City centre / Waterfront / Parks, Bergen

Have a stroll in the beauiful neighbourhood of Nordnes, in the centre of Bergen.

Nordnes is a peninsula and neighbourhood in the city centre. Here you will find the typical Bergen houses, ie small wooden houses, and narrow cobbled street.

At the tip of Nordnes is Nordnesparken and the Aquarium.

Main road: Walk the road Markeveien north-east from Torgallmenningen (main square), and continue on Haugeveien.
There are several paralell roads that leads to the tip of Nordnes. Eg. the road Skottegaten. The area around Skottegaten is best for finding the charming narrow, cobbled alleys, like the most photographed alley in Bergen, Knøsesmauet. One of the narrowest alleys here is Øvre (Upper) Dynnersmauet.
More info to come!

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Before I left home I found a walking tour of Bergen on Frommer's so we did the walking tour first when we got off the ship. The tour started at the fish market, past the old city gate, past Nykirken, through the section of Bergen with the wooden houses known as Klosteret, over to the National Theater and along Ole Bulls Plass. The guidebook says it takes about an hour, I didn't time it but that seems about right.

Gågate is a Pedestrian Street in Norwegian. Gågate is near the harbour on the left bank towards Nordnes. Here you will find small shops and cafes. At the entrance there is a tower gate that is a part if the medieval town wall. Going to Nordnes this is a good place to pass through or maybe sit down for a drink.

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Bergen Harbour is an active place, even in November when I was there. It's interesting to watch the boats coming and going... from small fishing boats to the huge catamarans that go to and from Stavanger.

Walking round to the far side, you come to the famous Bryggen... a world heritage site of pretty coloured buildings that have now been converted to shops and nice cafes.

Further along is the historic Rosenkrantz Tower and fort, and at the far end, the cruise ship terminal.

The whole area is lovely for a walk on a sunny day.

The fish market - at Torget is a delightful place to visit and a great place to taste delicious seafood. Ideally one would need a kitchen to make the best out of this market, but it is possible to have soem shrimps sandwiches, too - in case you cannot cook.

Try to translate some of the fish on sale - you'll find some rarities/delicacies such as whale mean (hval, I think). The market is open all year round, Monday to Saturday, from 7 AM to 4 or 5 PM (it depends on the day of the week and on the season)

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Torgallmenningen is the main street of Bergen. It is a pedestrian street and along its side you can some hotels, shops and restaurant. In summertime you can see some parties along it! In the middle of the street there is a sculputere that remember the whale hunting and the sea tradition.

There's a large lake in the centre of Bergen and for some reason, all the museums are clustered around it. Despite the manicured look of the lake, this body of water is au naturel. The lake is also within walking distance to the Fish Market and the best Thai restaurant in Bergen ( MamaThai!).

The centre plaza of Bergen. At the one end it bends at a right angle up to the theatre, and at the other end you are almost at the fishmarked and the inner harbour. Surrounding the plaza you will find many stores, restaurants and pubs. The blue stone at the one end is the traditional meeting point.

“Gågate” means Pedestrian Street in Norwegian. We have two of these in Bergen. One is near the train station, and the other (see picture), is near the harbour on the left bank (Nordnes). At the entrance there is a tower gate that is a part if the medieval town wall. You pass by this one if you stroll out towards the aquarium and the Nordnes park.

Bryggen - seen from the other side of the inner harbour - is the old Hansa part of town and a beautifully preserved piece of medieval wooden architecture. Many monuments of national importance are located here and it's all very walkable.