The Great Norwegian Fjords

Table of Con­tents Show

Overview:

The breath-tak­ing Fjords of Nor­way date back some 2.5 mil­lion years with con­tin­u­ous glac­i­er cycles and tec­ton­ic plate move­ment com­bin­ing to form the pris­tine val­leys and serene Fjords and that now rep­re­sent Norway’s top tourist des­ti­na­tion.

While there are more than a thou­sand Fjords dot­ted across Nor­way, includ­ing in the heart of the cap­i­tal Oslo, it’s best to explore the long yet nar­row won­ders of Nor­way out­side the cap­i­tal and through an epic scenic road trip across the beau­ty of Nor­way, with the Fjords, which also host some of the worlds great­est hik­ing routes includ­ing Troll­tun­ga not just acces­si­ble by Fer­ry, but also by hik­ing, climb­ing and Kayak – pro­vid­ing for a tru­ly epic oppor­tu­ni­ty to explore one of the great won­ders of the world and tru­ly recon­nect with moth­er nature.

Where:

While there are more than a thou­sand fjords across Nor­way, the top 5 includ­ing the icon­ic Geiranger­fjord fjord and the Hardan­ger­fjord fjord which includes the epic track of Troll­tun­ga are detailed in the Explore sec­tion below.

Best time to Visit:

For the Fjords, the best time to vis­it Nor­way is unques­tion­ably the peri­od between May and June, when the weath­er hit it’s peak and the treks across the coun­try are open – with June to August also being good but rep­re­sent­ing peak tourism sea­son – so expect crowds and queues for boats.

For those also inter­est­ed in Nor­way and vis­it­ing Trom­so for the Aurea Boils view­ing, it is pos­si­ble to com­bine a view of some of Norway’s Fjords at this time includ­ing the Lyn­gen­fjord in Trom­so – but be warned access­ing the top 7 below will required heavy snow chains, pos­si­ble flights and a strong will.

 

Explore:

While there are more than a thou­sand Fjords dot­ted across Nor­way the best advice that can be giv­en is to pick the fjords that appeal for view­ing, trekking and explor­ing and plan a trip – using either a com­bi­na­tion of tours or a self dri­ve trip across Nor­way com­bin­ing fer­ry rides and hikes to tru­ly explore the won­ders of Norway’s Fjords. How­ev­er to assist in the plan­ning and in no par­tic­u­lar order, the below are the top 7 fjords of Nor­way that tru­ly help earn the Nor­we­gian Fjords it’s sta­tus as a true won­der:

1.) The Hardan­ger­fjord: - the home of hik­ing, the Hardan­ger­fjord fjord is world famous for the Troll­tun­ga hik­ing trail and its icon­ic pho­to spot that fea­tures on every wan­der­lusts buck­et list. Also clock­ing in as one of the biggest fjords in the world, Hardan­ger­fjord is also home to a series of scenic lit­tle vil­lages, tow­er­ing glac­i­ers and the incred­i­ble Steins­dals­fos­sen water­fall along­side the breath-tak­ing scenery – be warned how­ev­er that the Troll­tun­ga trail and the Hardan­ger­fjord Fjord are a chal­lenge to vis­it, often only being open dur­ing July and Sep­tem­ber, with the town of Odda often serv­ing as a base for hik­ers or your depar­tures.

2.) The Geiranger­fjord – the big one and the Fjord that earns itself a spot on the UNESCO her­itage list the Geiranger­fjord is mys­ti­cal, with the Fjord home to a series of water­falls includ­ing the big three of the sev­en sis­ters, the Bridal Veil and the Suit­or – which when com­bined with the Fjord and the moun­tain peaks of the val­ley make for fan­tas­tic pho­to spots – with a spe­cial viewe­ing plat­form known as the Geiranger Sky­walk in par­tic­u­lar­ly known for help­ing tourists cap­ture those aware win­ning shots. Be warned though while the Geiranger­fjord is some­thing out of a fair­ty­tale – get­ting there is most cer­tain­ly not, with the Fjord being incred­i­bly tough to access – with the best option being either a guid­ed overnight tour from oslo or a self dri­ve trip (allow 8 hours) and camp­ing.

