Bergen (population 290,000 — the second largest city in Norway and the "Gateway to the Fjords") is one of the most dramatically situated cities in Europe: ringed by seven mountains (the "Seven Mountains" — Ulriken (642m), Fløyen (320m), Sandviken, Løvstakken, Damsgård, Landås and Blåmanen), built around a fjord (the Byfjorden — the 30km inlet of the North Sea) and shaped by the rain that defines the city (Bergen averages 239 days of rain per year — it is the wettest city in Europe, with an annual precipitation of 2,250mm: the local saying is "Bergen har fire årstider: regn, regn, regn og regn" ("Bergen has four seasons: rain, rain, rain and rain")). Bergen was the largest and most prosperous city in Norway for most of the medieval period, from the early 11th century until the 1830s (when Christiania/Oslo overtook it): the Hanseatic League merchants of the German Hanse established the most important of their Norwegian trading posts in Bergen in 1360, building the wharf buildings of Bryggen (the most celebrated medieval wooden building complex in Scandinavia, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and controlling the most important fish trade in Northern Europe (the dried salt cod (klippfisk) and the stockfish (tørrfisk) trade from the Lofoten and Vesterålen fisheries of northern Norway). Bergen is the birthplace of the composer Edvard Grieg (born 1843 — the most internationally performed Norwegian composer, whose Peer Gynt suites and the Piano Concerto in A minor are the most frequently performed Scandinavian orchestral works), and the city where Grieg's piano was preserved in the Troldhaugen villa.
Bryggen (the "quay" in Norwegian — the UNESCO World Heritage Site (1979) and the most photographed image in Norway: the row of narrow, colorful wooden wharf buildings that lean against each other at eccentric angles on the eastern quay of the Vågen harbour (the inner harbour of Bergen). The original buildings were built by the Hanseatic League merchants of the German Hanse (who controlled the Bergen trading post from 1360 to 1754): the buildings that survive today (58 remain of the original 62) were built after the fire of 1702 (the most recent of the seven major fires that have burned Bryggen since 1170 — each time the buildings were rebuilt in the same narrow medieval plots, with the same plan and often the same crooked angles as the buildings they replaced). The Hanseatic Museum (the most important museum in Bryggen: the furnished interior of a 1704 building showing the life of a Hanseatic merchant — the narrow bunk beds (stacked 3 high), the stockfish storage rooms (the smell of stockfish preserved in the wood of the walls after 300 years), and the trading rooms).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideFisketorget (the Fish Market — the covered fish market on the Torget square at the end of the Vågen harbour: the most famous fish market in Norway (operating since 1276 — the oldest continuously operating market in Bergen): the fresh Norwegian salmon (the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) farmed in the Norwegian fjords: the fjord-farmed salmon of Norway is the product that transformed global fish consumption — Norway produces 1.4 million tons per year, 56% of global farmed Atlantic salmon: the fish is distinguished from other farmed salmon by the clarity of the fjord water, the cold temperatures (4–12°C year-round) and the Norwegian aquaculture regulations), the king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus — the enormous red king crab introduced to the Barents Sea by Soviet scientists in the 1960s and now the most prized seafood product of Arctic Norway), and the boiled shrimps (reker — the small cold-water shrimp (Pandalus borealis) served in a paper bag with mayo and lemon — the most classic Bergen snack).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideFløibanen (the funicular railway from the city center to the summit of Fløyen (320m above sea level): built in 1918, the Fløibanen is the most used tourist attraction in Bergen (1 million passengers per year): the 8-minute ascent through the residential neighborhoods of the Bergen hillside to the summit terrace, with the panoramic view over the entire city (the Bryggen wharf, the Vågen harbour, the Byfjorden and the ring of seven mountains). At the summit: the hiking trails on Fløyen (the trail network connecting the seven Bergen mountains — the "7 Fjell" hiking trails that the most active Bergen residents walk each year), the Fløyen café and the children's playground with the carved wooden troll figures.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideEnhjørningen (the Unicorn Restaurant — Bryggen 29: the restaurant in the most beautifully preserved Hanseatic warehouse cellar in Bryggen (the vaulted stone basement of the 1704 building with the original ship's rope and the maritime artifacts of the Hanseatic merchants on the walls): the Bergen specialties: the fiskesuppe (the Bergen fish soup — the most famous dish in Bergen: the traditional recipe is a cream-based broth with the local fish (cod, salmon, halibut), root vegetables and dill, served with the Bergen bread (flatbrød)), the bacalao (the dried salt cod — the Norwegian product that the Hanseatic merchants traded, reconstituted and cooked in the Bergen tradition with tomato, olive oil and potato) and the fresh whole Bergen lobster (the European lobster (Homarus gammarus) from the Bergen fjords — the most expensive item on any Bergen menu, NOK 800–1,200, and worth it).