Exploring the fjords in west Norway: 6 days from Ålesund to Bergen
Fjord /fēˈôrd/: a long, deep, narrow inlet with steep cliffs, created by glacier erosion. Fjords typically form where ocean water flows into valleys formed by glaciers.
In July of 2018, my parents and I traveled through west Norway’s fjords during my summer holiday to Norway, Netherlands, and Belgium.
And it was magnificent.
We were incredibly lucky and had near perfect weather throughout our trip. With its never ending summer days (20 hours of daylight), skies dotted with light clouds, summer in Norway’s countryside makes for the perfect place to get in tune with nature and unwind.
While there will never be universal agreement on the most beautiful place on earth, I think you’ll agree (especially after seeing my photos) that Norway places high on that list.
Thanks for reliving this adventure with me!
Table of Contents
Within this post, I’ve documented:
- Itinerary / Map of the most direct and scenic public-transportation-friendly route from Ålesund to Bergen (6 days)
- My Photo Journal along every leg of our 6 day adventure from Ålesund to Bergen
- What to Eat in Norway
- Tips & Tricks for the bus & ferry system in Norway
1. Itinerary / Map
There are many ways to explore Norway, including joining a tour (e.g., Norway in a Nutshell), renting a car, or public transportation.
We chose the latter and utilized Norway’s modern and efficient bus, ferry, and train system.
In case you want to copy our itinerary or draw inspiration, below is the route* we took from Alesund to Bergen to optimize our time in Norway’s western fjords:
Day 0: fly into Ålesund at night (12AM, from Oslo | read about that adventure here)
Day 1: start the day in Ålesund ↠ Valldal ↠ Trollstigen pass ↠ Andalsnes ↠ Ålesund
Day 2: start the day in Ålesund ↠ Stranda ↠ Hellesylt ↠ ferry to Geiranger (Greirangerfjord) ↠ ferry back to Hellesylt
Day 3: start the day in Hellesylt ↠ Stryn
Day 4: start the day in Stryn ↠ Olden ↠ Skei ↠ Sogndal
Day 5: start the day in Sogndal ↠ Flåm ↠ cruise to Gudvangen (Aurlandsfjorden, Næerøyfjord) ↠ Flåm
Day 6: start the day in Flåm ↠ funicular to Myrdal ↠ train to Bergen
* Note: All movement between villages / cities via bus unless otherwise noted. Town bolded only at first appearance in itinerary.
Enjoy!
2. My Photo Journal
Below are my photo highlights* from every leg of our 6-day journey from Ålesund to Bergen.
🏠 = village / city we spent the night (refer to itinerary above for more details)
* Hand-picked from a total of 1,392 photos
Ålesund 🏠
We started our journey along Norway’s west coast in this charming port town most well-known for its art moveau architecture. The difference in cloud coverage created a stark contrast between our 2 days in Ålesund.
Valldal
Valldal is home to some of Europe’s northernmost orchards, including the sweetest strawberries I’ve ever tasted!
They ship their strawberries (jørdbær in Norwegian) to surrounding villages, but obviously the strawberries are best fresh from the source. I know because after learning about and trying Valldal strawberries in Valldal, we bought Valldal strawberries at every. single. stop thereafter.
Trollstigen Pass
With its soaring heights, 11 hairpin bends, and waterfall accents, Trollstigen pass is not for faint-hearted drivers. Driving down this mountain pass is as dramatic an experience as The Bachelor’s Women Tell All episode (i.e. the most dramatic)
Just FYI — like many other sights, it’s unfortunately closed during winter months due to the 5+ meters of snow.
Andalsnes
Nestled between fjords and mountains, Andalsnes is the mountaineering capital of the nation (to you climbers out there). We opted for a more aggressive mid-afternoon picnic on the dock during our quick pit-stop.
Road from Ålesund ↠ Stranda ↠ Hellesylt
On day 2, we took a morning bus (FRAM) from Ålesund south to Hellesylt. At Magerholm, our bus drove onto a ferry to cross Storfjorden and we briefly had some scenic dark & stormy/sunshine views. We then had a brief pit-stop in fishing village Stranda before proceeding to our destination for the afternoon: Hellesylt.
For the best view along this route, sit on the right-hand side.
Hellesylt 🏠
A quaint small village situated in the midst of impressive mountain ranges and beautiful fjords. A perfect 24 hr stop to take the round-trip ferry to and from Geiranger / Hellesylt to enjoy the Geirangerfjord and still have plenty of time to explore both villages.
Ferry to and from Geiranger / Hellesylt (Geirangerfjord)
Cruising through Geirangerfjord was an absolute surreal experience.
Our ferry ride (Fjord1) took approximately 1 hr and covers 20.7 km of the Geirangerfjord, a UNESCO’s World Heritage site and arguably one of the most famous fjords in the world (for good reason, it was magnificent!)
In the summer months, if the weather plays nice, try taking one leg of the ferry ride in the early afternoon for optimal photo lighting (like we did). You can snag a seat, but you’ll probably end up moving from left to right and front and back of the boat deck to enjoy all the views as you cruise down the fjord.
