Bergen to Oslo

Ports

• Bergen
  

  In the distant 14th-century, the powerful merchant guilds of the Hanseatic League established an overseas office in Bergen, thus transforming a sleepy fishing village into a strategically vital trading hub. Their legacy endures in Bryggen, a harborside district of colorful Hanseatic warehouses and a UNESCO World Heritage site. For an invaluable glimpse into Norwegian life in the 18th and 19th centuries, visit the Old Bergen Museum, where wooden homes and shops characteristic of the city’s past are populated with vintage furnishings and reenactors in period attire. You’ll want to have your camera ready at Bergen’s faithful recreation of the Fantoft Stave Church, a uniquely Norwegian place of worship built from wood and characterized by sharply sloped roofs and Viking motifs. In Bergenhus Fortress, admire medieval stone buildings that are among the best preserved in Norway, including compellingly austere Haakon's Hall. To fully appreciate Bergen’s appeal, take a funicular to the summit of Mount Fløyen for breathtaking views of the city and the surrounding mountains, emerald giants that slumber among sparkling, island-strewn fjords.

• Olden
  

  Located at the mouth of the Oldeelva River at the northern end of the Oldedalen Valley on the southern shore of the Nordfjorden, sits the charming village of Olden. Surrounded by steep mountains, blue glaciers, and bubbling waterfalls, Olden presents abundant kayaking, hiking, and biking opportunities. Olden is your gateway to the Jostedal Glacier, Europe’s largest mainland glacier, part of Jostedal Glacier National Park. Jostedal separates two of the longest fjords in the world, the Sognefjord and the Nordfjord.

• Kalvåg
  

  Kalvåg, one of Norway’s most untouched fishing villages, sits at the sea’s edge on the southeast side of the island of Frøya. This idyllic destination provides stunning views of the fjords and mountains and offers many kayaking and hiking opportunities.

• Måløy
  

  Måløy sits on the southeastern side of the island of Vågsøy, surrounded by the Stadhavet Sea. As a coastal town immersed in nature, you’ll find abundant sheltered beaches like Refviksanden to explore. Perhaps hike to one of Måløy’s four scenic lighthouses, guiding ships safely around the sea passage of Stad for centuries. The extraordinarily shaped rock formation Kannesteinen stands today as an impressive monument on Vågsøy.

• Hjørundfjorden
  

• Fjærland
  

• Rosendal
  

• Skagen
  

  Skagen sits at the northernmost point of Denmark, tucked in a peninsula where the North Sea meets the Baltic Sea. This remote coastal town, settled in 1400s as a fishing village, provides stunning landscapes of white-sand beaches, unwavering grassland, and verdant forest. Notable is its Old Church, which since 1775 has been buried in sand, and the Skagen Museum, holding the impressionist works of the Skagen Painters, who drew inspiration from the area’s abundant natural light. To the south lies Råbjerg Mile, Northern Europe’s most prominent migrating sand dunes.

• Oslo
  

  Norway is a land steeped in myth, where irascible gods armed with frost and lightning once inspired Viking clans to plunder foreign lands. These days, genteel customs imported from mainland Europe have softened the country’s hard edges, but traces of an unruly past still abound. The exceptional museums dotting the Bygdøy Peninsula hold some of the city’s foremost attractions, including a thousand-year-old longship that was preserved in mud and the 12th-century Gol Stave Church, an exemplar of Norway’s distinctive wood sanctuaries. No less fascinating is a visit to the 1892 Fram, a legendary ship revered for her vital role in early polar explorations. To witness the evolution of Oslo’s soul, contrast battle-hardened Akershus Fortress, a ruggedly elegant citadel wrapped in nearly impregnable ramparts, with the neoclassical Royal Palace, whose formal exterior encloses sumptuously appointed rooms. You might wish to view Edvard Munch’s iconic The Scream, which hangs in the outstanding Norwegian National Gallery amid priceless European and Scandinavian masterworks. In expansive Frogner Park, wander among Gustav Vigeland’s thought-provoking sculptures, and if you’ve worked up an appetite, choose among the many restaurants and cafés lining the charming waterfront district of Aker Brygge.