Exploring Norway's Fjords and Glaciers

The Trip

Norway is a hiker’s paradise. The same dramatic terrain that protected Vikings a thousand years ago provides hikers with spectacular views of fjords, glaciers, mountains, streams, and lakes. Despite the stunning beauty, many trails in Norway are undiscovered treasures.

Our journey begins with a tour of the historic city of Bergen (a center of trade and commerce for hundreds of years), a visit to the Hanseatic Museum, and dinner in Bryggen (a World Heritage site). Bright and early the next morning, we take a ferry north to the Sognefjord and up the fjord to the artists’ colony of Balestrand for two days of hiking, amazing smørgåsbord dinners, and settling in for our adventure.

From Balestrand, we travel by private van to the Lusterfjord and Nes Gård Farm. Our five days of hiking and exploration in the valleys and mountains around the Lusterfjord provide an exceptional combination of spectacular scenery, history, culture, relaxation, and camaraderie. In the evening, the dinners at Nes Gård are an unexpected delight.

Leaving Nes Gård, we travel by train on the famous Flåm Railway and over the “Roof of Norway” on our way to cosmopolitan Oslo, a capital city replete with culture, art and history museums, restaurants, and a vibrant nightlife. We spend an entire day exploring the sights of Oslo, learning about the history and culture of Norway, visiting museums, and having a tour of the city center with a local interpretive guide.

Our conservation theme for this outing will center around Norway’s two-edged sword: abundant natural resources and the environmental impacts caused by the exploitation of these resources. We will discuss oil and gas production, energy resources and generation, climate change and melting glaciers and how similar issues affect local communities the world over.

Please note: This outing begins in Bergen and ends in Oslo.

While the following is the intended itinerary, all hikes and programs are subject to change, depending on a variety of factors, including trail conditions, weather, and other issues.

Day 1: Arrive in Bergen and Orientation. You are responsible for your own travel to Bergen. The leader will send further details and advice to approved participants. Our group will meet at 1:00 p.m. in the lobby of our downtown Bergen hotel for introductions and our outing orientation. We then enjoy a guided tour of historic Bergen and later a welcome dinner in this UNESCO World Heritage area.

Day 2: Depart Bergen and Visit Cider House Farm. Immediately after breakfast, we walk to the Bergen pier and then travel by boat up the coast and through the Sognefjord to Balestrand. Our hotel is the historic Kvikne's Hotel, which dates back to 1877.

Balestrand lies between towering, snow-covered mountains and the majestic Sognefjord in a beautiful and lush fjord landscape. The impressive scenery and the constantly changing light brought many painters here to capture the fascinating play of light on canvas.

Following our arrival we will walk to the Sogn Fruit Farm and Cider House. The Cider House includes an orchard with many apple varieties and beautiful views. We will eat lunch and have a personal presentation of their farm and cider production.

Dinner tonight is Kvikne's famous smørgåsbord -- a huge selection of Norwegian specialties, including salads and hot and cold entrees, featuring meats, fish, cheeses, vegetables, and more, and fabulous desserts.

Day 3: Balestrand Forest Hike (~6 miles, +/- 1,400’). After your smørgåsbord breakfast we will take a warm-up hike on one of the many nature trails found in the forested area above Balestrand. In the afternoon you are free to explore Balestrand on your own, take a dip in the fjord, or just relax and enjoy the amenities of our hotel. Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

Day 4: Balestrand to Luster. After a leisurely breakfast we will depart by private mini-bus for Leikanger and our lodgings at Nes Gård, a bed-and-breakfast guesthouse. Before arriving at Nes Gård, we hike up Molden Mountain, located on a peninsula, which affords a panoramic view of Lusterfjord. The hike leads up through a forested area then ascends, sometimes steeply, across an area of broad stones. At the summit, we relax, have our lunch, and enjoy the views before returning by the same route to our awaiting bus for the short drive on to Nes Gård. Molden Mountain's summit is at 3,670 feet. The hike ascends1,800 feet over a distance of about 5 miles.

