Travel day Day 19 · Sunday 5 July 2026

From volcanoes
to fjords

Morning Reykjavík

→

Mid-day In the air

→

Afternoon onward Bergen

Flight Icelandair · 2h 20m

Tonight's hotel Scandic Torget

Bergen weather 14–18°C · Light rain

Sunrise 04:28 CEST

Sunset 23:08 · long Bergen evening

Departure

Reykjavík early morning

Breakfast at the apartment, taxi from hotel to KEF airport.

Flight

KEF → BGO

Icelandair direct, 2h 20m. Departs 10:10 KEF, arrives 14:30 BGO.

Arrival

Bergen mid-afternoon

Taxi from BGO to Scandic Torget, ~45 min.

Tonight

Bryggen, funicular, Pingvinen

Settle in, walk the wharf, dinner. Sunset around 11pm.

The day

Hour by hour

A day in three parts. Slow Reykjavík morning, the flight in the middle, gentle Bergen evening. Tomorrow is the long Norway in a Nutshell day, so don't push it tonight.

Day 19 of 26
Reykjavík → Bergen

5 July

Act One · 0800 — 1100

Last morning in Iceland

06:00 · Early start

Quick breakfast, pack up

Early flight means an early alarm. Grab breakfast, finish packing. Last look around the apartment.

06:45 · Check out

Check out, bags ready

Quick check out.

Act Two · 0700 — 1430

Across the North Atlantic

07:00 · Taxi to KEF

Taxi from hotel to KEF

Book a taxi from the hotel, about 45 min to KEF airport. Flat rate ~ISK 16,000–18,000 for the car. Ask the hotel to arrange the night before. No bus terminals, no luggage wrestling.

08:00 · KEF check-in

Icelandair check-in

Two hours before the 10:10 departure.

10:10 · Departs KEF

Icelandair to Bergen

Direct, 2h 20m. Norwegian coast appears through the right-hand windows on descent, your first glimpse of fjords.

Act Three · 1430 — 2300

Arrival in Bergen

14:30 · Land BGO

Taxi from BGO to hotel

Taxi rank is right outside arrivals at Flesland. ~45 min to central Bergen, flat rate ~NOK 600 for the car. Drops you at the hotel door.

15:30 · Check in

Drop bags at Scandic Torget

Five minutes' walk from Byparken. Hotel sits on Strandkaien, directly across the harbour from Bryggen.

16:00 · Wander

Bryggen and the fish market

Cross the harbour to the wooden Hanseatic warehouses, UNESCO-listed and painted in oxblood and ochre. The narrow alleys behind the main row have galleries and shops worth ducking into.

19:00 · Dinner

Pingvinen — traditional Norwegian pub

Eight minutes inland on Vaskerelven. Plukkfisk, fish soup, fish cakes, reindeer stew. Casual, family-friendly.

21:00 · Golden hour

Fløibanen funicular up Mt Fløyen

Seven-minute ride to 320m. The view at this hour: Bergen below, fjords spreading north, mountains stacked behind. Ride up, walk down through forest in 45 minutes; arrive back at the harbour while it's still light at 11pm.

Before you land

Download Bolt

The best ride-share app for Norway. More reliable than Uber in Bergen, download it before you fly.

Bolt

Best overall pick for Norway

Bolt is the top pick for most trips in Norway, it works in Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, and Stavanger. In Bergen in particular, Bolt has more drivers than Uber and tends to be more reliable. Open the app, request a ride, pay in-app, same experience as Uber but better coverage where you are.

Ride-sharing

Standard ride-hailing across Bergen. More drivers than Uber locally.

Bergen coverage

Airport to hotel, evening dinners, any trip you don’t want to walk.

Pay in-app

Link a card before you arrive, no cash, no language barrier.

Tip: Set it up and link your card before you land, you’ll need it on arrival from the airport and for evening trips throughout the Bergen days.

App Store, iOS Google Play, Android

Arriving in

Bergen, Norway

Norway’s second city sits at the foot of seven mountains on the edge of the western fjords. It was the largest city in Scandinavia for much of the Middle Ages and is still the most beautiful one.

Bergen was founded in 1070 by King Olav Kyrre and for two centuries served as Norway’s capital and primary trading port. The Hanseatic League, a powerful medieval merchant network based in Germany, established a trading post here in the 14th century called Bryggen, the old wooden wharf that still lines the harbour today. Those timber buildings are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which makes the fact that people live and work in them genuinely extraordinary.

