Bergen

Nygã¥rdshã¸yden and mã¸hlenpris (southern downtown)

nygã¥rdshã¸yden and mã¸hlenpris (southern downtown)
Bergen Museum – The Natural History Collections
Muséplass 3
+47 55 58 29 20
Kr. 40
Closed for renovation

The Natural History Collections include botany, geology and zoology. The zoology exhibitions is preserved more or less as they were when they were put up almost a hundred years ago. Enormous whale skeletons suspended from the ceiling in the exhibition halls are visible through the windows from the outside. The geology exhibition is modern and varied and contains samples from most part of the world, in addition to a nice local collection. Around the museum is a garden which is at its finest in spring and summer. There is also a green house where you can enjoy tropical plants.

nygã¥rdshã¸yden and mã¸hlenpris (southern downtown)
Bergen Maritime Museum
Haakon Sheteligsplass 15
+47 55 54 96 00
NOK 30
all week 11AM-3PM. closed on holidays, Christmas eve, new year's eve and the 17th of May

This traditional maritime museum is in the middle of the campus of the University of Bergen. Exhibitions of maritime history, shipping history, the vikings, naval warfare, maritime archeology, and more.

nygã¥rdshã¸yden and mã¸hlenpris (southern downtown)
Bergen Museum – The Cultural History Collections
Haakon Sheteligs plass 10
+47 55 58 31 40
Kr. 40
Tu–F: 10AM–3PM, Sa Su 11AM–4PM

Bergen Museum is a part of the University of Bergen, and is in the heart of campus. It is divided in two collections, the Cultural History Collections and the Natural History Collections, located in two different buildings. The Cultural History Collections include archeology, anthropology and art- and culture studies sections. Among other things, the museum has a large collection of Norwegian folk art and national costumes. It is notable for its unique exhibition of Norwegian medieval church art, including painted altarpieces, crucifixes and portals from demolished stave churches, all in wood.

nygã¥rdshã¸yden and mã¸hlenpris (southern downtown)
Vilvite
Thormøhlensgate 51
+47 55 59 45 00
Kr. 120
Tu-F 9AM-4PM, Sa Su 11AM-6PM

Sponsored by the state and the city in addition to some of the largest industrial companies in Norway, this all new science center features interactive exhibitions of science, technology and mathematics. It targets children and young people with the intention to inspire the to learning more about science, but is popular also among the adults. It has special exhibitions about the weather, the ocean and energy, with altogether 75 different interactive machines and experiments.

nygã¥rdshã¸yden and mã¸hlenpris (southern downtown)
Nygårdsparken
Free
Always open

This is a very nicely landscaped park laid out in the late 1800s after English patterns. The park is a popular picnic place for families, and in the summer there's always several groups of students and young people having barbeques. You are very welcome to step on the grass and it's a nice place to play frisbee, kubb or croquet. If you want to save a few kroner on food and drink stop by a local grocery store to pick up some ingredients to a picnic, bring along a blanket and a few beers and spend a cheap and relaxing afternoon in this park. It's highly unlikely that the police will bother you for drinking in public in this park as long as you behave. It's also one of the places where it's rather easy to get in contact with the locals. There's no public toilet here, but pop over the road to Vilvite and use their facilities for free. If you arrive from Nygårdshøyden, don't be scared by drug addicts hanging out in the upper part of the park, just walk past them and you will find the lower and beautiful part after a few metres.

West of the city center

west of the city center
Alvøen
+47 55 58 80 10
for entrance to the main building: NOK 50
twelve kilometers west of the city centre by road; follow the signs towards Sotra, and then to Alvøen a while after the end of the dual-lane carriageway, westbound bus line 42

An old and picturesque formerly industrial community situated on the west coast of the Bergen peninsula. The manor building at Alvøen has been converted into a museum with several exhibitions.

west of the city center
Damsgård Hovedgård
Alléen 29
+47 55 94 08 70
NOK 50
just across the fjord south-west of the city center, walk or drive across the Puddefjord bridge, then turn right and keep going for a kilometer, the manor is visible from the road on your left hand side

This 18th century manor is the most splendid of the many country retreats built by Bergen's aristocracy in the past centuries. The roccoco main building is surrounded by several beautiful gardens.

Downtown

downtown
Fløibanen
Vetrlidsalmenning 21
+47 55 33 68 00
Single: Kr. 35
Sep-Apr: M-Th 7:30AM-11PM, F 7:30AM-11:30PM, Sa 8AM-11:30PM, Su 9AM-11PM. May–Aug: M-F 7:30AM-midnight, Sa 8AM-midnight, Su 9AM-midnight.