Norway's longest and deepest fjord, the Sognefjord, lies in the heart of Fjord Norway and extends more than 200 miles inland. The Lusterfjord is an arm of the Sognefjord, surrounded by the glaciers and high mountains of the Jotunheimen and Jostedalsbreen National Parks. Along both shores of the fjord are villages and lush landscapes where fruits and berries grow on small, idyllic farms.

Nes Gård overlooks the Lusterfjord, with renovated rooms in the traditional farmhouse dating to the 1850s and adjacent buildings. We'll enjoy four day-hikes on good trails through a magnificent green landscape, with thundering waterfalls, lonely homesteads, and summer farms up in the mountains.

Please note that the following proposed daily hiking itinerary is subject to adjustment, depending on safety considerations at the time, including weather, trail conditions, and other factors. Dinner and overnight at Nes Gård.

Day 5: Hike Vigdal - Navarsete. Today’s hike passes the mountain farm Vigdalstøl and Fivlenosi, 4,000 feet above sea level, with a view of the Jostedal Glacier, which is the largest glacier in continental Europe. Our hike continues down through the green valley of Engedalen. We’ll have ascended 1,700 feet and descended 1,800 feet over a total distance of about 9 miles by the end of the day. Dinner and overnight at Nes Gård.

Day 6: Hike Morkridsdalen Valley. We drive to the upper end of Lusterfjord and into Breheimen National Park. Hiking up the Morkridsdalen Valley, we enjoy close-up views of a glacial river and then walk past a lovely lake. After a steep but short climb, our path goes through a park-like landscape until we reach the summer farm buildings and pastures at Dulsete, where we enjoy our lunch. We then continue up the valley to view several waterfalls before hiking down for our return to Nes Gård. This hike is tremendously varied in terrain, vegetation, and viewpoints. Distance will range between six to eight miles with about 1,000 feet of elevation gain depending on how far up the valley we decide to go. Dinner and overnight at Nes Gård.

Day 7: Jostedalsbreen National Park: Jostedal Glacier - Valley of Krundalen. Almost half of the Jostedalsbreen National Park is covered by the Jostedal Glacier. Today we'll experience the glacier up close. First, we will visit Nigardsbreen (Nigards Glacier), one of the more impressive of Jostedal Glacier’s 22 arms. We will travel by boat across the lake, then walk right up to the glacier where we admire the blue-ice glacier a short distance from where we sit. Afterward, we will visit the Breheimen Glacier Museum followed by an afternoon walk up the Krundalen Valley along a relatively flat trail to a viewpoint that overlooks the hanging Bergset Glacier (Bersetbreen). Total mileage for the day is about 5 miles with 500 feet of elevation gain/loss. Return to Nes Gård for dinner and overnight.

Day 8: Explore the Lusterfjord, including Urnes Stave Church. Today we set off for a full day of cultural and sightseeing activities around the scenic Lusterfjord. We first visit the idyllic village of Solvorn not far from Nes Gård. From Solvorn we take a small ferry across the Lusterfjord to visit the Urnes Stave Church, built around 1150. Norway's oldest stave church, Urnes Stave Church is featured on the UNESCO World Heritage List. (Stave churches are an early type of heavy timber construction.) After lunch, we hike to a scenic viewpoint overlooking the Lusterfjord (about four miles and 1,000 feet of elevation gain), complete our full-circle drive around the Lusterfjord, and return to Nes Gård for dinner and overnight.

Day 9: Luster to Oslo. Today, we transfer by private van to Flåm, about an hour away. We then depart on the Flåm Railway (Flåmsbana). Widely regarded as one of the most exciting train trips in Europe, it is one of the world's steepest standard-gauge railways, with a gradient of 5.5% as we ascend to the village of Myrdal. From Myrdal we continue on the Bergen Railway (Northern Europe's highest altitude rail line), traveling across the mountains -- the "Roof of Norway" -- and arrive in Oslo in early evening. Dinner is on your own. We transfer to our Oslo hotel for the next two nights.

