Greg & Maisie’s Great Adventure: Bergen and the Fjord (3 Cards, 3 Continents)

12
For the 3 Cards, 3 Continents Challenge, Maisie (the Culinary Concierge) and I traveled around the world in business class.  Our trip themes were luxury travel, great food from around the world, and exploring waterways.  In this series of posts titled "Greg & Maisie's Great Adventure," I detail highlights from our travel, food, and water experiences.  Our route in a nutshell: San Francisco to Tokyo to Vietnam; Vietnam to Doha, Qatar; Doha to Sofia, Bulgaria; Sofia to Istanbul; Istanbul to Stockholm; Stockholm to Bergen; Bergen to Toronto (via Newark); Toronto to Detroit (home!)
What is 3 Cards, 3 Continents? Frequent Miler loves creating fun and competitive team challenges. This year Greg, Nick, and Stephen are competing to book the most amazing 3-continent dream-trip using 3 credit card welcome bonuses.
a group of people standing on a boat on a body of water
I love this shot because it puts in perspective people viewing the fjord from the lower level of the boat plus there’s another boat in the distance adding interest to the scene.

Bergen: Love at first site

After our visit to Stockholm, Maisie and I took a very short SAS flight to Bergen, Norway.  The pilot seemed confident that he had landed us in Bergen, but a hill beside the airport seemed unsure:

a large building with many trailers in front of it

Bergen has a very easy to use light rail system that takes about 40 minutes to get to the center of town from the airport.

a man smiling for a picture

I didn’t know much about Bergen before this trip.  All I knew was that it was a decent launching pad for visiting the fjords of Norway.  But, guess what?  We arrived in town and discovered that Bergen is absolutely gorgeous.  Bergen is known to be the rainiest city in Norway, but we lucked out with glorious weather.

a large lawn with flowers and a gazebo in the foreground
Bergen looking gorgeous on a rare sunny day

Funicular to Fløyen

Immediately after checking into our hotel, we walked to the Fløibanen Funicular which was only a few blocks away.  We rode it to the top and were blown away by the beautiful views only minutes from town!

a train tracks going through a window

people standing on a stairway overlooking a city and water

a city next to water

In addition to great views, the mountain has walking trails.  And trolls.  After troll hunting, Maisie rode the funicular back to town, and I hiked down.  On future visits (and yes, I already expect to come back!), I plan to walk up from town and maybe ride the funicular down if I’m tired.

Here’s a short video of the funicular and the view from the top:

And here’s a video of our troll hunting:

Hotel No13

I converted 12,000 Citi ThankYou points into 24,000 Choice Privileges points in order to book Nordic Choice Hotel No13 for two nights.  The hotel was quirky, modern, and comfortable; and perfectly located in the center of town.  Plus, the staff we interacted with were very friendly and helpful.

a building with windows and a balcony

a bedroom with purple pillows and a bed

The hotel also offered a terrific breakfast buffet, which was included with the room.

a kitchen with black cabinets and black counter tops

My only complaint about Hotel No13 is that my room had very little space to unpack, and it didn’t have a comfortable chair to relax in.  It worked out great for this trip, but if I was with my wife I think we’d be falling over each other’s stuff.

Lysverket Restaurant

After exploring Bergen, we made our way to dinner.  Lysverket is one of two Michelin starred restaurants in town.  This was our biggest dinner splurge.  We did the full 10 course menu, plus drinks.  The total came to $442.  Was it worth it?  It certainly was a fantastic dinner!  Almost every course was startlingly good.  There was one exception where Maisie and I agreed that the dish was overwhelmed by its sauce.  There was also another course that I thought was just OK, but Maisie thought it was great.  That just shows how impossible it is for a restaurant to please everyone.  The dessert was incredible.  I think Maisie said that it was the best she’d ever had.  Unfortunately I couldn’t find a good photo of it.

a bowl of food on a table

a plate of food on a table

a white plate with food in it

a plate of food on a table

a white bowl with food in it

a plate of food on a table

a plate of food on a wood table

Here’s a video about our dinner:

Nærøyfjord Norway

On our second day in Bergen, we joined a small group tour to Nærøyfjord (which means narrow fjord), which is widely considered to be one of the most beautiful fjords in Norway.  The tour guide drove us to one end of the fjord and picked us up at the other end.  In between, a battery powered cruise boat (which is both quiet and environmentally friendly) took us the length of fjord — about a 2 hour ride.  Every moment was stunning.  I (and most others) spent the entire time muttering brilliant observations such as “beautiful!” or “ooh!” or the really inspired “wow!”  I’ve long wanted to visit the Norwegian fjords and so I was thrilled when the pieces came together to make this stop work out!  While I had already had a fantastic time on this trip and we’d done amazing things, the fjord cruise was my favorite adventure of all.

OK, enough chit chat.  I’ll let the pictures do the talking…

a man in a hat and coat on a boat
That’s me sporting a new hat and my go-everywhere microfiber towel which I wore as a scarf.
a group of houses on a lake
I loved seeing these little villages along the fjord!
a body of water with houses and mountains in the background
This one was even more scenic!
a group of people looking at a waterfall and a group of goats
Waterfalls were everywhere, but the goats on the hillside were a special treat to see.  They were very excited to see our boat approach.
a group of people in kayaks on a lake
We had considered kayaking the fjord but with our limited time the logistics proved too difficult.
a boat on a lake surrounded by mountains
“beautiful…”
a body of water with mountains in the background
“Ooh…”
a boat on a body of water with mountains in the background
“Wow…”
a man standing on a bridge overlooking a body of water
After the fjord cruise we drove up to the Stegastein viewpoint which dramatically overlooks Nærøyfjord.
a bridge over a river
Stegastein.  Here you can really see how majestic the fjord is!
a man holding a water bottle
We discovered the source of the fjord’s water!

Here’s a short video showing our fjord adventure:

Restaurant 1877

That evening, after the fjord trip, we ate a 5 course meal at the highly regarded Restaurant 1877.  We had an excellent meal, and its presentation was very good, but our meal at Lysverket the evening before was even better.

a hand holding a bowl of food next to a plate of food

a piece of food in a bowl of liquid

a round meat ball in a stone bowl

a piece of food on a plate

a bowl of food on a table

Videos

Here are a couple more videos about our time in Bergen and the fjord that we shared on Instagram.  Click through below to watch each one:

 

Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

12 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
CMX

people would say how expensive Norway is, but that was a great deal for a Michelin 2 star restaurant compared to the US (after tax and tips). I don’t think you can find anything at that price in the US.

Peter

Fjords pics, can’t take a bad one. So nice.
So you found BER-EWR availability in biz for two (applause) but is that only easier with flight connecting on to Toronto?
About the hat, gloves, coat, etc. on a guy from Michigan…just how cold is it there in late September?

Peter

BGO-EWR (correction)

Peter

Thanks, good to know.

Vietnam and Bergen on the same trip. I was thinking of a mileage run to Singapore via Finland in the winter so I bookmarked your recent packing article.

Sam

This looks great. Might have to add this to the neverending list!

Matt

Sat across the aisle from you on the Bergen Newark leg and loved your pictures. You did the region justice and we enjoyed your itinerary.

We had a blast e mountain biking in Voss and staying in a birdbox up in the fjords.

Keep it up.

Cavedweller

Very Good photos.Thank You

SamBam

Norway is an amazing country. Beautiful. Bergen is lovely.