The city sits at 60° north, encircled by seven mountains on three sides and open to the North Sea on the fourth. The mountains trap Atlantic weather systems, which is why Bergen is famously the wettest major city in Europe, over 2,200mm of rain a year, rain on more than 220 days. In July, though, it’s often glorious. Pack a layer and hope for the best.

Bergen is the gateway to the fjords. The Sognefjord, longest and deepest in the world, is two hours away. The city itself punches well above its size: it produced Edvard Grieg, has one of Europe’s great fish markets, and a pub culture that takes the local catch seriously. Pingvinen, where you’re eating tonight, is exactly that.

Founded

1070 AD

By King Olav Kyrre. Norway’s capital for two centuries.

Population

285k

Norway’s second city. About the size of Newcastle.

Surrounded by

7 fjell

Seven mountains. Mount Ulriken is the tallest at 643m.

July temperature

17°C

Warmer than Iceland. Cooler than you expect. Pack a layer.

Annual rainfall

2,250mm

Wettest major city in Europe. Rain on 220+ days a year.

UNESCO site

1979

Bryggen designated World Heritage. The buildings are still occupied.

Latitude

60°N

Further north than St Petersburg. Gateway to the western fjords.

Sunset in July

22:30

Long evenings. The golden hour light on Bryggen is worth staying up for.

Currency

Norwegian Krone (NOK). Not EU but in Schengen, no passport control from Iceland. Card accepted everywhere. Budget NOK 60–100 per coffee.

Language

Norwegian. Bergen has its own dialect, distinct enough that Oslo Norwegians sometimes struggle. Everyone speaks excellent English.

Weather

Genuinely unpredictable. Can be stunning. Pack a rain jacket regardless, a Bergen summer can deliver four seasons before lunch.

Bryggen

The UNESCO wharf buildings are not a museum, they’re lived and worked in. Walk through the narrow passages between them. It’s free and extraordinary.

Fish market

Fisketorget on the harbour. Tourist-heavy but the fish is genuinely excellent. Good for a browse or a quick lunch if you need it.

Getting around

The city centre is compact and walkable. Drive on the right. Taxis and the Bybanen light rail connect the centre to the airport.

NOK 6 = A$ 1

Norwegian krone → Australian dollars. Budget rate, actual rate is closer to kr 7–8 per dollar, but this gives you a built-in buffer so nothing is a surprise.

Budget rate

NOK 50 ~$8

NOK 100 ~$17

NOK 150 ~$25

NOK 200 ~$33

NOK 300 ~$50

NOK 400 ~$67

NOK 500 ~$83

NOK 600 ~$100

NOK 750 ~$125

NOK 1,000 ~$167

NOK 1,500 ~$250

NOK 2,000 ~$333

Your flight

Icelandair FI334

Keflavik to Bergen direct. A mid-morning departure, no alarm-clock heroics, and you land in time to settle into Bergen before dinner. Last look at Iceland from the air.

Icelandair · Direct Flight FI334 · Sun 5 July 2026 · Ref EV3W3D ✓ Confirmed

Amy

11D

Row 11

Aisle right

Henry

11E

Row 11

Middle, all together

Scarlett

11F

Row 11

Window right

Check-in closes

09:20 · 50 min before departure

Hold baggage

3 × 23kg hold bags (one per person)

Cabin baggage

1 carry-on + 1 personal item each

Airport

Keflavik International · Main terminal

Arrive airport by

08:30 · ~20 min from Reykjavík city

Online check-in

Opens 24h before · Print or app boarding pass

Morning plan

Morning Last breakfast in Reykjavík. Pack bags, check the apartment.

08:00 Taxi to Keflavik, ~45 min drive. Book in advance.

08:30 At KEF, bag drop, security. Airport is calm outside peak season.

At gate Browse duty-free, grab a coffee. Relax, civilised departure time.

Manage booking → Confirmation PDF → KEF Airport map →

Tonight's hotel

Scandic Torget

On Strandkaien, opposite the fish market and Bryggen. Best location of any hotel in central Bergen, walk everywhere from here.

Hotel · 3 nights Confirmed

★★★★ 4.0 · 1,349 Google reviews · Breakfast included

Scandic Torget Bergen

4-star hotel · Family Room

Modern Scandic on the harbour front, recently refurbished rooms, breakfast spread universally praised in reviews. Sun 5 July → Wed 8 July.

