travels

The perfect trip Norway

Traverse Norway'­s dramatic landscape in this ideal excursion, taking in one of the world's great rail journeys from capital Oslo to the historic port of Bergen. Venture on to sail the unspoilt islands of Solund, before gazing in wonder at the awesome views of the mighty Aurlandsfjord and Hardangerfjord.

Oslo to Bergen Railway: Best for rail adventures

The train pulls out of Oslo Central Station and begins its journey west. With the passing miles, the city’s stern-looking apartments and office buildings dwindle, and the landscape softens into farmland, broad and green in the mid-morning light, punctuated with clapboard farmhouses painted red and mustard-yellow.

The Oslo to Bergen railway is one of the world’s most scenic journeys, stretching 308 miles through some of Norway’s most spectacular landscapes. Passengers press to the windows, cameras in hand. But this is also a route for commuters, and dozens pay no heed to the surrounds, tapping at laptops or nodding off. One, in a seeming insult to the increasingly glorious views streaming by, dons a sleeping mask.

Bergen: Best for history

Late afternoon sunlight slants across the face of Bryggen, Bergen’s ancient trading wharf, giving a golden glow to the steeple-roofed warehouses painted in bright shades of orange and dusky pink. They lean at angles, jostling for space with their neighbours. Once, the wooden buildings were crammed with barrels of unsalted codfish. Today, art galleries, craft shops and restaurants have taken up residence. Groups crowd around small tables at an outdoor bar clutching bottles of beer, while others wander the shadowy alleys between the buildings, walking on creaking wooden planks laid out like the deck of a ship.

For some 400 years, until the mid-18th century, this wharf was an important centre of trade for the mighty German merchant outfit, the Hanseatic League, which traded fish and lamp oil to cities across Europe. It’s now a World Heritage site comprising 61 buildings. This quaint cluster of aged timber stretches along the northern side of Bergen’s harbour, a world apart from the shiny modern office buildings across the water.

‘It’s so important, especially in these modern times, for people to experience nature – to really feel it,’ he says. ‘Most areas along the coast are filled with heavy industry, but not this part. Out on these islands you can see the original landscape, as it has been for thousands of years.’