Please sign in to post.

Round trip fjord experience from Bergen?

Posted by (Bellevue, WA) on

Hello,
We're staying in Bergen for 3 nights, with a toddler, and are figuring out that a fjord trip like the nutshell one is likely a 8-10 hour extravaganza if we were to do it round trip from Bergen. That's a long time for a toddler, but we're dying to see the fjords. Does anyone have any advice on seeing the fjords from Bergen? We're thinking of maybe flying in, and either getting on the Bergen express boat to Balestrand (which looks like its 4 hours-is that right?) to stay for the night, then doing the nutshell route back to Bergen or vice versa (nutshell route, staying in Balestrand, then back to Bergen on the express boat). Does anyone know how long the segment from Balestrand back to Bergen via the fjords/boat/train/bus route might take?

Or have another idea for us?

Thanks much.

We live in the UK, so flights aren't booked yet. We're going at the end of this month.

Posted by
353 posts

Hi Heidi,

You are correct, the Exrpress boat from Bergen to Balestrand takes 4 hours. The trip from Balestrand back to Bergen via the Nutshell route takes about 6 hours. Here's a sample schedule for a random day in late July:
11:50 - Depart Balestrand by express boat
13:25 - Arrive in Flam
14:50 - Depart Flam by cogwheel train
15:46 - Arrive Myrdal
15:52 - Depart Myrdal by train to Bergen
18:00 - Arrive Bergen

You can book this trip through Fjord Tours - www.fjordtours.no. It's called "Sognefjord in a Nutshell" and you can book it any number of ways, but in your case as an express boat from Bergen to Balestrand (spend a night). The next day, take express boat to Flam, cogwheel train to Myrdal and train to Bergen. You can even book hotels through the same website. This is a beautiful trip, especially the portion through the fjord from Balestrand to Flam.

Posted by
51 posts

We did one day nin from Bergen yesterday and loved it. Saw a lot of strollers, so it is doable (or overnight someplace.). We took train to Voss, then bus and slow boat to flam. Saw a lot of snow and waterfalls on the bus, and the boat took us through the narrowest portion of fjord - world heritage arm of sognefjord, which we felt was special. Flam train was wonderful as well. Then back from Myrdal to Bergen. Hope you pick an option that works for you.

This topic has been automatically closed due to a period of inactivity.