Norway: The fjords from Oslo to Bergen
When to go
June to mid-September. The high roads on this route, Sognefjellet, Trollstigen and the road from the mountains down to Geiranger, close for the winter and open again in late spring, depending on the snow; in early June walls of snow still stand beside them. July is the warmest month and the busiest, with cruise ships in Geiranger almost every day. The west coast is wet in every season, and Bergen most of all, so pack for rain.
The stops
Interactive map of the route on our site ›
- Oslo2 nights
The Opera House, opened in 2008, slopes into the fjord so that you can walk up its marble roof. On 26 November 1942 the ship Donau sailed from Oslo harbour with hundreds of Norway’s Jews, bound for Auschwitz; the story is told at the Holocaust Center in Villa Grande, the house where Vidkun Quisling lived during the war.
- Eidsvollstop on the way
In this manor house the constituent assembly wrote the constitution of Norway, signed on 17 May 1814, the day the country still celebrates as its national day. The rooms where the delegates met are kept as they were.
- Hamarone night
A town on Lake Mjøsa, where the ruins of the medieval cathedral stand under a great glass roof at Domkirkeodden. The speed-skating hall built for the 1994 Olympics, the Vikingskipet, is shaped like an upturned Viking ship.
- Lillehammerone night
The town of the 1994 Winter Olympics, on Lake Mjøsa, the largest lake in Norway. Maihaugen, the open-air museum founded by the dentist Anders Sandvig, gathers old farmhouses from the valleys, among them the Garmo stave church, brought here from Lom.
- Ringebustop on the way
One of the largest stave churches in Norway, built in the early thirteenth century and enlarged in the 1630s, when it was given its red tower. It stands above the Gudbrandsdalen valley and is still used by the parish.
- Ottaone night
A small town where the Otta river meets the Lågen, at the gate of Rondane, which in 1962 became the first national park in Norway. The road west along the Otta valley leads to Lom.
- Lomone night
A village at the gate of the Jotunheimen mountains, where Galdhøpiggen, the highest peak in Norway at 2,469 metres, rises. The stave church in the middle of the village is built of timber felled around 1158 and is still the parish church.
- Sognefjelletstop on the way
The road over Sognefjellet climbs to 1,434 metres, the highest mountain pass road in Northern Europe, between glaciers and the peaks of Jotunheimen. Sognefjellshytta, the lodge near the top, is a good place to turn back to Lom.
- Dalsnibbastop on the way
A toll road winds off the road to Geiranger up to a viewing platform at about 1,500 metres, with the Geirangerfjord far below. Even in July there can be snow at the top.
- Geiranger2 nights
A village of a few hundred people at the head of the Geirangerfjord, which in 2005 became a World Heritage site together with the Nærøyfjord. In summer cruise ships anchor in the fjord and the village fills by day; in the evening it is quiet again.
- Seven Sistersstop on the way
The sightseeing boat from the Geiranger quay passes the Seven Sisters, seven streams falling side by side down the cliff, and opposite them the single fall called the Suitor. On ledges high above the water stand the abandoned farms of Skageflå and Knivsflå, whose families climbed to them by ladders.
- Eagle Roadstop on the way
The road north out of Geiranger climbs in eleven hairpins, opened in 1955; from the Ørnesvingen bend the whole fjord opens below. At the far end the ferry from Eidsdal to Linge carries you on toward Trollstigen.
- Trollstigenstop on the way
The Troll’s Ladder, opened in 1936, drops from the mountain to the Isterdalen valley in eleven hairpin bends beside the Stigfossen waterfall. Look down from the platforms at the top before you drive it.
- Andalsnesone night
A town at the mouth of the Romsdalen valley, under Trollveggen, the Troll Wall, the tallest vertical rock face in Europe. A steep path climbs to Rampestreken, a steel platform that juts out over the town and the fjord.
- Alesundone night
On 23 January 1904 a fire burned almost the whole town and left some ten thousand people homeless; within a few years it was rebuilt in stone in the Art Nouveau style, with help sent by the German Kaiser Wilhelm II. The 418 steps up Mount Aksla give the view over the town and the islands.
- Hornindalsvatnetstop on the way
The road to Loen runs along Hornindalsvatnet, at 514 metres the deepest lake in Europe; its bottom lies far below the level of the sea. The village of Grodås at its eastern end is a good place to stop.
