Open boats
RIB fjord tours: the fastest, wettest way onto the water
Two trips on this page are not cruises at all. They are rigid inflatables — open, fast, with floatation suits issued at the dock — and between them they hold the two highest ratings on the whole page.
Quick answer
RIB fjord tours cost $94 for seventy-five minutes from Norheimsund or $136 for a hundred and five minutes from Ulvik. Both run on the Hardangerfjord rather than from Bergen, both issue floatation suits, and they are rated 4.9 and 4.8 — the highest scores on this page.
RIB trips, at a glance
- Fyksesund, from Norheimsund
- $9475 minutes, rated 4.9
- Ulvik
- $136105 minutes, rated 4.8
- Boat
- Rigid inflatableopen, fast, low to the water
- Clothing
- Floatation suits issuedworn over your own clothes
- Where they leave from
- Hardangerfjord villagesnot from Bergen
- Fyksesund
- A narrow side armthe tight water on the Hardangerfjord
- Season
- Fyksesund runs all yearthe Ulvik trip is seasonal
- Speed
- Much faster than a cruisemore fjord covered per minute
- Spray
- Expect itthis is the trade for being close to the water
- Free cancellation
- Bothup to 24 hours before
What a RIB trip is actually like
Low, fast and loud, and completely different from a cruise
A metre above the water in a floatation suit, fast, wet — and rated higher than anything else here.
You are a metre above the water. On a cruise boat you look down at a fjord; in a RIB the water is right there, and the walls feel taller for it.
You wear a suit. Floatation suits are issued at the dock and go on over your own clothes. They keep the spray off and they are warm, which matters more than it sounds when the boat is doing thirty knots in September.
It covers ground. A hundred and five minutes in a RIB reaches a great deal more fjord than a hundred and five minutes on a cruise boat. That is the argument for the Ulvik trip.
And it can go where the big boats cannot. The Fyksesund is a thin arm off the main Hardangerfjord, and a small fast boat is the right way into it.
Who should not book one. Anyone who wants to be warm, dry and seated with a coffee. That is a cruise, and the Mostraumen boats do it well.
If you want the warm, seated version instead — the three-and-a-half-hour classic.
The Mostraumen route→Common questions
RIB trips, answered
How much is a RIB fjord tour?
$94 for seventy-five minutes from Norheimsund, or $136 for a hundred and five minutes from Ulvik.
Do RIB tours leave from Bergen?
Not these two. They leave from Norheimsund and Ulvik, villages on the Hardangerfjord, so allow the drive out.
What do you wear?
Floatation suits are issued at the dock and go over your own clothes. Wear closed shoes and something you do not mind getting damp underneath.
Is a RIB better than a cruise?
It is closer to the water, faster and wetter, and both RIB trips here are rated above 4.8. A cruise is warm, seated and three times as long.
Do they run in winter?
The Fyksesund trip from Norheimsund runs all year. The Ulvik trip is seasonal.
What is the Fyksesund?
A narrow side arm of the Hardangerfjord near Norheimsund — tight water that suits a small fast boat better than a big one.
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.
