In 2023, we visited in late September, not July, so I can’t give an exact comparison. We also drove from Bergen to Flåm, then circled north by driving abd via car ferries, before returning the car in Bergen, and finally flying to Oslo, with no bus or train, so we were maybe doing Norway-in-a-Coconut, not a Nutshell, but …
A worthwhile daytrip from Bergen, not too far out, is the Fantoft stave church, which is described in Rick Steves’ guidebook. If you don’t see any other stave church, this one’s an excellent example. It is actually a faithful recreation, as the previous church on the site was burned down by an arsonist, but this one’s still interesting. Take Line 1 on Bergen’s Bybanen Light Rail system south to the Paradis stop, and it’s maybe a 10 minute walk from there.
Within Bergen, we really enjoyed the guided tour at the Bryggens Museum, which took us through the smallish museum, then outside for a walk through the historic Bryggen district. There’s also the KODE art museum, which is in a string of four large buildings. Ask where the Edvard Munch room is, so if you don’t go to the Munch museum in Oslo, or even if you do, you’ll have gotten a peek at his early and later work.
