Mount Fløyen

One of my favorite parts of Bergen is how accessible the mountains are. Bergen is surrounded by mountains, and you can just start walking from the middle of town and go straight up a mountain.

The easiest way to do that is to take the cable car from the center of the city up Mount Fløyen. It’s a great short trip if you’re looking for a view over the city, and you can choose whether to walk up or take the cable car up. The funicular cuts off about an hour of hiking to reach the overlook site.

I was in Bergen before and after my trip to the Faroe Islands due to difficulty booking flights directly to the Faroes. I decided to take this opportunity to go out for a ten mile hike, starting by climbing up to Fløyen and then looping around the mountains and taking a cable car back down. (The linked hiking description has the hike directions going the other way but has helpful tracks).

The hike from Bergen to Fløyen is a decent amount of uphill, but the trails are easy to follow. There are a variety of trails, from gravel roads to trails through the woods. I chose to take a combination of roads and trails.

Once you hit the lookout point, you can stop for a coffee at the cafe or just keep hiking. I stopped to take pictures (of course) and then continued on towards my next landmark, Store tindevannet. It’s a lake about a mile from Fløyen, and it’s a popular destination for people who want to borrow boats or picnic.

This isn’t actually Store Tindevannet, because there were people changing next to the lake, and I felt awkward taking photos. But it’s the smaller lake you pass on the way. 

The trail through this section gains elevation, but it’s all easily passable roads. 

Eventually, you climb enough to reach a plateau over the city. From here, the trail goes up and down slightly, but there aren’t any climbs left. The trail is easy to follow throughout this whole section. The day I hiked, there were tons of families with young kids doing the hike. 

Not going to lie, I felt slightly intimidated by the Norwegian children carrying backpacks that were bigger than they were without a hitch. This was before I had decided to do any cabin to cabin hiking, and my only experience with a heavy backpack had been an ill-fated college orientation trip. 

Once you hit the plateau, you also start to see mountains - not just looking back towards the city nestled in between mountains, but out into the wilderness. I’d hiked four miles so far, and I was already in a place where I couldn’t hear or see the city I had come from. 

The proximity to nature and wilderness is one of my absolute favorite things about Norway, and this hike was another great example of that. If I had taken the funicular up, I could have been in the wilderness in just an hour. 

The path through this section was still easy to follow. The trail was very well maintained and well marked. 

Because it was late September, I also got to see the mountains changing from green to gold with the seasons. It was a beautiful hike, and I loved the color contrast between the sky, the rocks, and the  mountains.

I eventually reached the end station, which was easy to spot with its giant radio tower sticking up. It’s easy to see from the distance, although it does ruin the whole being-in-the-wilderness vibe. 

Once I reached it, I decided to take a break and look around before taking the cable car back down. During the summers, this would have been a great place to stop and have a drink (or in my case, more likely cake), but I was unfortunately hiking during the time of year where it starts to get dark and cold early.

Once I took the cable car down, I actually had to figure out how to get back to the AirBnB where I was staying. I had a last minute booking, and rather than staying in the center of Bergen, I was staying on the outskirts. It was a great AirBnB, but unfortunately required some coordination with the bus schedule. 

Overall - this is a great hike if you’ve got a day in Bergen and want to get out hiking. It’s really easy to get to from the city center, and it gives you a great sense of what the hiking in Norway is like. You can combine this hike with longer hikes that go over the mountains as well - just make sure to either take a tent or check your route back in advance, since there aren’t close DNT cabins.