Norway
Western Norway
August 2026
Norway is for nature lovers. Rain every day except for one (felt like we were back home for the winter). It’s very green for a reason, even cultivating rooftop forests. Lots of driving right along the coast with miles long tunnels mixed in, or over mountain passes. Towering mountains with waterfalls galore. Lots of Sherpa steps on our hikes.
Easy to drive from one spot to the next. Some roads are narrow, lots of camper vans and the occasional sheep or goat on the road.
6 days (perfect amount of time)
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Day 4: Drive Bergen to Sogndal: Tvindefossen Waterfall, Flam (overly touristy), Stegastein Viewpoint (not for the faint driver). About 6-7 hours of driving.
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Day 5: Sogndal to Stryn. About 2 - 2.5 hours of driving.
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Day 6: Briksdalsbreen Glacier, Oldedalen Valley, Lovatnet Lake. 2 hours of driving.
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Day 7: Geirangerfjord
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Day 8: Stryn to Balestrand
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Day 9: Balestrand to Bergen
Hotel:
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Sogndal:
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Stryn (3 nights): Airbnb
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Balestrand:
Favorite restaurant or bar: Trattoria Italo (aka Olive Trattoria)
Day 4: Bergen to Sogndal: Tvindefossen Waterfall, Flam, Stegastein Viewpoint
Rented a car (from Enterprise at the airport) for 6 days to allow more flexibility in exploring the Norwegian west coast. Car transponder allows us to automatically and seamlessly pay any tolls, get on a car ferry, etc.
Today’s drive Bergen to Sogndal was about 6-7 hours with a few stops. Drive was on a 2-lane road. Very scenic along rivers, lakes, valleys in between big green mountains, small towns with wood houses dotting the mountain sides, rivers, lakes or valleys. Lots of green, lots of water. Hard to capture the grandeur in photos.
Waterfalls everywhere
We were very much in and out of long tunnels all day.
First stop: Tvindefossen. Right off the roadway. Free small parking lot, gift shop and a paid toilet. Lots of on off raining today, but this waterfall made it’s own rain.
Second stop: Flam. Tiny tourist village nestled in the mountains at an entry point to Nærøyfjord. It is also the home of the Flåmsbana (Flåm Railway) - One of the steepest standard-gauge railway lines in the world. Heard there is also good hiking nearby in Auland.
One rain shower burst left us with an incredibly bright vivid rainbow.
Third stop: Stegastein Viewpoint
Last bit of the road getting up to the viewpoint was hairy. Super narrow road, 2 lanes, hairpin turns and big camper vans. Once you are at the top and get a parking spot, be sure to look around the corner from the initial 10 spots, you walk out onto a man made platform.
Once you walk out there are two main views. Town below…
… and fjord to the right.
Continued our drive to our bed and breakfast. First part felt like we were driving on the moon. With some snow patches.
Stopped to checkout a waterfall
Past sheep hanging out on the road
Went on our first car ferry. Stayed in line for -15 minutes. 2 ferries going back and forth. Had a cafe, toliets and seating area above the car deck.
Sogndal cute town located on sognalfjord surrounded by mountains.
Went a little further in town to Vågal for dinner as it was 7:45pm and we were starving. Fun interior. We got Fish and Chips to share. Good was good and a perfect sharing portion.
Hotel: Sogndal Bed & Breakfast. This B&B is basically a hostel. Clean and extremely basic. For one night we will survive but wouldn’t be happy here for more than that. We went to budget. Breakfast was good and nice view of lake.
Day 5: Drive Sogadal to Stryn
Plan to start out the day with a 5.3 out and back, moderate rated hike up 2,000 ft - Krossen Molden, but Larry's cough was worse so we ended up working with an online doctor through Medical Services for Travelers in Norway | Doctorsa. For 40 Euros we got an online appointment within 10 minutes, resulting in two prescriptions to take to the pharmacy. Super easy and helpful. We did learn at the Apotek, since we are American, we really needed the prescription to be from a Norwegian doctor, and the online doctor Larry talked to was in Italy. If our nationality was part of the EU it wouldn’t have mattered that the doctor was Italian. Technically she said we should have gone to the emergency room, which would have taken hours to see a doctor given it was a Saturday, and they are closed on Sundays. Thankfully the pharmacist was very helpful. She put into her system that Larry was from Italy. We very fortunately and quickly walked out with his prescriptions for $30, which ended up giving Larry the best night’s sleep he had since before leaving on our trip.
We started our drive to Stryn that was about 2-2.5 hours. Again Big gorgeous mountains, rivers, ribbon waterfalls, and valleys sprinkled with houses here and there. More sheep, goats and tunnels as well.
Looked to be a glacier patch high in the mountain on the left
More waterfalls everywhere
Slowed down due to large group of goats crossing the road
Interesting to see the houses with so much growing on them. Spotting these types of houses / cabins became our new obsession.
Dinner in town at Isehaug Kafeteria recommend by our host. Fairly crowded and looking like a true cafeteria, but table service made it feel more like a restaurant. Good greek salad with chicken and baked cod. Followed by Norwegian ice cream (very good).
