Fjord tour north of Bergen

Hurtgruden is a cruise line that has 3 day tours from Bergen, but I warn you that they're deadly expensive (per day). The fjords are just not that beautiful to spend so much money. Note: We research cruises on Vacations to Go.

You can take the Norway in a Nutshell tour from Bergen (to Oslo) where you take a high speed ferry thru the fjords and then the Flam Railroad up the mountain to another railroad which takes you to Oslo. The Flam Railroad was our favorite part of the day. Norway in a Nutshell is a very popular day long tour.

We were very fortunate to hit great weather in Scandinavia (and Norway) the first week of a September. We were warned that weather can easily get cold and rainy the end of August in the Far North.

Hurtigruten is probably you best option and what I would suggest. There are also shorter trips on Sognefjorden available.

But filling 3-5 days with fjords might be hard. However Hurtigruten from Bergen to Trondheim is my suggestion, and it's not deadly expensive (by Norwegian standards) in my opinion, book at www.hurtigruten.no and avoid other sites. To Trondheim is a two night trip that will give you a view of the Norwegian landscape, at least the coastal part. And Trondheim is often overlooked and worth a few days.

I would not go back down to Oslo to start a fjord tour, when you have already positioned yourself in Bergen, which is a much better and closer starting point ! You could take the "fast" boat to Flåm (a little less than 4 1/2 hours) then take the Flåmsbana train up to Myrdal and then either go to Voss by train or go back down to Flåm and do a boat or ferry ride on the Naerøyfjord either from there or Gudvangen. Or you could head further north even to Ålesund and the Geirangefjord. Lots of options but don't go back down to Oslo to start !

As I read it, the tour itinerary includes the Naeroyfjord ferry between Flam and Gudvangen. That's the best part of the Sognefjord, so I don't see much advantage in using the express boat from Bergen to Flam; the train from Bergen to Myrdal would be cheaper, I assume, as well as faster. Then you could take the Flamsbana train down to Flam (not mentioned in the tour itinerary) before either reversing course via the Flamsbana and the train or taking the bus from Flam to Gudvangen and then the scenic bus ride from Gudvangen up to Voss, which is also on the main rail line. Note: I'm not sure about the Flam-Gudvangen bus, it's possible the ticket can only be purchased along with the Naeroyfjord ferry, which wouldn't work for you. You'd have to decide whether it's worth spending so much time and money to return to the Flam area primarily to take the Flamsbana.

Northbound Hurtigruten ships run overnight to Alesund before making an all-day detour into the scenic Geirangerfjord and stopping again at Alesund (8 PM-ish, I think). One more overnight takes you to Trondheim.

You can buy a ticket for the bus from Flam to Gudvangen separately.

Not really getting information about cruises here. Let me give it a try.
Hurtigruten has an 11 day cruise that departs Bergen on Sept 9th and returns to Bergen after going up the coast to the North Cape stopping at many ports for short amounts of time on the way. The cost for a couple for 11 days in an inside cabin is approx. $5,000. This would not be a traditional cruise as it stops in as many as 6 ports a day.

I think that you could arrange see some more fjords on this trip independently for 3-4 days and have a nice taste of the fjords.

I went on a Norway cruise out of Southampton last summer that focused on the Coast Line up to the North Cape and back. This summer I am going on a fjords cruise in May. It is a great way to see the coast line and some scenery. I have travelled on Princess.

Your challenge is that it is very hard to combine your Rick Steves Tour with a full cruise in September. If you find you still want a cruise experience, my advice is to schedule it for 2025 and come back.

Great suggestions and comments. Thank you so much for taking the time to help.

Have you considered going south to Stavanger? I haven't checked your dates, but there is a fjord day cruise that goes between the Bergen and Stavanger. At Stavanger you could take take a tour of Lysefjord which goes by Pulpit Rock. I talked to a friend who stayed at the coastal, fishing village Skudeneshavn last May, and if I go back to Norway, I will be spending time there.

I also like the suggestion of going up to Alesund and taking tours from there. I wouldn't limit it to cruises, though. I found that 90 minutes fjord cruising was enough for me. I much preferred seeing the scenery from the land.

The majority of the cruise ships we saw were AIDA, but I doubt any of them start in Bergen.

I think mnannie's point about seeing fjords from land (as well as from fjord level) is a good one. I believe there may be bus-based tours out of Alesund going to the Geirangerfjord, but that's not something I've seriously researched. The Flamsbana between Myrdal and Flam offers nice views, but it runs downward, sort of straight toward the fjord. That's not like being in a car or bus on a road running along a fjord.

Although the fjords are spectacular, beyond a certain point, I think just boating through one fjord after another would have lessened impact.