Norway In A Nutshell®: From Oslo To Bergen

Day 4, leaving Oslo to Bergen this morning. It will be a very long and tiring day as we are traveling by train through the villages of Gol and Geilo towards the Myrdal Station.

The day starts at 5am, enjoyed our last breakfast at The Thief Hotel and took a taxi to Oslo Central Station which is approximately 10 minutes away from the hotel. We booked luggage transfer so we didn’t have to carry all our bags with us — wise choice. If you are taking Norway In A Nutshell® please book this service, you will find out why if you stick to the end of this entry.

Oslo ⊗ Myrdal ⊗ Flåm ⊗ Gudvangen ⊗ Bergen

The Bergensbanen train departed at 8:05am where our scenic journey over the mountainous rooftop of Norway began. This railway is voted as one of the best in the world.

The train is very well-kept and the seats are comfortable enough for our 2.5 hours ride. Scenery outside the windows are so beautiful, I wish I could show you more — snow filled entire grassland, mountains, houses and the sight of frozen lakes were just surreal, like a dream scape.

At Myrdal, we switched to the Flåm Railway for an incredible 20km ride with 900m descent down to the beautiful town of Flåm.

Everything is pretty much frozen during this cold, winter season. We had a short 5 minutes break to stretch our legs and snap pictures of this majestic waterfall.

Half a day gone and we have finally arrived at Flåm just in time for lunch.

Nestled in the innermost part of the Aurlandsfjord, the tiny village of Flåm is a paradise for nature lovers with its steep mountainsides, roaring waterfalls and deep valleys. Owing to its amazing scenery, Flåm has been a popular tourist destination since the 19th century and now received over 450,000 visitors annually, including passengers from over 130 cruise ships per year.

As a major travel junction, the village is perhaps best known as the end point of the famous Flåm Railway (Flåmsbana), one of the steepest train tracks in the world.

Depending on how long your stay is, there are a number of attractions and activities to enjoy while in Flåm, including visits to the 17th century Flåm Church, the historic Fretheim Hotel dating back to the late 1800s, the Aegir Microbrewery and Restaurant of the Flåmsbana Museum next to the railway station.

There are also many opportunities for hiking in the Flåm Valley and surrounding mountains (maybe not during winter).

Flåm was pretty quite, the scenery is indeed breathtaking. We didn’t visit any of the mentioned sites above, we simply took a slow walk after lunch to enjoy the beautiful weather before boarding our boat.

Flåm is a very beautiful little town indeed. I wished we had more time to explore and perhaps go hiking but let’s leave that for another trip — excuse to return? Oh yes.

From Flåm, we took a boat through the Aurlandsfjord and into the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Nærøyfjord, the narrowest fjord in Europe. This is perhaps the most beautiful part of the Sognefjord with its mighty waterfalls and small farms clinging to the steep mountainsides.

The boat ride is something different as we sail through sheets of ice, mountains covered with snow and frozen waterfalls which felt as if time stood still.

It was cold and windy, we moved in and out of the outdoor deck just to capture a few photos. By the time we arrive at our next destination, it’s pitch dark already and no doubt, we were so tired.

At Gudvangen, a bus took us through the magnificent Nærøy Valley to Voss, where we boarded a train for the last stretch to Bergen.

I don’t know, my feelings for Norway In A Nutshell® is somewhat on the line. I would recommend this journey to anyone who has that amount of spare time — by the time we reach our hotel in Bergen, it’s 8pm so we are talking about 12 hours. And perhaps if you are not traveling during winter, you are most likely gonna see more.

By the time we board the bus at Gudvangen, we were sleepy and bored, we had to self entertain — major LOL moment, Mak taught how to tie shoe lace. Having said that, this epic journey was definitely an eye opener.

For those who fancies taking the train, you can opt for Oslo to Bergen direct which I believe is only around 4 hours.

Selected information extracted from here.

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