On the Bergensbanen – The Train from Bergen to Oslo, Norway

View over a colourful town on the Vosso River from the Bergensbanen, Norway

The Bruvik Fjord from the Bergensbanen
Touted as one of Europe’s most beautiful train journeys, the train trip between Bergen and Oslo traverses some magnificent Norwegian scenery.

Scandinavian travel sites call it one of Europe’s most beautiful train journeys.

Even in April and May, the season that Norwegians call ‘late winter’, the views from the train between Bergen and Oslo are magnificent, alternating between stark rugged beauty and picturesque charm.

My husband and I were travelling on a small ocean cruise from Barcelona, Spain to Bergen, Norway. When I looked at flights from Bergen to the rest of the world, I discovered none went where I wanted to go! So, if we had to travel to Oslo anyway, why not do it by rail, and enjoy some of the magnificent scenery that Western Norway offers?

I had booked part of our ticketing online through the official Norway Trains website. When the time came to travel, my husband was unable to join me – for reasons our travel insurance didn’t cover. My helper at the NSB office in Bergen credited me the unused ticket portions with good humour, excellent English, and no questions asked! I was most impressed.

The full trip connecting Norway’s two major cities – Bergen and Oslo – takes just under seven hours. I broke my journey about two hours east of Bergen, at the little mountain station Myrdal. There I was able to pick up the magnificent Flåm line (see: Down the Hill and Back Again) and enjoy a foray into the UNESCO-listed Norwegian fjord landscape (see: On Aurlandsfjord and Nærøyfjord).

The Bergensbanen line runs a total of 496 kilometers (308 miles) through about 182 tunnels into gneiss mountains and along one of the world’s highest stretches of track across the Hardangervidda Plateau. This is an unbelievably rugged landscape, with mountains rising high and fjords cutting deep.

The construction of the railway was exceptionally challenging, needing countless man-hours in a region of high altitudes with no roads, and subject to freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall. It was built between 1875 and 1909, against a backdrop of political infighting and fiscal recession. Although the first trains ran in 1907, heavy snowfalls closed the line again for months. When the service was finally officially opened in 1909, King Haakon VII called it the Norwegian engineering masterpiece of his generation.

Today, the system is electric, and the carriages are clean, spacious, comfortable, and wifi equipped.

Add to that incomparable views, and you truly have a great trip!

Leaving Bergen
One of the many beauties of European train travel is the ease: the Bergen Train Station was quite literally across a cobbled road from my hotel room. Bergen itself is a most delightful city (see: Cobbled Streets and Wooden Buildings) – although as we draw away from it by rail, we can’t really see the extensive UNESCO-listed historic quarters.

View over Bruvik Fjord from the Bergensbanen, Norway

North Sea or Bruvik Fjord?
Before long, we are running into rugged mountains and alongside massive waterways; I don’t know where the North Sea ends and Bruvik Fjord begins.

A Dusting of Snow on Rugged Rocks
I can’t help but have admiration for the engineers who managed to build a rail line through this unremittingly rugged terrain.

Hamlet from Train
Apparently there are 20-odd stops on the line (I didn’t count them). Many are at little fjord villages with limited or no road access.

Settlement from the Train
Everywhere I look, the houses are neat, wooden, and cheerfully painted.

Shallow Waters
At the foot of the mountains, fast, shallow rivers race across valley floors.

Scenery from the Train
Just a few minutes later, and the waters look deep and quiet.

Rocks and Rapids

Outside Voss Station
Voss Station – in Vossevangen, a village of over 6000 people – was one of our more substantial stops.

Troll at Voss Station
A tourist shop pays tribute to the Old Norse beings found all over Norway.

Golden Hillside
Before long, we are back on our way. Spring has made little inroads on the grassy banks that have spent a long winter under snow.

Trees and Houses
While some of the grasses have greened up, the deciduous trees are still winter-bare.

April Snows
We come out of another tunnel into a winter wonderworld. (iPhone6)

Bridge in the Snow
It looks like someone has been skiing across that bridge below us!

Spring Snow
There is a road down there… it and the waterways stretch off through the valley and into the mountains.

Upsete Station
Some of these stations are tiny: aside from one specialist tourist accommodation, there is not much else here at Upsete. I’m off at the next stop to pick up the only intersecting rail line, the Flåmsbana.

Selfie : Myrdal Station
Two days later – after riding down and up again on the Flåmsbana and exploring the waterfalls and fjords of the Flåmsdalen, I’m back in Myrdal station with enough time for lunch while waiting for the next Bergensbanen east.

Arrival
A light flurry of snow is falling as the train west arrives …

Workers on the Platform
… and leaves again. Soon it is my turn, and we set off east.

Winter Whiteout
The train emerges from a 10,300-metre-long (6.4 mile) railway tunnel into a snowy whiteout near Finse, which is the highest station, at 1,222 meters (4,009 ft).

Memories of Winter
It is little wonder that polar explorers Nansen, Amundsen and Shackleton used this area as and extreme training grounds, and George Lucas chose it as the location of Hoth for Star Wars Episode V.