Visiting Bergen—Mt Floyen, Bryggen and a Cruise

Honeymoon in Norway Day 4

We had quite a big day planned to make the most of our first day visiting Bergen.

Mt Foyen

The first thing on your list was Mt Floyen. Soaring at nearly 400 metres above sea level not only offers a panoramic view of Bergen, but there are also beautiful hikes all around the area.

Our plan was to take the funicular for the city centre near the fish market to the top of Mt Floyen and then hike our way down. The funicular takes about 8 minutes to do the 320-metre climb, and you can enjoy the view throughout. However, when we reached the station, the queue was already way longer than what we were willing to wait for. So we swapped our plan around. The weather was terrific, so we would hike our way up and then take the funicular back down, hoping that the queue at the top is not as horrible. It took us around an hour and a bit and turned out to be quite the exercise but well worth it.

As expected based on the queue we had seen, the place was buzzing with visitors. So much so that we didn’t stay much. Just enough to take a couple of photos and enjoy the view (with some random music from a lady that has no self-awareness and puts full-blast music on her phone for everyone to be annoyed). We made our way back down. Thankfully, there was no queue for the funicular, so we got to take the easy way down.

Bryggen

Our next stop was the famous Bryggen district, which is a series of Hanseatic heritage commercial buildings lining up the eastern side of the Vågen harbour. Bryggen has been on the UNESCO list of World Cultural Heritage sites since 1979.

It is very beautiful, but also very popular with tourists (again). Finding somewhere to sit for lunch was quite the task. With some difficulty we found a table in a restaurant because when noticed a small group getting ready to leave, and stood there until they left to get their table. We sat outside, so we enjoyed the view under the watchful eyes of seagulls looming over our heads for the right moment to steal our food. We had some tacos and a salad, and honestly, it wasn’t really worth it, especially for the price we paid.

My opinion is that sitting for lunch in the Bryggen district is overrated. The area is very pretty, and you can have a nice view over the harbour, but not worth the overpriced food.

Book a full day guided tour including Mt Floyen and Bryggen here

Dinner Cruise

Our last activity of the day was an evening cruise that will sail through the fjord and to a tiny island in Holmen where the only structure there is Cornelius restaurant.

We had booked a 5-course tasting menu based on seasonal local sea produce and (as the server said) the mood of the chef. We ate during sunset, which made it even more romantic, although being summer, it never went completely dark.