ViaJolley Nordic – Bergen to Trolltunga

Bergen, Norway

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Trip Overview

Five days from Flesland, Bergen, and back, built around one goal: standing together on Trolltunga. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are included every day.

DAY 1

Welcome to Bergen

Your guides meet you at arrivals at Flesland, Bergen Airport, and from that moment everything is taken care of. A short transfer brings you into the heart of Bergen, Norway's second city and its gateway to the fjords.

Founded almost a thousand years ago and once a powerful trading port of the Hanseatic League, Bergen wraps itself around a busy harbor, with steep green mountainsides rising on every side. Pastel wooden houses climb the hillsides in tidy rows, cobbled lanes wind between them, and fishing boats and sailing ships share the quays with fjord cruisers. It is a small city with a big personality, famous for its music, its seafood and, locals will cheerfully admit, its rain, which only makes the green greener. After check-in at a central hotel, we gather for a welcome dinner, the first of many shared meals.

As the evening light softens, we stroll along the harbor to the Fish Market, where stalls display king crab, shrimp, salmon and the catch of the day, and the air smells of the sea. From there we walk into Bryggen, the old Hanseatic wharf whose leaning red, ochre and white wooden buildings are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Step through the narrow passages behind the façades and you enter another century: crooked timber walls, wooden walkways, hanging signs and courtyards where merchants once stored dried fish bound for all of Europe. Smell the tar and the salt air, listen to the gulls, and look up at the mountains you'll be standing on tomorrow. On a clear summer evening, the light lingers until almost midnight.

Van transfer: 20 to 25 minutes

Meals Lunch and dinner included

DAY 2

Ulriken, Vidden and Fløyen, Bergen from above

After breakfast, with packed lunches from the hotel in our backpacks, we head to Montana at the foot of Ulriken. The climb is short and steep, and the reward arrives fast. From the summit of Ulriken, the highest of Bergen's seven mountains, the whole city spreads out below: the harbor, the islands, and the North Sea glittering on the horizon.

Then comes the crossing everyone remembers. Vidden is a wide, open mountain plateau that feels a world away from the city just below. The trail rolls past small lakes, cairns and endless views, with the coast on one side and rows of mountains on the other. We stop for lunch with all of Bergen at our feet.

The route ends at Fløyen, where you can walk down through the forest or ride the Fløibanen funicular back into town. In total the day covers about 15 km (9 miles), with roughly 800 metres (2,600 feet) of climbing and 6 to 7 hours on the trail. In the evening we gather for dinner and a second night in Bergen.

Hiking: 6 to 7 hours: 15km (9 miles), 800 m of elevation (2600 ft)

Dinner in Bergen

DAY 3

Fjord, glacier and the road to Odda

Today we trade city for wilderness. The Rødne express boat carries us south through a maze of skerries, islands and narrowing fjords, with white farmhouses, tiny harbors and ever-higher mountains sliding past the windows. Step out on deck with a coffee and feel the scenery grow wilder by the minute.

The boat docks in Rosendal, one of the most beautiful villages on the Hardangerfjord. It sits on a green strip of land between the water and a wall of mountains, with waterfalls threading down the cliffs and the Folgefonna glacier hidden behind the peaks. Rosendal is home to Baroniet Rosendal, a 17th-century manor and Norway's only barony, set in a romantic rose garden with the mountains as a backdrop, and the village has a gentle, unhurried feel. From there it is a short and scenic transfer to Sundal.

From Sundal we follow the old ice road, built in the 1800s to haul glacier ice down to the fjord, into the valley. Then the view opens and there it is: Bondhusvatnet, a lake of almost unreal turquoise, with the Bondhusbreen glacier spilling down from the Folgefonna ice cap high above it. We continue on a trail along the lake and up to the moraine plain where the glacier once reached, for an even better view of the ice falling between the mountain walls, before returning to Sundal. The round trip is about 8.8 km (5.5 miles) with 325 metres (1,070 feet) of ascent, roughly 4 hours at an easy pace. Lunch by the lake, in that silence, is a moment few people forget.

For groups who want a bigger challenge, Melderskin is the alternative. It rises about 1,400 metres straight from the fjord at Rosendal, with views across the Hardangerfjord and toward Folgefonna, but it makes for a long, demanding day.

In the late afternoon we drive on to Odda, a dramatic little town at the very end of the long, narrow Sørfjorden, an arm of the Hardangerfjord. Steep mountains rise straight from the water on both sides, waterfalls tumble down the slopes, and on clear days the snowfields of Folgefonna glint high above. Odda grew up around hydropower and industry, and its grand old power stations and factory halls give it a character unlike any other fjord town. Today it is the base camp for Trolltunga, with a lively buzz of hikers in the cafés each evening. Check in, enjoy a good dinner, and get an early night. Tomorrow is the day we came for.

Hiking: 4 hours: 8.8 km (5.5 miles) with 325 m (1,070 feet) of ascent

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Provided

DAY 4

Trolltunga – your summit, your achievement

This is it. Trolltunga, the Troll's Tongue, is a slab of rock that juts straight out from the mountainside, about 700 metres above the Ringedalsvatnet lake. Reaching it is a real achievement, and doing it together is what this whole trip is built around.

We start early, with a hearty breakfast and packed lunches from the hotel. The usual start is the shuttle from Skjeggedal up to Mågelitopp, which saves the steep road climb. From there the hike is about 20 km (12.4 miles) round trip with around 800 metres (2,600 feet) of total ascent, roughly 7 to 10 hours. From the lower trailhead at Skjeggedal it is about 27 km (16.8 miles) with around 1,200 metres (3,900 feet) of ascent and up to 12 hours.

The first stretch climbs steeply onto the high mountain plateau, and then the landscape takes over. The trail, marked with red T's, crosses bare rock polished by ancient glaciers, past small lakes, streams, boulders and, early in the summer, patches of snow. The views grow bigger with every hour, until the deep, blue Ringedalsvatnet appears far below, with mountains and the Folgefonna glacier on the horizon.

Then, finally, the tongue. Walking out onto it, with nothing but air and water beneath you, is a feeling that's hard to describe. We take our time at the top, take the photos, share the moment and eat lunch with one of the most famous views in Norway in front of us.

Our bilingual, WFR-certified guides set a sustainable pace, keep an eye on the weather and make sure everyone is safe and looked after all day.

That evening we celebrate. Showers, clean clothes and a celebration dinner in Odda, where every toast is well earned.

Shuttle: Skjeggedal up to Mågelitopp

Hiking: 7 to 10 hours: 20 km (12.4 miles) round trip

Dinner in Odda

DAY 5

A slow morning and the road home

For those with energy left, a guide leads a short morning hike above Odda for one last view over the fjord. Everyone else can enjoy a slow breakfast, a walk along the fjord and a coffee in town.

Around midday we drive back toward Bergen along the Sørfjorden, through the villages of Hardanger, where fruit orchards run down to the water and roadside stalls sell local apples, cherries and cider in season. We cross the Hardanger Bridge, high above the fjord, and follow the water and mountains west to Bergen and on to Flesland for your flight home, with tired legs, full hearts and a camera full of views.