Every time we told someone in Oslo or Svalbard that we were going to Bergen next, they were delighted for us. It was a high bar and we weren’t disappointed.

After a long travel day, (Longyearbyen to Tromsø to Oslo to Bergen with a painful customs and security process in the hangar serving as Tromsø’s temporary airport), we got in late and headed to bed. On our first full day, we explored the city center. 

Bergen exudes beauty, fun, and youthful energy. It’s a college town with hundreds of years of history that’s also covered in beautiful murals and (frequently painfully direct) graffiti. It’s touristy but there’s enough space to get away from the crowds. Everywhere you turn there are colorfully painted houses (why does everything have to be neutral colored in the U.S.?) and tree-covered hills next to glassy water. We immediately loved it.

Bryggen, one of the most iconic areas on Bergen, features a row of wooden buildings that contain shops and galleries. First established in the 14th century, the area has burned down several times, and continues to be rebuilt to the original plans using traditional (very slow) methods.

Bryggen was the home of the German merchant community in Bergen, where they dominated northern European trade to both the east and west for two hundred years. The neighborhood within Bergen functioned as a self-contained village for the Hanseatic League, only integrating with the rest of the city when it lost power in the 1700s.

One of the evenings we were in Bergen, there was a culture night where various amateur groups gave performances at different stages around the city center. It was an incredibly broad selection of things - there was hip hop dancing, orchestral classical music, pole dancing, tango, and much more.

On day two we took the funicular up Mount Fløyen, which has a wonderful view overlooking the city. After hiking around a small portion of the beautiful and established trails at the top, we walked the steep, winding path back down to the city.

In the afternoon, we drove west of Bergen, near Telavåg, and went for a hike out to the coast. I found the trail by zooming around Google maps until I found some accessible public land, and it was a little longer and much muddier than we’d anticipated, but it was worth it. Sometimes the random side trips are busts, but sometimes they work out beautifully, and this was the latter.

The scenery was gorgeous but not at all what I expected - it was mainly huge rocky outcroppings with small plants and marshes in between. For some reason I had expected more forest and less low brush. We saw some other hikers, but the area was mostly quiet and incredibly peaceful.

One thing about being so far north is that the light is beautiful for a much longer period of time. We spent a few hours at the coast, and all of it was beautiful even though the sun didn’t set until after we left.

On our last day in Norway, we took a fjord tour. We drove out to Øystese for the tour, and stopped to see waterfalls on the way.

In Øystese we put on thick, windproof full body suits and goggles and boarded a RIB (rigid inflatable boat) and set out into the fjord with four other tourists. Our local guide alternated between telling us about the surrounding scenery and taking sweeping, high speed turns through the water just for fun. It definitely would have been chilly if the weather was any colder or wetter, but we got lucky. The boat was very fun, had great visibility, and was able to get right up to the cliffs on either side of the fjord.

There were little towns everywhere in the fjord, some reachable by road and some only by boat. Many of them required a car or boat ride and then a short hike to reach the house.

Bergen was the perfect ending to our whirlwind Norwegian adventure, and we understand why people love it. We’ll definitely be back.