- Loenone night
A village at the head of the Nordfjord, at the mouth of the Lodalen valley. The Loen Skylift, opened in 2017, rises from the fjord to the top of Mount Hoven at about a thousand metres; up the valley, on the lake Lovatnet, rockfalls in 1905 and 1936 raised waves that swept away farms and killed dozens.
- Briksdal Glacierstop on the way
An arm of Jostedalsbreen, the largest glacier on the European mainland, ending above a small green lake. It has retreated a long way in the last decades; the walk up from the car park is about three kilometres each way.
- Fjaerlandone night
A village on an arm of the Sognefjord under the Jostedalsbreen glacier, which had no road to the outside world until 1986. Its old shops and barns are filled with second-hand books, as the Norwegian Book Town, and the Norwegian Glacier Museum stands at the head of the valley.
- Laerdal Tunnelstop on the way
At 24.5 kilometres the longest road tunnel in the world, opened in 2000 on the road from Lærdal to Aurland. Three caves along it are lit in blue and yellow, to break the drive and keep drivers awake.
- Flam2 nights
A village at the head of the Aurlandsfjord, at the bottom of the Flåm Railway, which opened in 1940 and climbs some 860 metres in twenty kilometres to Myrdal, one of the steepest standard-gauge railways in the world.
- Stegasteinstop on the way
A platform of wood and steel that sticks out about thirty metres over the cliff, some 650 metres above the Aurlandsfjord, on the mountain road from Aurland to Lærdal. The road beyond it is closed in winter.
- Naeroyfjordstop on the way
The boat from Flåm sails up the Aurlandsfjord and into the Nærøyfjord, at its narrowest only about 250 metres wide between walls of rock, a World Heritage site since 2005. Leave the car at Flåm.
- Stalheimstop on the way
A hotel on the edge of a cliff with one of the classic views of western Norway, down the Nærøydalen valley. Beside it the old road, Stalheimskleiva, drops in thirteen hairpins between two waterfalls, among the steepest roads in Northern Europe.
- Tvindefossenstop on the way
A broad waterfall that spreads down terraces of rock right beside the road to Voss, with a car park at its foot.
- Vossone night
A town on a lake between the fjords, known in Norway for skiing and for its extreme sports week each summer. The stone church in the centre, Vangskyrkja, was consecrated in 1277 and is still in use.
- Steinsdalsfossenstop on the way
A waterfall near Norheimsund on the Hardangerfjord, with a path that leads right behind the falling water and out the other side without getting wet.
- Bergenone night
For centuries Bergen was a trading post of the Hanseatic League, and its wooden merchant houses on the harbour, Bryggen, have been a World Heritage site since 1979. The Fløibanen funicular climbs from the centre to Mount Fløyen for the view over the city between its seven mountains.
What it costs
Eighty dollars a night is the room. The car, the fuel, the tolls and the ferries are yours, and in Norway all four add up: fuel is among the dearest in Europe, toll points stand on many main roads and at the entrances to Oslo and Bergen, and the route crosses three car ferries, from Sykkylven to Magerholm, from Eidsdal to Linge and from Fodnes to Mannheller. The road up to the Dalsnibba viewpoint is a private toll road, and parking in Oslo and Bergen is dear.
What to know
Three things. One: tolls. There are no booths. Cameras read the plate at every toll point and the bill goes through AutoPASS to the rental company, which passes it on to you after the trip, often with a fee; ask at the counter how they charge. Two: the ferries are part of the road. You drive to the quay and wait in the lanes; on board you pay by card, or the plate is read at the ramp and the fare billed like a toll. On a busy summer day you may wait for the next sailing. Three: speed. The limit is 80 on most roads and lower through villages, and many are watched by section control, which times you between two cameras; the fines are among the highest in Europe and rise steeply with every kilometre over, and a large excess costs you your licence. Dipped headlights are compulsory day and night.
Roads, tolls and rules
Norway drives on the right. The roads of the fjord country are narrow and winding, through long tunnels and over passes, and in summer you share them with camper vans and coaches; an hour on the map is often an hour and a half. Each day here is kept under about 160 kilometres with two or three stops, so there is time for the ferries, the viewpoints and the walks.
Travel Norway: The fjords from Oslo to Bergen
The route on our site, with a room up to $80 every night.