City guide · 3 walks · 42 stops

Bergen

Name: Bergen guide
Brand: Nordwalk Guides
SKU: bergen
Price: 69 NOK
Availability: InStock

Bryggen, the fish market and the funicular, timed for a six-hour call at Skolten.

Bergen is a small city pressed between seven mountains and the sea, and almost everything a visitor comes for sits inside one square kilometre of the old harbour. That is what makes it a good walking city on a short call: the historic core is about twenty minutes end to end, and the one climb worth making is done by funicular. It also rains here more than almost anywhere else in Europe, which the routes are planned around rather than apologetic about.

Going ashore

Skolten is the near berth, tucked under the walls of Bergenhus — about ten minutes on foot to the end of Bryggen and fifteen to the fish market. Ships too big for Skolten go to Dokken, south of the centre, which is a flatter but duller twenty-five minutes, or a short shuttle. Both are walkable. Three prices decide most days here and all three are published: the fortress grounds are free and open 07:00 to 23:00, the two halls inside them are kr 120 and kr 170, and the funicular is kr 200 return in summer — kr 20 less if you buy on the app rather than at the window.

The walks

01
The harbour hour
2.4 km · 2 hours · 20 m up
Bergenhus fortress, the back lanes behind Bryggen, the wharf itself and the fish market. Eight stops, no ticket queues, no hills.
02
Harbour, funicular, old town
4.6 km · 4 hours · 60 m up
Everything in A, plus the Fløibanen funicular up Fløyen for the view, the wooden lanes of Skostredet and Marken, and the cathedral. Twelve stops. One funicular ticket, one queue.
03
The full day ashore
8.1 km · 6 hours · 60 m up
Route B, then down the mountain on foot by the Fjellveien path, north into the wooden houses of Sandviken, and back along the water to the museums by the lake. Sixteen stops and real walking.

What's inside

01Three timed walking routes2, 4 and 6 hours — built around cruise arrival times.

0242 numbered stopsWhat to look at, what it costs, how long to stay.

03Printable route mapsEvery stop plotted at its real coordinates, with the joins marked indicative.

04Eat & coffee shortlistFour places on or beside the route, chosen for being open when a ship is in.

Look inside

Bergen guide, page 3: picking a route by how many hours you have ashore — p. 3 — choose your route

Bergen guide, page 4: Route A — distance, climb, timings and a route map — p. 4 — Route A, with map

Bergen guide, page 5: the numbered stops on Route A, with times and what each costs — p. 5 — the stops, in order

Pages 1–6 are in the free sample. 38 pages in the full guide.

What the guide covers

Fisketorget
Bryggen
Øvregaten
Mariakirken
Bergenhus festning
Håkonshallen
Rosenkrantztårnet
Bryggens Museum
Torgallmenningen
Fløibanen
Fløyen
Skostredet
Marken
Bergen domkirke
Fjellveien
Sandviken

3 routes · 42 numbered stops · 38 pages

When to go

Bergen's rain is the season, not the temperature: it falls in every month and the routes here are built so that a wet day changes which one you take rather than whether you go out. Mariakirken keeps 09:00–16:00 from May to September and only two hours a day the rest of the year; the Rosenkrantz Tower stays open to 19:00 on weekdays from 1 July to 15 September, which is the one late opening in the centre; Håkon's Hall closes on a scatter of individual autumn days, and on those the tower is open instead. The funicular runs to midnight all year. KODE's four museums on one kr 200 ticket are what the wet days are for.