Day 10: Oslo City Tour. After our smørgåsbord breakfast, we will enjoy a full day of activities in Oslo, Norway’s capital city. Our local guide will present information on Norway's history, culture, and social system. We’ll use a variety of local public transportation options (tram, bus and ferry) to visit selected sites. During our exploration in Oslo, our guide will point out important buildings, including Parliament, the King’s Palace, and the National Theater. We will visit City Hall (site of the annual Nobel Peace Prize ceremony) and the Vigeland Sculpture Park (also called Frogner Park), which features works in bronze and granite by sculptor Gustav Vigeland. There are many options for the remainder of the afternoon, including the Norwegian Folk Museum, the Thor Heyerdahl Kon-Tiki Museum, the Nobel Peace Center, the National Gallery, and the Norwegian Resistance Museum. This evening we will meet for our farewell dinner and share thoughts and recollections about our trip.

Day 11: Depart from Oslo. After breakfast, you can take the train to the Oslo airport -- or extend your stay in Norway!

Getting There

It is each participant’s responsibility to arrange his or her own transportation to Bergen and home from Oslo. The leader will provide additional information and advice to approved participants. The regional airport in Bergen (BGO) is served by several airlines from the UK, France, Germany, and other countries in Europe. Oslo has a major international airport (OSL) served by most European and American carriers.

Please remember when making your flight reservations that we start in Bergen and end in Oslo. Also, you are urged to arrive a day or two early to help you adjust to jet lag and to allow for possible travel mishaps or delayed baggage.

Please do not make non-refundable travel arrangements until notified to do so by the trip leader.

Accommodations and Food

All meals, except for lunch on day 10 and dinner on day 9 are included in the cost of the trip. We will have pack-your-own lunches assembled from the breakfast buffet on days 3-9. The first meal included in the cost of the trip will be dinner on day one and the last meal included will be breakfast on day 11. We will eat breakfast at our lodgings. Dinners will be at our lodgings except in Bergen and Oslo, where we will dine at local restaurants. Our dinners at Nes Gård farmhouse will be family style. The majority of the restaurants offer vegetarian dishes and will attempt to satisfy special dietary needs. However, there may be times when vegetarian or special diets cannot be accommodated. Please inform the leader of dietary restrictions when completing your trip application. 

Trip Difficulty

The trip is ideal for veteran European travelers/hikers as well as those with at least an intermediate level of hiking skills that are new to the European experience and open to the richness of Norwegian culture. The trip is best suited for energetic, flexible people who like to be active and have a spirit of adventure and a positive attitude. As you can tell from the daily itinerary, we have packed a tremendous variety of activities into our 11-day adventure.

Some sections of the hiking trails in the Lusterfjord region can be considered moderately strenuous. Our day hikes in this region will often involve short steep climbs and descents and can be over rocky, uneven terrain that can be slippery if wet. Such is the nature of hiking in the Western Fjord region of Norway. You should have the requisite hiking skills and at the same time feel comfortable hiking four to six hours per day on-trail over rough terrain for the days in the Lusterfjord region, carrying a daypack of about 10 pounds. Excluding the trail-hiking portion of the program, the balance of the trip is classified as moderately active. Keep in mind that international travel can be tiring, so patience and a sense of humor are important assets.

The trip will appeal to those with an interest in Norwegian culture, history, and natural beauty. During the trip we will travel in elevations ranging from sea level to 4,000 feet. We will be using a variety of public and private transportation modes, including minivan, coach, train, tram, and boat. There will be some walking most days, and some free time for individual pursuits. All of the hikes are optional, but participation will considerably enhance your enjoyment of the trip. Expect temperature variations from the 40s to the 70s Fahrenheit during our trip.

