Flam Railway

Depends on which way you're coming from.

We came in from Oslo on the train and took the Flam Railway down into the fjord. It was the highlight of the Norway in a Nutshell trip that took all day long.

We loved Bergen too.

Are you planning to do Norway in a Nutshell of just the Flambasa train?

We took it the other way.

We had arrived in Norway in Bergen (on the ferry from Hirsthals in Denmark, a lovely trip, recommended). There we took a round trip that involved taking a cruise to Flam, then the train up to Myrdal, then back to Bergen. We spend a few hours in Flam as well. There is a nice brewpub there.

There would be much merit in taking either the morning ferry from Bergen to Flam or a morning train to Voss for the bus/ferry combination to Flam via Gudvangen, time in Flam, then a mid afternoon train up to Myrdal (either as a round trip or for connection back to Bergen).

Doing it that way round is counter directional to the peak traffic on the Flam to Myrdal railway.

If you don't want to take a boat the Vy Bus #450 from Voss to Gudvangen at 1315 (only) continues on to Flam.

So you could train to Voss, bus #450 to Flam, train at 1430 or 1650. The 1650 would give you a nice amount of time in Flam, and get you back into Bergen at 2116.

I just posted this suggestion in another thread but this past week's Monday Night Travels was on Norway in a Nutshell. You can watch the video on Rick's site here. Also, his Norway tour guide, Pal who presented had lots of great videos on this train trip, tips, and doing it different ways on his YouTube channel Norway with Pal.

Unless the traveler is seeing other narrow, scenic fjords in Norway (such as the Geirangerfjord), I think it's a shame to skip the Naeroyfjord journey between Gudvangen and Flam, assuming there's time available for it. Flam is much closer to Bergen than to Oslo, so it is certainly possible to do a one-day out-and-back trip from Bergen to Flam that includes all the Norway-in-a-Nutshell components except for the mainline train from Myrdal to Oslo.

From all I've read, the express boat from Bergen to Flam is not nearly as scenic as the Naeroyfjord ferry, because much of the express-boat trip is through a wide part of the Sognefjord.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions!