I recently returned from a magical winter trip around Scandinavia. With so many different beautiful spots on the itinerary, I didn’t necessarily expect to be so taken with Bergen. But I was! I absolutely loved Bergen and meandering the stunning hillside streets with beautiful wooden houses. We spent 3 days in Bergen before hopping on the Hurtigruten, so I wanted to share everything I learned while we were there.
We were in Bergen just after Christmas so a fair few things were closed; I’ll touch on that in a section below. It was cold and the days were short but we got very lucky with the weather. Bergen is known as a very rainy city and we barely got a drop while we were there. In fact, we got 3 whole sunny days!
Arriving into Bergen
We arrived into Bergen on the train after visiting Flåm on the Flåmsbana train. It seemed to be quite a common route: Flåm and then Bergen before hopping aboard the Hurtigruten. We saw a lot of the same travellers on our trip.
The train station was close to town and we decided to walk. It was an easy stroll to our hotel, Bergen Børs, despite the cobblestone and suitcase combination. Depending on where you are staying, I’d recommend walking from the train station into town, as taxis can be wildly expensive.
There are two other common arrival points into the Bergen: the airport and the Hurtigruten terminal.
The airport is a 30 minute Flybussen bus ride from Bergen. According to Visit Bergen, the tram, your second option, takes around 40 minutes and stops in the centre of Bergen. You can take the Bybanen line 1 to reach Bergen.
The Hurtigruten terminal is about a 15-20 minute walk from the centre of Bergen. Personally, I’d recommend taking a taxi to or from here if you have luggage because it is in a hilly area. Although I am loathe to recommend Uber, I do like booking taxis abroad via their app. It means you are less likely get ripped off because you have a price guideline before getting in the car. Almost all of the taxis we booked via Uber were Norge taxis, so a local taxi booked through the Uber app.
Where to stay in Bergen
As I mentioned, we stayed in Bergen Børs hotel which is right in the centre of everything. It is nestled in between shops, restaurants and the gorgeous Bryggen. Because it is nestled in the centre of everything, though, we did find it a little noisy from the streets below.
I am not sure if this is the same in every area of the hotel (we booked a cheap room) but our floor had mechanical blinds on the outside that closed only when we left the room. They were slow and noisy to close and we could hear the neighbour’s blinds closing when they left early in the mornings. The room itself was also a Tetris job to fit two people and two suitcases.
The breakfast was generous (and served in a gorgeous grand room) but if I had my time again I’d stay somewhere a little quieter.
Bergen is very walkable, so most places in the city centre will work from a touristing point of view.
I would have been happy to stay anywhere in Skansen, around Bryggen and anywhere hugging the Bryggen harbour area, even on the Nordnes side. Keep in mind that Bergen can be known as quite a rainy city and taxis are expensive. A lot of areas are also a bit trickier to go by car (such as Nordnes or Skansen) so you will be outdoors a lot. For me, I want to save my legs for the touristing rather than just for walking to and from a hotel out of the central area.
Christmas in Bergen
We arrived in Bergen on the 26th of December and were in town until the evening of the 29th. During that time, a number of things were closed for the holiday period. Absolutely fair enough, but just something to be mindful of when booking.
That is not to say that we were unable to eat – there were lots of options open. However, if you are coming for a specific restaurant I would triple check it is open.
We spent Christmas eve in Oslo and Christmas day in Flåm and found that most things were closed. Flåm is a lot smaller than Bergen so I am sure you will find something open, but keep it in mind. Also note that the 24th is Norwegian Christmas, so you can expect closures to start on the 22nd or 23rd. I would recommend booking any Christmas activities ahead of time.
There are Christmas activities in Bergen over the Christmas period, including the world’s largest Gingerbread town and a large Christmas market. Visit Bergen also has a helpful guide to all the attractions that are open and closed over this period.
In terms of the weather, it was cold but not snowing when we visited. Sometimes they do get snow in Bergen during the Christmas period, so pack plenty of layers. I would also recommend packing or buying some snow spikes as there are a lot of hills in Bergen. We used our spikes constantly further up the Norwegian coast.