Equipment and Clothing

A suggested list of equipment and clothing will be sent to registered trip participants. You are strongly encouraged to limit your luggage to your daypack and one medium-sized luggage piece. On several occasions, you will be required to lift and carry your gear onto and off a boat, coach or train. You will have to walk a few blocks in Bergen from our hotel to the boat. There are no porters, so be kind to yourself -- travel light!

Your daypack will carry your raingear, a sweater or jacket, water bottles or reservoir with a two-liter capacity, lunch or a snack, as well as a camera, if you so desire. The most important items are a reliable set of waterproof raingear; sturdy, comfortable pairs of walking shoes and hiking boots, with two or three changes of socks; water storage; and a hat with visor or brim.

References

Books:

• March, Linda, Norway Customs and Culture. Culture Smart Series.
• Abrahamsen, Samuel, Say it in Norwegian. Dover Publications.
• Undset, Sigrid, Kristin Lavransdatter. Penguin. Very long historical novel about a woman’s life in fourteenth-century Norway.
• Hamsun, Knut, Growth of the Soil. Vintage, 1972. Nobel Prize winning novel about a 19th-century homestead in rural Norway.
• Nansen, Fridtjof, Farthest North: The Incredible Three-Year Voyage to the Frozen Latitudes of the North. The voyage of the Fram, the sailing ship we can see in Oslo.
• Huntford, Roland, Nansen. The biography of Fridtjof Nansen, mentor to Amundsen, Scott, and Shackleton.
• Brown, Nancy Marie, The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman.

Video: 

• Harl, Kenneth, Vikings, TheGreatCourses.com. A set of 36 30-minute lectures about Viking history from 800-1000 CE.

Websites:

• Stop, You’re Killing Me, web site listing mystery novels set in Norway: http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/LocationCats/Europe/Norway.html
• Things to do in Bergen for early arrival: http://www.visitnorway.com/us/where-to-go-us/fjord-norway/bergen/what-to-do-in-bergen/attractions-in-bergen/
• Things to do in Oslo for staying on: http://www.visitoslo.com/en/ and http://www.visitnorway.com/us/where-to-go-us/east/oslo/
• Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature: http://naturvernforbundet.no/?lang=en_GB

Conservation

Since its founding in 1892, the Sierra Club has worked to preserve and restore the natural environment we all share on this planet. Thousands of grassroots-level volunteers spearhead our efforts to conserve and sustain resources, both in our own backyards and on a global scale. Through direct experience in the outdoors, Sierra Club outings enable participants to better understand, advocate, and participate in the environmental and conservation goals of the Club.

The Norwegian glaciers provide dramatic evidence of global climate change. During the 1990s, the glaciers advanced briefly, but now the effects of warming can be seen many places. Our local guide will be able to show us exactly where the retreating glaciers used to extend. Also be sure to ask him about the Norwegian view of nature and its role in their national identity. 

Nine of the 20 highest waterfalls in the world are in Norway, and many of these cascade down the mountainsides of Fjord Norway. The waterfalls are not just beautiful to look at; they are also important sources of energy. Norway accounts for almost 5% of the world's entire hydroelectric power (HEP) production. HEP is the most important source of energy in the country, providing 99% of its electricity. However, most waterfalls in the country are still untamed, and some of them are protected to ensure they remain that way.

Norway has established 29 national parks in order to conserve the diversity of Norwegian nature. Each national park is an area offering protection to special natural environments, flora, and fauna.

Evacuation and Travel Insurance

The Sierra Club provides evacuation insurance to all participants on international trips. Since this coverage does not include any trip cancellation or interruption insurance, we suggest you purchase another policy separately to provide coverage for your trip and other travel costs. This policy also does not cover pre-trip and post-trip travel. Please note the evacuation insurance provided does not cover claims resulting from any pre-existing condition that occurs within 60 days of the trip departure. If you have specific questions about this exclusion, please review the insurance brochure. For information on purchasing a separate policy, please see our travel insurance page.