The classic
Mostraumen fjord cruise: fifty metres wide, three and a half hours
This is the trip almost everyone means when they say «fjord cruise from Bergen». Three operators sail it, more than seventeen thousand people have rated it, and the thing it is built around is a strait you could throw a stone across.
Quick answer
The Mostraumen fjord cruise runs three to three and a half hours from central Bergen and costs $68, $75 or $85 depending on which operator you book. It goes out through the Byfjord and Osterfjord, passes under waterfalls, and threads the Mostraumen strait — about six hundred metres long and only around fifty metres wide at its narrowest, with a tidal current through it.
The route, at a glance
- Duration
- 3–3.5 hoursquay to quay, round trip
- Departs from
- Strandkaiencentral Bergen, near Bryggen
- Price
- $68–$85three operators, same route
- The strait
- About 600 m longand roughly 50 m at its narrowest
- Current
- Tidalthe passage is timed against the water
- Time ashore
- Noneit is a round trip by boat
- Reviews across the three
- Over 17,000the most-rated trip in Bergen
- Runs
- All yearincluding through the winter
- On board
- Saloon and open deckthe deck is where the trip happens
- Free cancellation
- Yesup to 24 hours before
What happens, hour by hour
Three and a half hours from the quay and back
Harbour, then the Osterfjord, then a fifty-metre strait, then a waterfall, then home.
The first half hour is Bergen. Out of the harbour past the Bryggen wharf and the fish market, then the suburbs, then the Byfjord opening out with mountains standing up on both sides. This is the warm-up.
Then the Osterfjord. The water narrows, the walls get closer and steeper, and waterfalls start coming down in numbers rather than singly. The boat slows for them.
Then the strait. Mostraumen is the point of the trip: roughly six hundred metres long and fifty metres wide at its narrowest, with a tidal current running through it. The skipper times the passage against the water, and on a strong tide you can watch the boat work against it.
Then the waterfall. The bow is taken right in under a fall and the crew usually fill a glass straight from it. This is the photograph everybody comes home with.
And back. A different light on the return, and most of the deck goes inside to warm up somewhere around the second hour.
Which of the three operators
The same water at three prices
Three operators, three prices, one route — and no bad choice among them.
$75 — the original. 10,064 ratings at 4.7. If you want the version the largest number of people have judged, this is unambiguously it.
$85 — with a live guide. 2,789 ratings at 4.7. A person talking you through the fjord for three hours. Worth the difference if you like knowing what you are looking at.
$68 — the local operator. 4,426 ratings at 4.6, and the lowest price on the whole page. Same strait, same waterfall.
There is no trap here and no bad choice. Compare the departure times against your day, look at the review counts, and book whichever suits.
The cheapest of the three, and what you give up by taking it.
The cheapest boat→Common questions
Mostraumen, answered
How long is the Mostraumen fjord cruise?
Three to three and a half hours, quay to quay, from Strandkaien in central Bergen. There is no time ashore.
What is Mostraumen?
A tidal strait at the head of the Osterfjord, about six hundred metres long and only around fifty metres wide at its narrowest. A current runs through it with the tide.
How much does it cost?
$68, $75 or $85 depending on which of the three operators you book. The route is the same.
Is the Mostraumen cruise worth it?
On the evidence, yes: more than seventeen thousand people have rated the three versions, and all three sit at 4.6 or above.
Do you get off the boat?
No. It is a round trip on the water, which is why it fits into half a day.
Does it run in winter?
Yes, all year. Days are short, so take the earliest sailing you can.
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.
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.
The long dayFlåm and the railway
Boat, train and bus in one eleven-hour booking.
