Hi,
I'm planning a trip to Bergen in June '23 and am looking for suggestions for places to stay. I don't know if there is anything that is considered "moderately" prices in the city, but would like to get some ideas. I'm been looking through Rick's book on Norway.
We stayed two weeks ago at the Bergen Harbour Hotel, part of the Best Western chain. It’s location is brilliant in Bryggen, two blocks from the Fliobanen funicular and the fish market. The rooms are small but functional. The staff is exceptional and the included breakfast is great. Rates fluctuate depending on season but right now they are running around $165/night.
Look at Scandic Neptun. Scandic is a good hotel chain in Scandinavia.
We stayed at the Thon Hotel Orion, and it was great. Good location, comfortable rooms, reasonably priced, and a fabulous breakfast buffet included. You can’t beat the breakfast buffet at these Thon hotels- we stayed at one in Oslo as well. You save time and money by having a breakfast buffet like this at the hotel.
A large breakfast buffet is very much standard in Scandinavian hotels, and I don't think Thon stands out.
It's true that the buffets tend to be generous. Anyone especially concerned about COVID, though, should keep in mind that people spend more time in the breakfast room when there's a huge spread. Most of those rooms were really packed during my recent trip (June 15-August 24 in Norway, Sweden and Finland). I opted out of breakfast if I could for reasons of health and cost, but it often wasn't an option. Having paid for that food, I wasn't inclined to skip breakfast. I emerged COVID-free, but I was surprised to do so.
Being at the breakfast buffet at opening time will usually mean a somewhat less crowded experience if you don't dawdle.
I stayed at the Radisson Blu this past August in Bryggen area of Bergen. I booked it early on so got a very good rate. The location was fantastic and was right where the bus from the airport stopped (so didn't have to drag my luggage very far). Easy to walk to everything and has a great breakfast. My room was comfortable and quiet and I was very happy with my 2-night stay there.
Another vote for the Thon Orion. We’ve stayed there twice - good location, nice, clean rooms, and included breakfast buffet. We’ve also stayed at the Thon Opera in Oslo, nice chain.
Hotel Terminus is an average hotel right by the main train station, but their breakfast is THE BEST. It’s so good that Vy (the train company) has a breakfast deal at Terminus for their night train passengers that arrive in the morning.
Thanks for the tips. (Keep them coming) A couple of places were fairly inexpensive, but often they were non-refundable. With things they way they are in the world, including continuing COVID variants, I'm thinking that I will go for the more expensive that has that ability to change. A good breakfast is a plus, too. I'm going in summer, so it's expensive anyway, but I hope to nail this down in the next week.
Regarding the comments above about buffet breakfasts, I used booking.com to choose hotels and many of them did not include breakfast - so don’t assume that they all include breakfast. Also I found the buffet breakfast at Thon hotels (eg Thon Orion in Bergen) to be significantly better than the buffet breakfasts that I had elsewhere in Norway. Finally, it’s easy to find and select hotels that have a fully refundable rate by using booking.com. I’ve used it successfully for many trips, including some cancellations.
We stayed at the Augustin Hotel this summer. Our concierge, Kathleen was the best. She was very nice and very helpful. The breakfasts were suited for both American and European tastes and was very good. The hotel is close to the fish market, and we were able to walk to everywhere we wanted.