Fløibanen is a funicular which goes up Fløyen, a plateau in the mountain massif north-east of the city center. From here, you get a great view of the city. Accessing Fløibanen and the plateau on Fløyen with a wheelchair is a piece of cake. More than 1.2 million people rode with Fløibanen in 2007, and it has become the attraction that the most tourists are content with. Expect queues, but don't worry, they move fast. There are no steps where lifts are not available without assistance, and all doors are wide.

downtown
The West Norway Museum of Decorative Art
Nordahl Bruns gate 9
+47 55 33 66 33
Kr. 60
Tu-Su 12 noon-4PM
by the music pavillion

A museum of design and decorative art. Norway's largest collection of Chinese art.

downtown
St. Jørgen's Hospital
Kong Oscars gate 59
+47 55 55 20 00
Kr. 40
21 May–2 Sep: Daily 11AM–3PM

St. Jørgen's Hospital is one of very few preserved leprosy hospitals from the 18th century in Northern Europe. This was where Armauer Hansen discovered the bacteria that causes leprosy in 1873. The Leprosy Museum tells the story about the disease and its history in Norway, in addition to showing life at the hospital. A visit to the museum is a unique but disturbing experience.

downtown
Bergen Aquarium
Nordnesbakken 4
+47 55 55 71 71
Sep-Apr: Kr. 100. 1 May-15 Jun: Kr. 150. 15 Jun-15 Aug: Kr. 200. 16 Aug-31 Aug: Kr. 150
Sep-Apr: Daily 10AM-6PM. Apr-Sep: Daily 9AM–7PM
indoor parking available, but usually full in the summer season; walk for 20 minutes from the city center or use bus line 11

The aquarium has a nice selection of aquatic life, especially penguins and seals. Typical Norwegian aquatic life is well documented, and there is also a collection of tropical fish and animals and a shark tank with an underwater glass tunnel. Fun for kids.

downtown
The fish market
Torget
Sep-May: M-Sa 7AM–4PM. Jun-Aug: M-Su 7AM–7PM.

Bergen's outdoor fish market has a long history, being the historical center for fish trade. Most tourists find their way here, but with locals changing their shopping habits, the fish market today does not compare to what it once was. The fish market is dominated by makeshift souvenir shops and seafood stalls. The seafood is generally of only ok quality as the fishermen no longer deliver their catch directly to the market. Still, you can get a pretty good idea of what the locals eat by having a look at the various fish they sell here, and try some of the stranger ones, if you feel adventurous. Free samples of are usually available of the more common items such as whale, salmon and salmon caviar. Although somewhat crowded, getting around with a wheelchair is fairly easy. Prices here are high, and many items such as caviar, canned herring, mackrel in tomato, cloudberry jam and other stuff can be purchased for a fraction of the prices in the nearby supermarkets

downtown
Bergen Art Museum
Rasmus Meyers allé 3, 7 and 9
+47 55 56 80 00
Kr. 80
15 May-14 Sep: M-Su 11AM-5PM. 15 Sep-14 May: Tu-Su 11AM-5PM
by Lille Lungegårdsvann

One of the largest art museums in the Nordic countries, with art from the renaissance as well as contemporary art. The museum houses several of Edvard Munch's works.

North of the city center

north of the city center
The Norwegian Knitting Industry Museum
Salhusvegen 201
+47 55 25 10 80
NOK 50
by car, drive north on the motorway E39/E16 until Åsane senter. when you're off the motorway, drive west and later north-west on RV 564. eventually, the signs should start pointing to Salhus. by bus, take northbound line 280

Located in the buildings that used to house the first fully mechanized knitwear factory in Norway. The machinery is still in working condition and is used. Guided tour, exhibitions and film.

north of the city center
Gamle Bergen
Nyhavnsveien 4
+47 55 39 43 00
NOK 50
half an hour by walking; a few minutes by bus or car from the city center, northbound bus lines 9, 20-29, 50, 71, 80, 90, 280, 285

A reconstructed town with about 50 wooden houses from the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. It is a beautiful place to stroll on a sunny day. The more cultural traveler will enjoy a guided tour of the area and the houses.

south of the city center
Fantoft Stave Church
Fantoftveien 46
+47 55 28 07 10
NOK 40 (NOK 25 for students)
about 6 km from the city center, bus line 2 from the front side of the exhibition shopping center

Stave churches are built in a distinctive style using the logs of trees as pillars, by the early Christians. This is a reconstruction of a church originally built in Fortun, by the Sognefjord, around 1150. On the 6 Jun 1992, the church was totally destroyed by arson, but a perfect copy has since been constructed. The inside of the stave church has no wall paintings and the altar is quite austere. If you have seen the stave church in the Norsk Folkemuseum in Oslo, then save yourself a few kroners and skip this one.

There's a number of attractions in Bergen and the surrounding areas. Surveys do, however, show that most tourists in Bergen find the atmosphere, cultural landscape and architecture more compelling than the typical sights, so pick a few things to see and spend the rest of your time in Bergen sitting down in a park or café, strolling around the city, enjoying a concert or hiking the mountains. On sunny summer days, stay downtown until late to enjoy the sunset in the north.