3.) The Lyn­gen­fjord –the Lyn­gen­fjord is locat­ed in the town of Trom­so home of the Aureo Bolis – with its already fan­tas­tic unique snow capped moun­tains and sil­ver water enhanced by the view offered by the reflec­tion of the Aureo Bolis as the green phe­nom­e­non jour­neys night­ly in the win­ter across the lake – mak­ing for a tru­ly won­der­ful and spec­tac­u­lar sight.

4.) The Aur­lands­fjord — The most acces­si­ble of the big sev­en Fjords the Aur­lands­fjord is a part of Nor­ways longest fjord, with the sym­met­ri­cal hill tops and moun­tains cre­at­ing a daz­zling view­ing spot of one of the worlds great­est Fjords. Aur­lands­fjord is also a unique expe­ri­ence as not only is it acces­si­ble as a day trip from Oslo, but it is acces­si­ble through the fan­tas­tic Flam rail­way, unques­tion­ably one of the worlds great­est rail jour­neys, as you are sit back in lux­u­ry and are tak­en passed water­falls, vil­lages and moun­tains on your way to the won­der.

5.) The Lyse­fjord – home to both the world’s largest wood­en stair­way (for all you wood­en stair­way enthu­si­asts) and a moun­tain range tow­er­ing over 9,000 feet the Lyse­fjord is eas­i­ly acces­si­ble from the indus­tri­al town of Sta­vanger and hosts a num­ber of unique rock for­ma­tions and the pic­ture post­card view­point of Kjer­ag­bolten, with the Lyse­fjord also pro­vid­ing some of the most worlds most scenic trails and fjord view­points for a mag­i­cal expe­ri­ence.

6.) The Sogne­fjord & Nærøyfjor­den – the majes­tic Sogne­fjord is a cul­mi­na­tion of many fjords, the pin­na­cle of which is unques­tion­ably the snow fields of the Nærøyfjor­den, which is home not only to a series of win­ter hik­ers and fan­tas­tic snow­board­ing but also a series of water­falls which feed into the Nærøyfjor­den and the larg­er Sogne­fjord, help­ing the Sogne­fjord earn its name as the king of the fjords and one of the must see Fjords in Nor­way. Be warned though that while the Sogne­fjord is eas­i­ly acces­si­ble from the near­by town of Dyrdal access to the Nærøyfjor­den Fjord and it’s trails is by boat owing to a steep moun­tain­side that sur­rounds it.

 

Getting there:

Nor­way is noto­ri­ous for hav­ing its won­ders inac­ces­si­ble – how­ev­er you do have a range of options to attempt to explore the great fjords – with the main two being a series of tours or through a self-dri­ve or flight expe­ri­ence across the coun­try.

The best option is to con­sid­er your trav­el dates – if trav­el­ling in win­ter then unques­tion­ably the best Fjords are the Lyn­gen­fjord and the Aur­lands­fjord, with the Lyn­gen­fjord pro­vid­ing a spec­tac­u­lar site dur­ing the Aureo Boulais. For those in the sum­mer and chas­ing Norway’s beau­ti­ful hikes and the more roman­tic Fjords, a com­bi­na­tion of self dri­ve and boat tours are rec­om­mend­ed based on the desired fjords and trav­el times.

Cost:

The cost of Nor­we­gian tours are tru­ly up to the trav­eller, in the­o­ry it’s pos­si­ble to do it for as lit­tle as a few hun­dred dol­lars based on camper­van, bus­es and a stur­dy back­pack. For those vis­it­ing in the win­ter bud­get towards low 5 fig­ures for flights to Trom­so, tours and accom­mo­da­tion ‑which inevitably increas­es in the peak sea­son and as a series of cruise ships arrive.

Top Tip:

Time your vis­it to the Fjords based on the sea­sons, for Troll­tun­ga and the fjord of Hardan­ger­fjord it has to be between July and Sep­tem­ber – for those hunt­ing the Aurea Boulais and the view over the Lyn­gen­fjord then Octo­ber is a good time before peak sea­son and the town becomes a tourist mag­net.

Best photo spot:

Take your pick based on sea­sons for Win­ter it’s unques­tion­ably the Lyn­gen­fjord any­time after 8pm on a clear night, for sum­mer the view­point of the Troll­tun­ga hike and Ørnesvin­gen look­out point will both give you mem­o­ries that will last a life time.

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