Geiranger
We had the opportunity to explore this village after alighting the ferry from Hellesylt.
There are some 327 easy steps up along Geiranger’s Fossevandring waterfall for some easy breezy sight-seeing. And for those looking to explore the area a bit more, there are convenient buses and hop-on-hop-off buses to bring you to different trail-heads (except on Saturdays, which is incidentally the day we visited, oops).
Stryn 🏠
After taking our time exploring Hellesylt and Geiranger, we took an early-afternoon bus (FRAM) south to the village Stryn on day 3.
There isn’t too much specifically to do in Stryn. Many will go to Olden for a day trip, but a storm rolled in the afternoon we were there so we cancelled our day-trip. Thankfully, as it turns out, our bus the next day would pass through Olden (see next section).
Road from Stryn ↠ Olden ↠ Skei
From Stryn to Snogdal on day 4, our trip was broken into 2 sections with a stop in Skei. For the former half, our bus (FRAM) drove through picturesque Loen, Olden, and Utvik (which all hug Innvikfjorden) before climbing up switch-backs overlooking the fjord and driving through mountain ranges of Jostedalsbreen National Park (through Byrkjelo) to arrive at Skei.
For the best view along this route, sit on the right-hand side.
Road from Skei ↠ Sogndal
We transferred buses (Nettbuss) at Skei to continue our journey to Sogndal because we wanted to get off at the specific Sogndal Helgheim stop instead of the main station in Sogndal (for proximity to accomodation)
Transferring buses in Norway is quite convenient because the entire systrm is timed perfectly. Leave it to the Norwegians to be expert travel planners… 👌🏼
On this leg of the journey on day 4, we passed Jølstravatnet and a northern inlet of Songnefjorden.
Again, sit on the right-hand side for the best view.
Sogndal 🏠
Sogndal hugs Sognefjorden, the largest and deepest fjord in Norway.
The internet didn’t offer much in the way of things to do in Sogndal specifically, which I found was because this village has yet to be heavily commercialized by tourism (I’m sure this will soon change).
The friendly locals were more than willing to point me in the direction of their favorite hiking trails in the area. The one pictured below was a trailhead starting from Navarsetevegen / Røvhaugvegen street to a view overlooking islands Ønya and Vetleøyna. I even found some wild raspberries along the way!
Road from Sogndal ↠ Flåm
In the late morning on day 5, we took a bus (Nettbuss) down to Flåm. Along the way, our bus drove onto a ferry across Sognefjorden.
It honestly doesn’t matter which side you sit on for this stretch because at least 20 minutes of it are tunnel roads through Nordheimsdalen.
Flåm 🏠
The starting point of both the ferry cruise through Nærøyfjord and the funicular train to Myrdal, this destination is a must visit.
Ferry cruise from Flåm to Gudvagen (Aurlandsfjorden, Nærøyfjord)
Naerøyfjord was named an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015, and I can understand why. Our 2 hour ferry ride started in Aurlandsfjorden (in Flåm) and turns in a U-shape into the more dramatic Naerøyfjord.
As the narrowest portion of Sognefjorden (some portions are as narrow as 250m), you’d think Naerøyfjord was so named because of this quality. But no, it’s actually named after the Norwegian God of Seafarers and the sea. Rather apt.
Funicular from Flåm ↠ Myrdal
On the morning of our 6th day, we took a 1 hour funicular from Flåm to Myrdal (in the morning to avoid harsh light from the afternoon sun). Round-trip tickets are available, but we continued onwards to take the train from Myrdal to Bergen.
The Flåmbassa (Flåm funicular) was originally built for transport between Bergen and the ships sailing into Sognefjorden. Today, it’s a highly trafficked tourist route.
My tips for snagging the best seats / view for photos:
- Purchase tickets at the Flåm Tickets & Visitor Center (~1 min from boarding station)
- Stand in line at the station ~1 hour before your train’s departure (they will allow you to board ~35 minutes before)
- Be strategic about the train carriage you rush to because only some of the windows can be opened
- If you’re going from Flåm to Myrdal, sit on the right side of the carriage (the views are MUCH better)
- Enjoy the ride!
Myrdal
The Flåmbassa stopped in the most scenic train station in Myrdal (the red building in the middle photo is the platform) — tbh I’m not sure why any locals would ever leave this fairytale station 😇 but alas we had a train to catch to Bergen.
Train from Myrdal ↠ Bergen
On the final leg of our journey on day 6, we boarded the train (NSB) in Myrdal, south towards Bergen.
This is a 2 hour segment of the ~7 hour train ride from Oslo to Bergen, which was ranked as the most scenic train ride in the world.
Tickets on the regional NSB train can be reserved ahead of time — I’d recommend a seat on the left hand side for views of the magestic mountains (although on the right, there are views of the fjord as the train passes Voss and heads into Bergen)
NOTE: Unfortunately the NSB website does not process credit card payments in the US (only accepts PayPal). You have a few options here: (1) dial an international call to reserve over the phone, (2) reserve your ticket at the Flåm Tickets & Visitor Center when you purchase your funicular ticket from Flåm to Myrdal (like we did) or (3) purchase your ticket at the train station in Myrdal
Bergen 🏠
Bergen was the final destination of our journey through Norway’s western fjords. It’s known as the most rainy city of Norway (in July 2017, there was rain everyday but 2), but we happened to be blessed with sunshine days!