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideNorway in a Nutshell (the most celebrated single-day tour in Norway — a circuit that combines 4 modes of transport to traverse the most dramatic Norwegian scenery in a single day: Bergen–Myrdal by train (the Bergen Line through the Hardangervidda mountain plateau — the train that climbs from sea level to 1,301m through the snowfields), Myrdal–Flåm by the Flåmsbana (the Flåm Railway — the steepest standard-gauge railway in the world not using rack: 20km descending 865m through the Flåmsdalen valley, with the Kjosfossen waterfall stop (the waterfall where the Hulder (the Scandinavian forest spirit with the tail hidden under her skirt) dances on the rock beside the waterfall — a theatrical performance by an actress in white), Flåm–Gudvangen by boat through the Nærøyfjord (the narrowest fjord in the world: the UNESCO World Heritage fjord (the Nærøyfjord and Geirangerfjord are jointly listed as the finest examples of fjord landscape in the world) where the walls close to 250m apart and rise 1,400m vertically from the water), and Gudvangen–Bergen by bus and train.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Nærøyfjord (the arm of the Sognefjord — the Sognefjord is the world's longest fjord (204km) and deepest (1,308m): the Nærøyfjord is the most dramatic section, where the walls narrow to 250m apart and rise so steeply that direct sunlight reaches the water surface for only a few weeks per year): the boat passes through a landscape of waterfalls (some falling directly onto the boat deck when the meltwater season is at its peak), grazing farms on the near-vertical slopes above the fjord (the farms accessible only by boat or by the steep trails that the farmers have used for centuries), and the settlement of Gudvangen at the fjord terminus.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Flåmsbana (the Flåm Railway): 20km, 865m descent from Myrdal (the high plateau at 866m) to Flåm (sea level), through 20 tunnels and with a maximum gradient of 5.5% (the steepest railway section that does not require a rack-and-pinion system to function). The Kjosfossen waterfall stop (55m vertical drop, the most photographed single point on the railway): the train stops for 5 minutes while the Hulder dancers perform on the rock beside the waterfall.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideTroldhaugen (Troldhaugvegen 65, 8km south of Bergen center — the "Hill of the Trolls": the villa that Edvard Grieg (1843–1907) built for himself and his wife Nina Hagerup in 1885, where he lived and worked until his death. The villa is preserved as it was in 1907: the original furnishings, the composer's original Steinway piano (the piano that Grieg played every morning for 22 years — the instrument on which the Piano Concerto in A minor was revised, on which the Peer Gynt suites were worked out). The composer's hut (the small wooden cabin at the water's edge where Grieg retreated every morning to compose — the only structure in which he could achieve concentration, 20m from the main villa): a small, warm room with a desk, a chair and an upright piano. Grieg and Nina are buried in the rock beside the lake. The Troldhaugen Museum (the exhibition of Grieg's life and music) and the Troldsalen concert hall (the most beautiful small concert hall in Norway: concerts from May to September).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideUlriksbanen (the cable car to the summit of Ulriken (642m) — the highest of the seven Bergen mountains: the 7-minute gondola ascent to the summit terrace, with the 360° panorama of Bergen, the Byfjorden, the islands of the Bergen archipelago and the distant snowfields of the Hardangervidda plateau. At the summit: the Ulriken643 restaurant (the highest restaurant in Bergen), the hiking trail network (the full "7 Fjell" circuit — the 34km hiking trail connecting all seven Bergen mountains: a full-day undertaking for experienced hikers), and the starting point for the most dramatic ridge hike in the Bergen area (the trail east toward the Rundemanen summit).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBergen fiskesuppe (the Bergen fish soup — the most important traditional dish of the Bergen kitchen: the cream-based broth enriched with butter, with pieces of salmon, cod and halibut, root vegetables (carrot, celeriac, leek), dill and a touch of cream (the Bergen fish soup is distinguished from other Norwegian fish soups by the richness of the cream base and the specific use of dill)): the soup served at the Bryggen restaurants (Bryggestuen og Bryggeloftet, the most historic restaurant in Bergen — operating since the 1920s in the Hanseatic warehouse building). Fiskepudding: the traditional Norwegian fish cake (a smooth, elastic terrine of cod (or other white fish) blended with potato flour and cream, shaped in a loaf and poached or baked): served with the shrimp sauce and cucumber pickle.
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