Things to do in Bergen
- Meander around Bryggen during the opening hours. It is very cute and there are little shops in the alleyways.
- Nordnes is a lovely little area to meander around and you get a lovely view back onto Bergen. Personally, I felt a lot of the sightseeing in Bergen was just about meandering around to soak in the gorgeous streets.
- I cannot overstate how much I enjoyed wandering the residential streets behind Bryggen. Lots of tourist information suggests Nordnes as the place to see gorgeous traditional houses, but I disagree. I thought that the streets behind Bryggen and behind the Fløibanen station were the absolute best. So gorgeous and quaint and with views for days.
- Which brings us to the Fløibanen! It is well worth a trip on a sunny day for stunning views. If you are visiting in summer, I’d be inclined to hike up the trail and take the Fløibanen back down. The trail is easy/intermediate by all accounts and it looks gorgeous. The view on the funicular was better coming back down, in my opinion. There is also a restaurant up the top which is the perfect place for a coffee, bottle of wine or lunch.
- If you are visiting Bergen in summer, go to the ocean pool! Nordnes Sjøbad looks absolutely stunning.
- There are plenty of fjord trips available on travel websites that leave from Bergen. You can even do a day trip to Flåm if you don’t have time to stay there.
Where to eat in Bergen
I should note that our dining plans focused on vegetarian and gluten free food. I eat fish but my Mum (who I went with) does not. With that said, I will also include spots that come highly recommended.
- Jest – a centrally located spot with delicious little snacky plates and wine.
- Daily Pot – a soup spot open for lunches and dinners. Delicious wholesome soups that are perfect for a cold day.
- Pingvinen – was highly recommended for Norwegian cuisine in a casual setting. We didn’t rate our vegetarian option but it might have been an off night. Still a fun little spot.
- Trekroneren – if you’re on TikTok, you’ll know the hype around hot dog stands in Norway. We didn’t try this spot but it comes extremely recommended and apparently has gluten free bun options (although I don’t know about the cross contamination issues).
Venues we didn’t go to but wanted to try
- Banzha for Yunnan Chinese food
- Gaptrast for a Michelin star degustation experience
- Cornelius Sjømatrestaurant – a seafood restaurant where you are picked up by boat and taken to an island for dinner
- Lots of people recommend Lola which is modern bistro food and looks super cute
- Lots of people also recommend Moon (which is French cuisine)
- Hoggorm is a trendy pizza place that seems to be well reviewed and is the sister to Michelin starred restaurant Lysverket
Cafe recommendations in Bergen
- Klee Cafe looks absolutely delicious and I really wanted to go but it was closed while I was there.
- Blom Cafe is apparently some of the best coffee in Bergen. They seem to offer some food but it looks to be mostly cakes and lighter dishes. I have a complete article on the best coffee in Bergen here.
- Fjåk is a must in winter – a hot chocolate shop with creative flavours like brunost (caramel cheese) and white chocolate. They have desserty snacks but not a brunch menu at the Skostredt location, but offer brunch foods at the Kode Museum location.
- Nobel Bopel is a cute hipster spot that does good coffee and snacky plate type brunch bits (open sandwiches, porridge, crudites and dips).
- If you aren’t gluten free like me, Våg Bakery had gorgeous baked goods and excellent coffee.
Drink recommendations for Bergen
- Litteraturhuset for cocktails and snacks. A gorgeous sleek spot that was very cosy and had nice cocktails.
- Tempo Tempo – a trendy and fun little spot that apparently also has delicious food.
- Last Monkey is apparently great for cocktails – I desperately wish I had tried to Norwegian Cheesecake cocktail (with brown cheese!!).
- No Stress is another cocktail bar that pops up on every list of recommendations.
- Elven is a newer cocktail bar that I didn’t know about until researching this list.
- If you are a beer drinker, lots of people recommend Apollon Platebar.
- Folk and Røvere was always busy every time we walked past. A cute little spot in a gorgeous street that is ideal for people watching.
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