Geiranger Things to Do

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Trolls! Norway is full of them!
Not far from where the Ship's Tender pulls in and near the shops, is this oversized Troll, quite a popular Troll with tourist's like me who like having their photo taken with these giants!

Of course, you can buy a smaller version to take home as a souvenir from one of the shops. They had plenty to choose from that were styled pulling all sorts of faces and up to all types of antics.

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Our ship docked at the end of Geirangerfjord, a lovely spot surrounded by waterfalls, snow capped mountains and lush greenery. After we got back from the trip up Mt. Dalsnibba, we took a walk along part of the fjord and up past the waterfall that feeds into the fjord. Many people say that this UNESCO World Heritage listed fjord is the nicest in Norway.

Cruise ships sail up the Geirangerfjord, a branch of the Synnulvsfjord which is a branch of the Storfjord. Some of the cruise excursions and independent excursions went out by viking boat or RIB up the same fjord we sailed in and out of so it didn't make a lot of sense to me to book one of those.

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We prebooked a bus tour to Mt. Dalsnibba with Geiranger Fjordservice, it would have been the same price if we waited until we got off the ship and there seemed to be plenty of empty seats on the bus. Geiranger is tiny, finding the Geiranger Fjordservice office from the tender docks took us all of about 1 minute. The bus ride was similar to the one we took in Olden to Briksdal, it appeared to be a public bus that makes a couple of runs a day up to Mt. Dalsnibba. It appeared to be exactly the same trip as the ship, perhaps minus a waffle and a cup of tea. On the way up you stop at Flydalsjuvet, a viewpoint where you can take pictures of the part of the fjord where the cruise ships are docked. Then back on the bus, up a road with a bunch of switchbacks to the top of Mt. Dalsnibba where you have 15-20 minutes to wander around and take pictures.

The view wasn't as spectacular as some of the photos I've seen, it was overcast and a bit foggy but the scenery on the ride up was beautiful. We got out and played in the snow, after we had a snowball fight, we tried to make a snowman, you can see our feeble attempt in the attached photos.

The bus trip was 250NOK, roughly $42US, the ship tour was $72. The tour took 2 1/2 hours, we left at 9:40am and got back at 12:10pm. I saw a sign for Dalsnibba Express which advertised at 240NOK but I don't know any of the other details.

If you drive up to Mt. Dalsnibba, just be aware that the road going up is a series of switchbacks. Not as blood curdling as some roads I've been on but also probably not ideal for a nervous driver. There is a toll gate, it appears from this website that it's currently 100NOK for the toll and that the road is open 24 hours from May-October.

On the bus ride up to Mt. Dalsnibba, our bus pulled over for a photo stop at Flydalsjuvet, the scenic overlook of Geiranger and the end of the Geirangerfjord where the cruise ships dock. Most excursions, whether by cruise ship or not, will stop here for the photo op. It's 4-5km from where the ships dock and uphill so I'm not sure if anyone, at least from the ships, climb up here or not.

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On the way back out of the port in Geiranger we passed through the Geirangerfjord. Not too long after we left port (4 miles according to Wikipedia) we passed by the waterfalls known as the Seven Sisters. It's named that because there are at least seven separate streams of water coming down with an average fall of about 250 meters. There is another waterfall on the other side of the fjord called the suitor but I was so busy getting a photo of the Seven Sisters that I didn't go to the other side of the ship.

We looked into kayaking in Geiranger to get to see the Seven Sisters waterfall, it was one of the tours offered by our ship. But then someone told me that the cruiseship would pass by Seven Sisters on the way in and out so we booked a bus trip to Mt. Dalsnibba instead. When we got back from the bus trip we inquired at the kayak rental place at the end of the fjord, it was 300NOK or $60US (the proper conversion would have been around $50US) for a tandem kayak for 1 hour. People were kayaking around the fjord in front of us and around the cruise ships, I couldn't really see the point of it.

The company we booked the Mt. Dalsnibba tour through offered a different kayak trip but when I tried to email them about the details, their communication skills weren't very good. If you are interested in kayaking, try the tourism office first, I believe they take you by boat a little further up the fjord and they said you could get to Seven Sisters.

If you reach a mountain top in Geiranger you have a view for a lifetime . If you're afraid of heights I would not recommend this trip. Small kids should not be joining you on this trip. There are no fences there. .

Just up the road from the port, the small church sits on the edge of the hill, with a wonderful view of the fjord. The small cemetery that sits adjacent gives those buried there an eternal front row seat to one of the best views.

There is some information that a church was first in Geiranger around 1450. But historical records do not really document the early days. A few churches have since stood in the town, but the current wooden timber church was built in 1842. The bell was installed in 1899.

Entrance is free.