Landskappleiken is an annual gathering of about 1,000 active folk musicians, singers and dancers for five days in late June. Around 5000 - 7000 visitors come to Landskappleiken yearly.

The event is ambulatory and moves from year to year to a new place and venue . It is FolkOrg - the national organisation for folk music and dance who owns the event, but every year a new local organiser who is often one of the local "spelemannslag" (fiddler associations) are designated as host and promoter of the event for that particular year.

The first national competition or Kappleik was organised and held by the Vestmanna fiddler association in Bergen in 1896. They organised the event 11 times, the last edition being held in 1914. This makes Landskappleiken one of Norway's oldest festivals.

In 1903 Landskappleiken was held in Oslo. "Huldre Leiken", later the association for folk and traditional music (Laget for folkemusikk) was the organiser. The festival went back again to Oslo for the editions held between 1918 and 1922. The National Association of fiddlers ("Landslaget for spelemenn") was founded in 1923 as a separate entity under the umbrella of the Norwegian Youth Association ("Noregs Ungdomslag") , and from 1923 onwards this association has been the organising commitee for Landskappleiken

Originally Landskappleiken was a contest between players of the Hardanger fiddle. The competition was opened up to regular fiddle players in 1924, although were few contestants  took part . The first time Landskappleiken was held in a region where the traditional fiddle was the predominant instrument was in Lom in 1954. From that year's edition the Hardanger and traditional fiddle have been on equal footing in terms of choice of instrument.