Address Strandkaien 2-6, 5013 Bergen

Phone +47 55 59 33 00

Website scandichotels.com

Check-in / out 16:00 / 12:00

Booked via Expedia

Booking reference EXP-2448759936

Expedia itinerary 73434756049871

Breakfast Included, served 06:30–10:30

Room type Family Room

Nights 3 · 5 → 8 July 2026

What to know

LaundryHotel laundry service available (fee), no self-service machines on-site.
BreakfastExtensive Scandic breakfast buffet included, eat well before the fjord days.
LocationBryggen wharf is a 2-min walk. Funicular to Mt Fløyen departs 10 min on foot.

Anchor points

The two essentials

You only have an evening in Bergen today. These are the two things to plan around, the rest is just walking the right streets.

UNESCO World Heritage

Bryggen

Hanseatic Wharf · Since c. 1070

A row of wooden trading houses leaning into the harbour, painted oxblood and ochre, repeatedly destroyed by fire and faithfully rebuilt. The narrow back alleys are the experience: leather workshops, weavers, glass artists working from buildings older than most countries.

Duration 1.5–2 hours

Cost Free

From hotel 5 min walk

View on map

Postcard view

Fløibanen Funicular

Mt Fløyen · 320m above the harbour

Seven minutes up the side of Bergen's home mountain. At the top: viewpoint, café, easy forest trails, a goat farm fifteen minutes' walk away. Ride up, walk down, the trail is well-marked and brings you back to the harbour in 45 minutes.

Duration 1.5–2 hours

Cost NOK 175 / 90 (kid)

From hotel 5 min walk

Book tickets Open in Maps

Tonight’s dinner

Where to eat

Bergen takes its fish seriously. Pingvinen is the neighbourhood pub that locals actually go to, no theatre, no tourist pricing, just proper Norwegian food cooked well. Eight minutes inland from the harbour.

The pub

Inside

Pingvinen

The Penguin, Bergen’s best neighbourhood Norwegian pub

4.5 ★ Google · 1,917 reviews Traditional Norwegian Vaskerelven 14 8 min from harbour Booking recommended Family-friendly

An unpretentious Norwegian pub, dark wood, low lighting, no fuss, serving the kind of food Norwegians actually eat at home. The menu changes with what’s available but always centres on fish: fish soup, plukkfisk (Bergen’s famous cod and potato hash), and fårikål when it’s in season. This is the real thing, not a tourist version of it.

Notes

Start with the fish soup, Bergen’s signature dish and Pingvinen’s version is one of the best in the city. The plukkfisk is the one to order for mains: cod broken through mashed potato with butter, completely simple, completely right. Book ahead in summer, it fills quickly.

Google ★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,917 reviews

TripAdvisor 4.2 · 1,808 reviews

Hours Daily 12:00–01:00
Kitchen closes 22:00

Reservations Recommended in summer
pingvinen.no

Website pingvinen.no

Phone +47 55 60 46 46

Bergen geography

Walking distances

Bergen's old town is genuinely tiny. Once you're in the city, everything below is within 600m of your hotel.

Hotel: Scandic Torget, on the harbour · Bryggen: 5 minutes walk · Fløibanen: 5 minutes walk · Pingvinen: 8 minutes walk · Fish Market: 1 minute walk

Logistics

What to actually know

Travel days have their own rhythms. Small junctures like taxi timings, baggage and check-in compound into stress if you skip them.

Reykjavík → KEF

Taxi from hotel, ask concierge to book the night before
~45 min to KEF, flat rate ~ISK 16,000–18,000 for the car
Good value split across the group vs. per-person alternatives
Allow 2.5h before your KEF→BGO flight
Drops you at the terminal door, no transfers needed
Flight FI334 · Confirmation: EV3W3D · Seats 11D / 11E / 11F

BGO arrival → city

Taxi rank right outside arrivals at Flesland
Flat rate ~NOK 600 for the car, good value for a group
~45 min to central Bergen, drops at hotel door
Drivers speak English; card payment accepted

Tonight in Bergen

Norway is more expensive than Iceland, brace for it
Tap card everywhere; no cash needed
Tipping not expected
Tap water excellent and free at restaurants
Sleep masks, sunset isn't until 11pm
Pack a waterproof for tomorrow's fjord day