Nordic Adventure

Arrive in Bergen & explore the city center and one of the oldest harbors in Europe - Bryggen.

We stayed in an airbnb just a short walk from thr harbor, where on weekdays, you can catch one of the oldest operating fish market in Europe! They (of course) have amazing seafood and the harbor is known for its medieval style colorful buildings that are still in original (or restored) condition. Bergen is so charming - with loads of fun bars, restaraunts, and shops or museums to see. It’s a fun city to just hang out in for a day. Make sure you try the reindeer hot dogs at Trekroneren - they are actually amazing (if you’re into that kinda thing). Amazing sushi can be had at Fisk, RIGHT on the water for a fairly reasonable price. Amazing happy hours at the harbor side bars, such as Bryggen Night Club & others. The Bryggen district has really amazing art and shops inside the historic buildings, which is fun to peruse. And of course, year round Christmas markets!

No Stress Bergen is a great bar with fantastic drinks and old time games, like nintendo and pacman. the bartenders are amazing and they’ll take your photo to post on the ceiling!

Guided tour and fjord cruise to Nærøyfjorden, Flåm and Stegastein Viewpoint

We took one day to be complete tourists, but also because it was the best bank for our buck to see multiple Fjords and towns in the shortest period of time, we went for it. It’s about a 12 hour day, but it was AMAZING. We had a fantastic tour guide who drives you through the Norwegian countryside to the fjords where you hop on a 2 hour cruise three Naerøyfjorden to end up in Flam, touted as one of Norway’s most idyllic small towns. There you stop for lunch (I had the best Salmon of my life from a food truck) and afterwards you drive up the mountain to Stegastein viewpoint overlooking the fjords. The entire thing is absolutely breathtaking, with sites to see all day. I believe we saw 2 waterfalls, the fjords, and multiple small towns, including Voss (the extreme sports capital of the world).

Highly recommend, and at a reasonable price of about $150 for the day. Go to the supermarket and bring your own snacks & food! We boooed the trip through Visit Bergen.

Hike Day!

Day four we planned a most of the day hike, which turned into an all-day hike on accident. We thought it would be about 5-6 miles, but it ended up being about 8-10. Beware of AllTrails out there as some of the hikes in the area are a little less reported on than others. We got lost a couple times, which is why our hike ended up being longer. But, it made it all the more adventurous! There was still a little snowfall, high mountain lakes, and rocky terrain. It’s a mostly moderate and flat hike, but Norwegians have a different definition of moderate than we do, so there was definitely some rocky hills to scale and making sure we were on the right p.s. the (if there was an actual path). Lots of people on the trail every few minutes, but be prepared to be alone in the open Norwegian terrain! It was absolutely gorgeous.

You can start at either Ulriken or Floyen. If you want to take off a STEEP mile, take the Ulriken gondola up or down that side. There’s a very good restaraunt at the top, actually. The floyen furnicukar is a must do! It’s a historic cable car that brings you up and down Floyen, which is a small mountain with a ridge side lookout over Bergen. There’s parks, restaraunts, and a lookout point as well as many hiking or walking trails. It’s awesome! And drops you right back down into the city center.

Bring food and good shoes if you’re planning to hike!

Day Trip to Rosendal

Rosendal is an absolute MUST DO. We were there at the absolute perfect time - Spring time, where the Barony Manor gardens is open to explore. In the winter they are closed. We took a fairy through some of Bergen’s wider Fjords to Rosendal (round trip, maybe $45 bucks) and based on the time frame of the ferries back and forth, we had about 3-4 hours. It’s a short, 15 minute walk through the gorgeous small coastal / mountain town of Rosendal. I can’t get over how picturesque this place was. River, waterfall, green fields with wildflowers in front of the old old Barony Manor and lambs running around in the pasture 🥹

Seriously was a huge highlight of our trip! In the off season, not much is open, but we found a great spot for lunch right on the harbor before heading back.

That night, we went to a silent disco club called Vaskereit. This was amazingly fun. If you’ve ever been to a silent disco, imagine one at a bar, where you get to influence the playlist of songs on both channels! Such a fun night. We ate at Pingvinen, which served traditional Norwegian fare (lamb stew) and other really good traditional dishes. Worth a look!

Day Trip to Voringfossen & Eidfjord

One of Norway’s most amazing waterfalls is Voringfossen. The Eidfjord also sported some of the most amazing scenery I had ever seen, so we rented a car for the day and drove about 5 hours round trip to hit a few waterfalls, fjords, and towns in between around Bergen.

Fun fact! There are thousands of miles of tunnels in Norway to cut through all the mountains - some of them are MILES long.

We drove from Bergen to Eidfjord through Voss which takes a couple hours, but oh my when you get there are you blown away. With teeny little towns dotted along the coast of the fjord, its picturesque. We got coffees and food along the way, and stopped at a very traditional Norwegian spot on the way to Voringfossen called Hardangerviddahallen. It’s styled in traditional norwegian architecture and it’s beautiful! It’s a bit of a touristy stop now, but they serve very traditional food which actually was really good. Try the reindeer stew!

Voringfossen is 3 waterfalls that all converge into one and they’ve built a HUGE hotel and outlook walking paths that literally sit over the edge of the water fall. It was stunning! The hike to the bottom of it is closed depending on the season, but just seeing it was enough for us. On the way here, there is also multiple pull over pit stops you can make of many other waterfalls (they are literally everywhere).

When we got back, we got soft serve ice cream from our favorite little ice cream cart on the harbor. we went almost every day! Some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had, and if you’re lactose, Norwegian dairy doesn’t hurt you ;)

It was a great great day!!