best port to see Norwegian fjords?

[sej67]

Is Bergen the best? Or some other town?

[luvnorway]

Need more info to provide a helpful answer to your question

- eg:

Are you asking about seeing fjords from aboard a cruiseship? or on a tour within Norway like "Norway in a Nutshell" that includes railway and or bus travel inland as well as a fjord boat trip? or travelling on local fjord ferries? or on small tour boats run by local operators? or on ships' shorexes that include small boat fjord cruising?

If your priority is seeing Norwegian fjords, as opposed to taking a cruise vacation, you could also consider the Hurtigruten = the Norwegian coastal ferry (more luxurious than it sounds) that runs from Bergen year round.

All of these are ways to see Norwegian fjords, so narrowing down your question would make it easier to answer.

 

Also, be aware that not all fjords in Norway are the incredibly scenic type you see in tourist pictures. A fjord is any fairly narrow inlet of the sea between cliffs or hills, formed by the sea flooding into a valley scooped out by a glacier at some point in the past.

As a result, many of the fjords you pass through on the standard cruiseship routes eg. sailing into Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim are fjords in name, but they are bordered by wooded hills dotted with suburban summer homes - beautiful cruising, yes, - but they aren't the high, spectacular, cliff-sided walls and waterfalls that you see sailing into Flaam or Geiranger.

 

A further consideration, if you are thinking of taking a cruiseship to see the Norwegian fjords, is the size of the ship you choose.

The large ships offer this itinerary, but, due mainly to their height, they can't pass under some of the bridges linking coastal islands and, as a result, have to journey from one port to another by going out into the open sea and cruising some distance off the coast. This means that you don't see as much scenery as you would on a smaller ship that can sail up the Norwegian equivalent of the "Inland Passage" when transiting from one port to the next.

Also, due to their large size, they do not go into Naeroyfjord - one of the narrowest and most beautiful fjords

http://www.sognefjord.no/fjord/naeroyfjord.asp

 

This is not to minimize the lovely scenery of Bergen - it's a beautiful city with both a funicular and cable car which offer great views and it's a convenient location from which to travel to see more of Norway.

 

Hope this helps.

[sej67]

Thanks. I'm interested in the Norway in a Nutshell. I googled it and found out that it's $370 to do Oslo-Flam-Gudangen-Voss-Bergen-Oslo. Isn't that awfully expensive?

[luvnorway]

Can't advise re price except to say

a) as you'll hear over and over, "everything in Norway is expensive"

b) you could check some of the costs for the individual segments to see how much of an uplift you're paying for the convenience of the package

eg. train and ferry fares