have a trip booked to spend about 4 days there at the end of August. anyone been before and have recommendations?

No recs but so jealous, its on my list of places I want to go. I've had clients stay there once, but only a pre-night before boarding a cruise.

They have Hallmark movies based on Bergen lol.

the city was never on my radar until i saw an episode of Conan O'Brien Must Go

I had to Google, Bergen. Im interested. That part of the world is beautiful

Not sure how active you want to be, but there are some great guided hikes (Floyen/Ulriken), and fjord kayaking is incredible. Hardangerfjord is a good day trip option, they make a lot of cider so these are common tours. The "Norway in a nutshell" offers a great full day experience (includes the train, bus, fjord cruise and Flam Railway)

August can be wet so I would ensure any of the activities you book have flexible weather policies or cancellation terms.

ETA: Cornelius Sjomatrestaurant is a MUST for dinner, reachable by boat. Pingvinen is a staple for more casual/traditional Bergen cuisine.

The fjord views while taking the train from Oslo to Bergen are stunning. Well really all of the views are. I did this back as a teenager while Eurailing.

Aggie87 said:

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The fjord views while taking the train from Oslo to Bergen are stunning. Well really all of the views are. I did this back as a teenager while Eurailing.

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Will be doing this in April as an old man. lol

we will definitely be doing some sort of fjord tour. also some hiking but probably local to the city, not sure we will make any trips away from bergen for that but maybe if we have good weather luck we will. we'll have hiking gear with us just in case.

Definitely check out Bryggen. Lots of local artists are set up there and a great place to buy souvenirs or what not.

Hardangerfjord is amazing. But it's more than a day trip and need to base closer by for a night. Do Voringfossen while in that area. Get to Trolltunga if you're fit. Lot of driving but it's worth it. If in Norway I wouldn't just hang out the whole time in Bergen.

yeah, we'd like to do more but we only have a few day window this time. i don't want to use up too much time traveling around.

Agree with SJEAg, don't spend too much time in Bergen as you are close to fjord country. We just did Norway for 4 days and then Denmark for another 4. Stayed in Bergen 1 day but then rented a car and drove the Hardangerfjord chasing waterfalls which was absoultely amazing - Steinsdalsfossen, Latefossen, Langfossen, Voringsfossen, and Tvidefossen. Stayed in Vossvengen for two nights, did some hiking and ziplining. Happy to provide more info. Make sure to eat the fish soup, fish pie, smoked salmon, and reindeer sausage.

i'll definitely be eating all those foods!

Reading Jo Nesbo novels makes me think Bergen is nothing but snobby *****s.

to recap - the trip was incredible. highly recommend a visit, even if you only stay around bergen like we did. prices were a little eye watering, but it is norway after all.

we had great weather most of the week with the exception of about one day of drizzle and light rain. we had a couple days of great sunshine so we had plenty of exceptional views on our hikes.

we hiked up skredderdalen one morning up to floyen. a lot more challenging than we'd read about but once you get up top it's a easy walk over to floyen. we also went up floyen cable car and hiked back down a different day.

we did a half day private pontoon tour of the fjords. absolutely recommend that over a larger crowded boat tour, as we went all through the channels you miss on the big tours. it was pricey, but worth it.

restaurants we visited:

Pingvinen - excellent, had the whale steak, and it was delicious (no idea how near identical it would be to beef!)
Pinocchio Vinbar - excellent, tapas style dishes. great wines.
Blom - coffee shop, fantastic coffee and buns. visited it 3 days in a row we liked it so much.
Vaag Bakeri - coffee shop, pretty good, but we liked Blom more
Fjak - coffee and chocolate shop - excellent
Bryggeloftet - not bad, but far from the best meal we had even though it is often recommended. i found it too touristy.
To Kokker - decent food, traditional place. not our favorite meal though.
Trekroneren - famous hot dog stand. i thought the reindeer was just alright, nothing mind blowing
Daily pot - soups and bowls - outstanding soups. we visited twice.
Bien Litteraturhuset - cafe and book store. great lunch place.
Frescohallen - really cool place inside the old stock market building. good food.