsedal lies on the Norwegian National Road 52 (Rv 52), the main road from Oslo to Bergen. Hemsedal is located 220 km (136.70 mi) northwest of Oslo and 273 km (169.63 mi) from Bergen.

The Old Norse form of the name was Hemsudalr. The second element is dalr, which means "valley" or "dale"; the first element is usually taken as the genitive case of the river name Hemsa (now Hemsil) of unknown derivation, although Sophus Bugge believed that it might derive from the Old Norse hemsa, hefnsa or hofn, meaning "going to pasture". The Norwegian word hems ("bed built in a small loft room") is named after the valley of Hemsedal.

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. The arms were granted on 2 October 1992 and were designed by Stein Davidsen. The arms show a gold lynx head on a red background.

It is unclear how long there has been a settlement in Hemsedal, but the oldest houses are of very ancient origin. Charcoal found in many places in the valley testifies to iron smelting. The oldest charcoal that has been found has been dated to ca. 200–300 AD. Probably the first settlers made a living as hunters and gatherers; the area had a large population of wild reindeer in the past.

Hemsedal stave church (Hemsedal stavkyrkje) is believed to have been built between 1207 and 1224, and is first mentioned, as Ecclesia Aamsodal, in the accounts and diaries of the Papal nuncios sent to Scandinavia to collect tithes in 1282–1324. In 1327 it was also mentioned under the name Skodvinar Kirkja i Hemsudali; this refers to alternate names of the farm where it stood, Kyrkjebøen: Skodvin and Skadengård. The church was dismantled in 1882, when it was replaced by Hemsedal church (Hemsedal kyrkje) 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) away.

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