Read more about our adventure in Bergen here.
Bergen was the original capital of Norway, back in the 1200’s, and was replaced by Oslo in 1299. This beautiful port city is surrounded by fjords, and the central city has retained its old-time charm.
Since there is a large airport in Bergen, it’s only the beginning of the journey for some… but this is where we said goodbye to Norway! 🇳🇴
3. What to Eat in Norway
Let’s talk about food. Local cuisine is one of my favorite things to explore while traveling.
And tbh, I only picked up a few words in Norwegian. Apart from toalettet (toilet) they’re all food related: “thanks for the food” is takk for maten, “strawberry” is jørdbær, “salmon” is salma, and “chocolate” is sjøkolade.
Clearly, my vocabularly is made up of critical words only.
In Norway, everything is NOK NOK NOK pricey (think like San Francisco $$-$$$ pricey). The bill for a meal out for 3 at an average-nice restaurant is $1o0~150. While there are nice restaurants in the Norwegian cities (e.g., Oslo, Alesund, Bergen) there’s fewer options in the villages. Along our journey we mostly purchased food to prepare from grocery stores, and sporadically took a meal at a random restaurant (e.g., seafood restaurants, pizza shops, fish & chip stands).
Norway bites highlights below:
Strawberries, strawberries, strawberries
In the summer months, strawberries are readily available in Valldal and in grocery stores in all the surrounding villages. They’re the sweetest I’ve ever tasted — even compared to the locally grown, organic ones we have in California (lol)!
Try anything from the sea, especially sashimi (I mean, come on, just look at Norway’s coastline on a map)
The salmon sashimi in Norway is the best. Monkfish and fish & chips (fried cod & fries) were also favorites of ours.
And we got to try some “spicy dry hot smoked” salmon (krydderørret varmrøkt) from Gard’s Kjokkenet at the annual Hellesylt Day festival — would highly recommend if you ever come upon it! Also readily available at the Bergen fish market (and any other fish market, I’m sure)
Grocery runs are my favorite, and in Norway the game is no different (albeit with more guessing involved)
While sashimi can be found in sushi restaurants, fresh wild-caught sushi-grade salmon is also readily available at local grocery stores (e.g., Kiwi market, Extra). The price depends on quality, but for even the best quality available, it’s only 264 NOK per kg (roughly $15 per lb). And it’s DELICIOUS!
Obviously, we bought 2 pounds.
Norway’s dairy products (e.g., yoghurt, cheese, etc) are also really delicious (I guess happiest cows are in Norway). And interesting flavors galore!
In Norway, there are 2 main candy manufacturers: Nidar and Freia.
- Nidar is more creative with their candies (Troika is a layered chocolate, marzipan, and jelly candy coated in dark chocolate — at some shops it’s 30 NOK, but you can find it for 15 NOK at Kiwi market!)
- Freia creates many copycat versions of US favorites, although their chocolate itself is creamier (Kvikk Lunsj is almost identical to a KitKat — fun fact: Nestlé, the maker of KitKat bars has been in court fighting for trademark rights (unsuccessfully, clearly) to the 4-piece chocolate wafer cookie for the past 12 years. Kvikk Lunsj was released in 1937, just 2 years after the KitKat bar was launched in the UK in 1935)
Besides delicious ice cream bars in stores, we enjoyed picking innovative flavors at ice cream parlors
Some cool flavors we tried in Norway:
- Apelsjiu & Sjokolade (tastes like oranges/chocolate with additional chocolate chips sprinkled in — 💯)
- Rom Rosin (literally tastes like raisins soaked in rum)
- Kokos Is (coconut ice cream with light chocolate drizzle & sprinkle of chocolate chips)
4. Tips & Tricks
If you’re also using the bus and ferry system (or have decided to plan your own trip to Norway after reading my post 😇), keep the following in mind:
- Always look up the bus schedule in advance to plan your trip accordingly. Many of these buses only come a few times a day, so timing is crucial!
- Often, the buses may cross fjords on ferries to get from village to village, so you’re getting a 2 for 1 deal for some legs of your journey (get out & check out the view on the upper deck whenever this happens)
- For buses (FRAM, Nettbuss) and ferries (Fjord1), tickets can be purchased onboard using cash or credit card
- When taking the bus (FRAM, Nettbuss, etc.), there are discounts for groups of 2+ travelers (20~25% off the original fare). So if you’re traveling with companion(s) be sure to purchase your tickets together
- Wear black on the bus to avoid reflections of your clothing in your photos
Good luck!
Instagram for my fellow basics ✌🏼
Thanks for reading about our adventure through west Norway!
My parents and I had an amazing time, and I hope this post has brought inspiration for your next trip.
If you enjoyed this post, feel free to read more of my family’s adventures through Norway below:
Travel on, friends,
Deanna