Hotel: Airbnb. Clean. Matched the pictures on the Airbnb site. Nothing special but good value. Tight quarters in the kitchen and bathroom. Nice to be somewhere for 3 nights. Nice view from our patio.
Day 6: Briksdalsbre Glacier
Another drizzly gray day in Norway. Our day was brightened with a good cappuccino at charming Stryn Kaffebar.
Drove about 50 minutes to the parking lot at Briksdalsbre Mountain Lodge. Low hanging clouds and crystal clear water. On and off rain. The color of the lake water was gorgeous.
Lots of pretty churches. This one was built in 1759 and can sit up to 500 people…
… and placid water with surrounding mountains
Love the cabins with the natural turf overtaking the roofs, which we saw at many places.
The walk up to the glacier took about 1 hour along mostly switch back paved and gravel paths.
Along the way powerful waterfalls.
The main attraction did not disappoint
The glacier water was so beautiful
We were supposed to go up the Loen sky lift on the way back to Stryn. Visibility was poor so had to skip it and glad we didn’t pre-buy tickets
We went back to dinner at the same restaurant we got a coffee at this morning (Stryn Kaffebar. ) At 4pm there were very few open tables. Lots of people having sweets and drinks. Food was great. Norwegian fish soup and salmon quinoa veggie Buddha bowl. The salmon add on for $8 was our best Norway bargain so far.
Day 7: Geirangerfjord
50 minute drive to the ferry in Hellesyit. Not a lot of tunnels today driving through the forestry mountains....
....And then fertile valley and farmland (sheep, cows)
We were lucky and parked right at the ferry walk-on along a fence for free.
We were two of three people walking on. Most of the other passengers were from a French cruise ship. We caught the 10am ferry there and the 3:30pm ferry back which for us was perfect timing as the town of Geiranger is tiny with very few shops and restaurants.
About 40 minutes into the 1 hour ferry ride, after seeing tons of ribbon waterfalls, we came to - Seven sister falls
Upon arriving in Geiranger we initially did the Waterfall Walk. The staircase walkway along the falls is a short ten minute walk through town.
Up the stairs along another powerful waterfall.
Nice views back into the fjord. Amazing that these huge cruise ships operate and turn around in this relatively narrow waterway.
Upon reaching the top of the Waterfall walk, we decided to continue on and do the Storseterfossen waterfall hike. Top of waterfall in picture below that we hiked up to.
If you are physically fit and active, the hike is very doable (5.5 miles round trip with a 1,800 ft elevation gain). Took us about 4 hours from the center of town. Some flatish gravel sections but mostly a gazillion Sherpa steps.
The hike passed a restaurant about 40 minutes in. Another hour and we made it to the top of the water fall
with some beautiful views along the way.
With some wildflowers.
Coolest part of the hike is you could take a path at the right on the top which goes behind the waterfall.
On the way down we followed most of a cruise ship tour, so it was crazy crowded the first 30 minutes, with no way to pass on the narrow trail. Thankfully the large group peeled off at the restaurant.
Back in town we saw multiple types of plants growing on the wild rooftop gardens.
Ferry back left on time but a different time than we originally thought based on the tickets we bought a month ago, so check the current ferry schedule. Interesting the layout of the two ferry boats were very different. Got a peek at blue sky on the return.
Dinner at our new favorite restaurant - Stryn Kaffebar.
Day 8: Styrn to Balestrand
First time since we arrived in Norway with blue skies with no rain
Today’s driving time was about 4 hours Route: Stryn → k Ko(Rv60) → Moskog (E39) → Gaularfjellet (Rv13) → Balestrand
Started driving towards our first stop (-1 hour drive) Bakar Jon bakery in Byrkjelo. Along the way we drove by the Loen Sky lift. NOTE: The line was tremendous. If going to go must book around cruise ship schedules, otherwise it appears you will spend your entire day in line. Fortunately we had already decided to skip it.
The houses with the plant growth continued to amaze us
Continued to see snow capped mountains
Pastries and bread were great at Bakar Jon, cappuccino not so much.
Amazing still water mirror
Incredible scenery the rest of the drive up and over mountain passes -Gaularfjellet Scenic Route
Made it to the top and can’t say Amy was excited for the drive down, but Larry took it slowly.
Our first Norwegian sauna looking out on the fjord
Walked down these steps for cold splashes, but recovering from congestion caused Larry to wimp out of a full plunge. Amy wasn’t brave enough either 🤣.
Balestrand was a cute small town right on the sea.
Right next to St. Olaf's Church. Stave church style was completed in 1897 and belongs to the Church of England.
Dinner: Golden Fork. Cute cafe. They only had one server and we hit a busy time so the service was slow. Food (salmon and ribs) was good but smaller portions than we had at other restaurants.
Hotel: Balestrand Hotel. Favorite to date. Loved our balcony with a sea view. Hotel right in the center of the small town with free parking. Fun lobby with candles, lots of art, pool table, games and reasonably priced drinks. Complimentary croissants and coffee for breakfast.
