Duration
How long is a Bergen fjord cruise? Three and a half hours, usually
The answer people are looking for is almost always the same one: the standard Bergen fjord cruise is three to three and a half hours, quay to quay. Everything else on this page is either a quarter of that or three times it.
Quick answer
A Bergen fjord cruise takes three to three and a half hours, quay to quay, from Strandkaien in the city centre. That is the Mostraumen route, which is what the three cheapest listings here all are. The shortest trip on this page is seventy-five minutes by RIB; the longest is eleven and a half hours to Flåm.
Every duration on this page
- Fyksesund by RIB
- 75 minutes$94, from Norheimsund
- Ulvik by RIB
- 105 minutes$136, from Ulvik
- Mostraumen
- 3–3.5 hoursfrom $68, three operators
- Rosendal
- 7 hours$88, with time ashore
- Private yacht day
- 7 hours$3,450, priced per boat
- Nærøyfjord, private
- 10 hours$1,218, own guide
- Nærøyfjord, winter
- 11 hours$299
- Flåm, railway and fjord
- 11.5 hours$427
- Time ashore on Mostraumen
- Noneit is a round trip
- Time ashore at Rosendal
- About 3.5 hoursvillage, manor and garden
Why three and a half hours is the right length
What the standard cruise fits in
Long enough to reach the strait and come back — and short enough to leave the afternoon.
It is the time it takes to get somewhere real and come back. Thirty minutes to clear Bergen, forty more to get into the Osterfjord where the walls close in, twenty for the strait and the waterfall, and the same again home. You cannot do the Mostraumen route in two hours because the fjord is where it is.
It leaves the afternoon. A morning sailing has you back in the city by lunchtime with Bryggen, the funicular and the fish market all still ahead of you. For anyone with two days in Bergen, that is decisive.
And it is long enough to go outside twice. Most people spend the first hour on the deck, go in to warm up, and come back out for the strait. Three and a half hours is the length that allows that; seventy-five minutes is not.
When a different length is right
Seventy-five minutes, or eleven hours
RIBs are shorter and faster; the Flåm days are long mostly because of the distance.
Seventy-five to a hundred and five minutes: the RIB trips. Shorter because they are much faster and because they start on the Hardangerfjord rather than in Bergen. You cover more water in less time, in an open boat, in a floatation suit.
Seven hours: Rosendal. Two on the water each way plus three and a half ashore. The only trip here with an afternoon on land.
Ten to eleven and a half hours: the Nærøyfjord days. Long because Flåm is a long way from Bergen. Only a couple of those hours are on a fjord; the rest is the railway, the bus to Stegastein and the road.
Common questions
Duration, answered
How long is a fjord cruise from Bergen?
Three to three and a half hours, quay to quay, on the standard Mostraumen route from Strandkaien in the city centre.
Is there a shorter fjord trip?
The RIB trips are seventy-five and a hundred and five minutes, but they leave from Norheimsund and Ulvik on the Hardangerfjord rather than from Bergen.
Is there a half-day option from Bergen?
The Mostraumen cruise is the half-day option. There is nothing shorter that leaves from the city itself.
How long is the Flåm day trip?
About eleven and a half hours, of which only a couple are on the fjord. The rest is the Flåm Railway, the Stegastein bus and the road there and back.
Do you get time off the boat?
Not on the Mostraumen route. The Rosendal run gives you about three and a half hours ashore, and the Flåm days include Flåm and Stegastein.
How early should I arrive?
About half an hour before departure. The ticket is a mobile voucher and boarding is straightforward.
Go deeper
More on fjord cruises from Bergen
What it costs
From $68 to $427, and what an hour on the water is worth.
The verdictWhich cruise is best
All eleven ranked, and the three that are one trip.
The classicThe Mostraumen route
Three and a half hours through a strait fifty metres wide.
HardangerThe Hardangerfjord
A hundred and seventy-nine kilometres, and how to reach it.
RosendalRosendal and the manor
Seven hours, and a house built in 1665.
UNESCOThe Nærøyfjord
Two hundred and fifty metres wide at its narrowest.
