[Closed] Anyone been to Bergen, Norway?

Nice place - the old timber waterfront area Bryggen is Bergen's main attraction and there's a cool funicular to the mountains above the city. Fjord cruises are mostly to Hardanger- and Sognefjord.

I've been a couple of times, it's great. My cousin who is a composer used to stay there. There is a vibrant contemporary music scene, some very good art galleries and museums too. If you have time try and get a car and get over to Voss, there is a great folk museum out there and some good walking routes.

It's a lovely city.

In the summer, on a good day, a trip on the Funicular railway is beautiful. Also, make sure you get some of the local strawberries and cherries, delicious.

However, everything is very expensive. Especially alcohol! Last time I had lunch there, on expenses, it was about £10 for a pint in restaurant in the old town.

You can get the train to Voss in about 90 minutes from Bergen station.

Flam railway is another highlight of the Bergen region.

Many years ago as a kid, so can't comment on what it's like now. However, it is quite a long way north and at this time of year there won't be much daylight. If that bothers you, save it for summer.

[EDIT] My geographical awareness may have mistaken Bergen for Trondheim 🙂 Still, it will be quite dark at this time of year, even though it isn't quite as far north as I thought

Easter! It will be nice and quite for you as everyone will be in Voss sking. 😀
[url= http://www.floibanen.com/ ]Fløibanen[/url] is well worth a visit.
The morning fish market at Strandkaien(quayside) is good were they sell live fish.
All around the Strandkaien there is some good pubs and restaurantS,the Egon has nice food but be prepared to have a big wallet as it's very expensive.
Most people use cards for payment,taxi beer and food.
It's a lovely city and very friendly,weather wise it rains a lot,they have on average 260 days of rain a year.
They have so much rain they even sell it there! 😀
But if the sun comes out it's truly amazing place.
Enjoy!

Is is a beautiful city but it is eyewateringly expensive. So be prepared...

Yep it rains a lot, so much so that they have vending machines where you can buy umbrellas.

The Theta Museum is unusual and well worth a look.

It is a one-room museum in a room that was used by the Norwegian resistance group known as the Theta group to send radio messages to England under the German occupation during World War II. The room was opened to the public in 1982, and is the smallest museum in Norway.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theta_Museum

Train journeys from there are brilliant for scenery as is the ferry down the coast towards Stavanger.

Have a google for "Norway in a Nutshell", combined trains/ferries etc for easy unguided tours. Lovely place, Bergen. Has anybody mentioned it's expensive?

Beautiful place. Go..

I loved it, go! Consider a trip to Flåm on the Bergen railway & the Flåmsbana (Norway in a Nutshell offers a package). It's doable in a single day, though that would be a very long day so I would personally stay overnight.

Also Trolltunga looks like a fantastic hike, and is doable as a daytrip from Bergen, though in Easter I suspect it would be under snowfall and off-limits.

Thanks for the replies - so I need to expect a beautiful place, which also comes with lots of rain and is very expensive. Waterproofs and hip flask it is then.

I know people have mentioned drinks being expensive but what are prices like in general - eating out for lunch / dinner etc and trips. Is everything very expensive or is it OK providing I'm not planning on drinking beer solid for 3 days?

Everything is expensive, not just beer.

I had a take-out pizza (pretty small, fed one) and standard coke - just shy of £30.

Rubbish felt advent calendars (the ones with little pockets to put sweets in) - £50

Was there earlier in the year. Consider flying into Oslo and out if Bergen as the train between the two is awesome . Gives you the option also of getting off half way between and finishing trip on the fjord .

Good bike shop, friend works there:
http://www.sykkelbutikken.no/

My parents loved Bergen when they stopped there a few years ago

Pizza and coke £30 - erm, need to think about this a bit more -maybe restaurant on a half-board basis may be a better idea

That might be a good idea - and big pockets to put bread rolls in 😉

We used to do the ferry up from Newcastle every year - it used to be B&B basis with a buffet breakfast so we just stocked up in the morning... 🙂

In Oslo 2 pieces of chocolate cake 1 cofee and 1 Coke £27 😳

Norway qualifies for duty free so can purchase some cheap beer. 😀
It is expensive but depends on were you eat,they have Mc donalds and burger king and the prices are probably 30 % more.
A glass of beer can vary anything between £6 and £10.
There is some football bars in Bergen that have cheaper beer.

Taxis are expensive so it best to take the bus from the Airport.
Some of the hotel rooms have cookers so you can go to local supermarkets and make your own food.
Supermarket is Rema 1000.

Wi-Fi in the airport and the hotels is free so that is a positive,they also have brollies and some have bikes you can borrow.

I was there last week. It's nice, expensive but shouldn't ruin you unless you're an alcoholic.

Hotel in old town was £300 fr 2 nights. Meal out in old town (nothing fancy but good) was £28 for stater, main and a coke. Beer is pricey.

Flam
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Have a google for "Norway in a Nutshell", combined trains/ferries etc for easy unguided tours. Lovely place, Bergen. Has anybody mentioned it's expensive?

We did a 'Norway in a Nutshell' tour two summers ago and I can't recommend them highly enough! We stayed in Bergen for, I think, three nights at [url= http://www.augustin.no/en/ ]Hotel Augustin[/url]; we paid a much better price through the nutshell tour though!

Food doesn't have to be so expensive; from the rough guide we found a superb wee bar/restaurant called [url= http://www.pingvinen.no/ ]Pingvinen[/url] and ended up eating there every night - it was comparable to UK prices.

A lovely place, Bergen... want to go back there again!

If you wanted further afield, you could get the train all the way to Oslo!
5-7 hours, but it's apparently the highest altitude by a mainline train achieved in continental Europe! Certainly spectacular I'll give it that, My missus complained about how many photos I took thru the window, and the same train hooks up with the Flam railway.

Mr's and I had 1st class (komfort - inc. complimentary drinks larger seats) day train and 2nd class (still pretty classy) overnight sleeper back. as a 24-36 hour trip between the two cities. Was a bargain. The entire return train journey was less than London-Scotland standard single fare!! Ignoring a sleeper cabin a seated fare can start from as little as £30ish each way
[url= http://www.nsb.no/BergenRailway/?gclid=CPWErLigprsCFabLtAodthYA4Q ]
Norwegian Railways website[/url]

Car hire can be expensive and the country is mostly ruled by a national speed limit of 80km/h give or take some Motorways nearer Oslo.

2 Erdinger wheat beers cost us over £30 in Bergen last year but I new that (My mum is Norwegian expat of 45 years I go regularly to Oslo to visit her family)

Try not to eat english, if you don't mind living off 'northern european style hard/crisp breads and lots of cheese and cured meats, fish, potato (basically anything you could by in IKEA food dept 😆 in can be fairly OK) The country basically has something like a 100% luxury tax on things like fizzy pop, booze, sweets etc, so avoid them and stick to staple things.

I spent one of my nights in the Bergen Youth Hostel, which has a cracking view from the backyard: [url= http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3695/9209118733_e9f914606c_z.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3695/9209118733_e9f914606c_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/allyharp/9209118733/ ]IMGP2100[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/allyharp/ ]allyharp[/url], on Flickr

Plenty of other photos in that set there from Oslo, Flam & Bergen 😉

(I doubt you do, but) if you really want to avoid the high prices you could stay in a hostel and cook your own dinner in the kitchen!

Beautiful place. Walk up to the venicular thing. Good hiking round there and easy ride down. Beer is not that bad. Similar to London prices but the people and scenary are much nicer.