Please sign in to post.

When does it get dark in Myrdal/Flam in early August ? Planning to take 7:20 pm Flamsbana

I am planning a "Norway in a nutshell" type trip in early August but plan on starting from Oslo early afternoon by the train that departs Oslo at 14:25 and reaches Myrdal at 19:10 and then take the Flamsbana train to Flam leaving Myrdal at 19:20, reaching Flam at 20:19.

I see sunset is around 10 pm (2200) at Flam but wondering if mountain topography may mean it gets dark during before I make it to Flam (and I miss out on the scenery).

We plan to stay in Flam and continue on to Bergen in the morning (after possibly doing a hike or boat trip in Flam vicinity). Also would like to hear, if there are other reasons why this may be a bad idea.

Posted by
26829 posts

I'm not sure how much light you'll have around 8 PM in early August. That will be affected by the weather. If it's very cloudy, visibility will be affected.

If you don't have a room booked yet, you need to work on that right away.

Posted by
3 posts

Thank you for your reply. Have a reservation at the Fretheim hotel in Flam. From what I can make out, it is not exciting, but is functional for an overnight halt. But happy to get any opinions.

Rama

Posted by
6171 posts

You don't mention when, but on August 1st sunset is 22:08. The mountains don't change that. And it doesn't mean that it gets dark 22:08, there is a couple of hours of twilight after that. In fact, it doesn't get darker than nautical twilight in early August.

Your biggest enemy is bad weather, low clouds can obscure the views.

Posted by
3 posts

Thank you Badger. I understand bad weather/low clouds may obstruct views. But couldn't that happen at any time of the day ? Or will doing the trip in the evening time (departing on the 19:20 train from Myrdal) increase the chances of encountering bad weather/low clouds ?

Posted by
26829 posts

I spent 3 weeks in Norway, departing on July 7. I found it could look and feel like dusk even before 5 PM on heavily-overcast days. It wasn't dark, but it certainly didn't feel like normal daytime, either.

I just don't know what, if anything, that means about your likely enjoyment of the Flamsbana. Badger would have a better sense of that.

Posted by
6171 posts

Thank you Badger. I understand bad weather/low clouds may obstruct
views. But couldn't that happen at any time of the day ?

I'd say the risk of bad weather is pretty much the same all day.

I just don't know what, if anything, that means about your likely
enjoyment of the Flamsbana. Badger would have a better sense of that.

I'm not sure I have, but in my opinion I don't think the difference is that big.