Norway questions

[librarygirl]

Hi ladies,

In June I'm headed to Norway for a seven night cruise. I'm currently researching possible things to do in each port but am torn regarding options in Bergen. I've heard that it's one of the prettiest cities in Norway and in Europe (for the record neither my h nor I have ever been to a Scandinavian country before). I definitely have stuff I'd like to do there (Grieg's house, walk the waterfront, Mount Fløien etc) so it's not as all that I'd be struggling to fill the time. However, I also read about the famous Flam train ride. The port excursion that has the train ride is an all day affair so that would be it for our time in Bergen (the activities/stops on the tour seem neat, just tiring though). H adores train rides (loved the one we took to Machu Picchu last year) and obviously I'm not complaining when there is utterly gorgeous scenery involved. One of our other stops is in Alesund which I had also read has its own charm with some people even liking it more than Bergen. I'm just curious to hear other people's thoughts, especially if they've been to both Bergen and Alesund. And yes, I guess it's a good dilemma to be faced with

Thanks in advance ladies!

[GilliC]

Save the train trip to Flåm for a time your in Oslo. While the steep Flåmsbana itself is an attraction, the trip from Oslo to Myrdal (the other endpoint for the Flåmsbana) is often listed as one of the world's most scenic. You pass from city to countryside to forests and then as the elevation continues to increase you pass above the tree line and then start seeing some of the glaciers up in the mountains. The stretch between Myrdal and Bergen is not quite as dramatic.

Does the Flåm trip include the boat between Flåm and Gudvangen? That's another big highlight of the Norway in a Nutshell daytrip as its one of the narrowest and most spectacular of the fjords (and one of the two UNESCO-listed fjords; the other being Geirangerfjord).

Honestly there's so much to do in Bergen that it's well worth a day. Do the Fløibanen funicular first thing in the morning to beat the cruise crowds. I've been to Bergen as a port call on two cruises, and both times the lines got quite long by mid-morning.

Grieg's estate is pretty, but it's a bit of a trip from the center. It can easily chew up half a port day with the extra travel time involved.

If you're at all interested in the history, check out the Hanseatic Museum by the Bryggen. It's not an anazing museum, but it gives a good overview of the Hanseatic trading and lifestyle. I thought it was pretty interesting and it helped me understand why certain cities in Europe have such clear similarities.

[Deleted]

I haven't been to alesund, but Bergen was stunning. The town is charming, the scenery is breathtaking, the fjord cruise was amazing, the air so clean and the whole city is picturesque and serene. It was one of the prettiest places that I've seen in a long time.

If you've been to Seattle, it's actually one of Seattle's sister cities and it 100% reminded me of home.

It's seriously beautiful and magical, but also priced accordingly. Like h and I went to a little upscale brewery on the harbor, he had 2 beers, I had a glass of wine, we split a plate of mussels and bread and it was still $80 for lunch.

The town itself is small and quiet, so if you only want to do the major attractions you only need like 2 days going at a slower pace.

A friend of mine ladyrelocated has been doing a really good job of documenting her travels and has a great blog post about it. I didn't go with her, but hearing her stories and pictures is what convinced me to go. I'm so glad that we did.

ladyrelocated.com/?s=Bergen

[librarygirl]

GilliC-thanks so much for all the helpful info. Are taxis pretty easy to get in Bergen? I'm a big piano playing nerd and learned a ton of Grieg's works back in the day so a part of me would still love to visit but obviously I wouldn't want to eat too much into other time there if having to rely on p/t.

uwhuskygirl-Thanks for sharing your friend's blog, love checking out other readers!

[GilliC]

Mar 15, 2015 18:56:15 GMT -5 librarygirl said:

GilliC-thanks so much for all the helpful info. Are taxis pretty easy to get in Bergen? I'm a big piano playing nerd and learned a ton of Grieg's works back in the day so a part of me would still love to visit but obviously I wouldn't want to eat too much into other time there if having to rely on p/t.

uwhuskygirl-Thanks for sharing your friend's blog, love checking out other readers!

If you're a piano buff, then it's probably worth the trip. Especially if you can catch the 1pm lunchtime concert in the estate's gorgeous little concert hall overlooking the composer's hut.
 

Taxis should be relatively easy to find downtown, but probably not as easy from out at Troldhaugen. The BergenTaxi calculator estimates the rate to be around kr.275 ($33) each way. Waiting time is around kr.400/hr so it would probably be cheaper to have them call a taxi to come pick you up. The drive should take 15-20 minutes without traffic.

By public transit, the trip is 40-50 minutes from central Bergen. You can find the timings and info here. The tram runs fairly often, and then it's a ~20 minute walk from the Hop stop to the estate. (I've seen a tip that if you don't have a day pass, you should buy tickets for both the trip there and back while you're downtown, since you can buy them from a convenience store using a mag-strip credit card, while the machines at the tram stops require chip-and-pin.)

On the Grieg Museum website, it shows that in the summer they have daily bus tours from the city center:
griegmuseum.no/en/article/grieg-bus-tours
It's only kr.200/person if you pre-book a spot in advance, and the trip runs from 11:00-2:30. That sounds like it could be a great option, since the concert+admission ticket costs 160- on its own!

[librarygirl]

GilliC-sorry for not having responded sooner but thank you again so much for this wealth of terrific info! And loved your photos too!