10 Places That Make Norway a Once-in-a-Lifetime Trip

Welcome to Optimize Travel Destinations. My name is Laura and I am part of the OptimizeTravel.com team. We help travelers plan amazing trips through our concierge service and our team has put together the absolute best places Norway has to offer. These are the 10 best places to visit in Norway. Let's start the countdown. Number 10. Brukan. Brukan is a town in a valley so deep and narrow that from October to February the sun never reaches it. The mountains block it completely. So in 2013 they installed three giant mirrors on the mountainside and aimed them at the town square. Every sunny winter day a concentrated beam of reflected sunlight hits the market square while everything around it remains in shadow. I watched people sitting in the light with their faces turned upward and their eyes closed. It was one of the strangest and most human things I've ever seen. Brukan sits in a narrow valley in Telemark county, central Norway, about three hours west of Oslo by bus. The Veymork plant above town has its own extraordinary story. This is where heavy water was produced during the Nazi occupation and where Norwegian saboteurs carried out one of the most daring operations of the second world war. The museum inside the old plant is genuinely gripping. Come in winter for the mirrors or come in summer for the hiking. The Gaustatoppen summit nearby has one of the widest views in Norway on a clear day. If you only have time for one unexpected Norwegian town, Brukan is the one I'd send you to. You will need a full day for the mirrors and the Veymork museum or two days if you want to hike. Number nine Brurås. Brurås in winter is one of those experiences that doesn't feel real while you're in it. The whole town is wooden, 300 years old, half buried in snow and the sky above it is the kind of dark blue you only get at an altitude in the far north. There's wood smoke in the air, there are reindeer on the edge of town. I kept looking around, convinced someone had built a film set. Brurås sits at 628 meters above sea level on the Brurås plateau in Tørndalag county, about two and a half hours southeast of Trondheim by train. The entire town is a UNESCO world heritage site. It survived because copper mining kept it economically relevant for three centuries and then declined before anyone seriously modernized it, so the buildings just stayed. The old smelting works is still standing and you can walk through it. The winter market in February is when Brurås really comes alive. Dog sled teams, reindeer racing and traders selling from the backs of horse-drawn sleds. It's been happening for over 300 years. Get there early in the week if you can. I think Brurås is the most atmospheric town in Norway. It has a quality of preserved life that very few places in Europe can match. Two nights does it justice. Spend one day for the town itself and one for the Number 8. Ålesund. Ålesund burned to the ground in 1904. Three thousand people lost their homes in a single night. And then, because Kaiser Wilhelm II happened to admire the town and sent ships filled with building materials, it was rebuilt within three years in a single architectural style Art Nouveau. Every building was designed in the same decade. The result is one of the most visually coherent small cities anywhere in Europe. Ålesund sits on a series of islands on the western Norwegian coast in Møreagsramsdal county, about five hours north of Bergen by boat or coastal express. The Aksla viewpoint is 418 steps up from the city center and the view from the top is extraordinary. The whole town arranged across its islands, the fjords stretching in every direction, the mountains behind. I recommend going at sunset and bringing something warm. Ålesund is also the gateway to J. Rangerfjord, which appears further up this list, but the town itself deserves its own night. Walk the Art Nouveau streets in the morning before the cruise ships dock. The facades catch the morning light beautifully before the crowds arrive. If you're combining the fjords with the architecture, Ålesund is the place to base yourself. Don't just pass through. I'd say that two nights feels like the right time to stay. Number seven Hardangerfjord. I came to Hardangerfjord in May and I was completely unprepared for the apple orchards. The fjord banks are lined with them and in May they're all in blossom. White flowers right down to the water's edge with glacier cap mountains above and the fjord below. I've rarely seen a landscape this dramatically beautiful and I've been going to Norway for years. Hardangerfjord stretches east from the Norwegian west coast in Vestland County, about two hours southeast of Bergen by road or ferry. The Veringsfossen waterfall drops 182 meters into a gorge and there's a viewpoint right at the edge. The new viewing platform cantilevered over the gorge is genuinely thrilling. You look straight down at the water hitting the rocks below. Not for people who struggle with heights, perfect for everyone else. The Fulgafana glacier sits on the plateau above the fjord and you can walk on it in summer with a guide. Crampons on, ice all around you and the fjord visible far below. It's one of those experiences that doesn't feel like it belongs in the same afternoon as a village lunch and a fjord ferry. Come in May for the blossoms, September for the autumn colors or winter for the snow and the quiet. All three are completely different and all three are worth it. Base yourself in Bergen and take day trips. The full Hardangerfjord loop by car takes a full day and covers everything. Number six, Bergen. Bergen is the rainiest city in Norway and the Norwegians will tell you this with a kind of pride. There's a category of Bergen humor built entirely around the weather and the thing is they're right to be proud of it. The rain keeps it green, the clouds make the light strange and beautiful and the city has this particular atmosphere that comes from being somewhere with real weather rather than just climate. Bergen sits on the southwestern coast of Norway in Vestland County. It's the second largest city in Norway and the traditional gateway to the fjords. The Bergen warehouses are what you've seen in every photo. The colored wooden facades along the quay. Get there before 9 a.m. before the cruise ship passengers arrive. An hour before breakfast, Bergen is yours. The light on the timber, the smell of the sea, the whole thing perfectly still. That's the Bergen worth crossing Europe for. Fløbanen funicular goes up to Fløen mountain in eight minutes and gives you Bergen from above. Seven mountains encircling the city and sea, the harbor below. There are hiking trails at the top that most visitors don't bother with. Make the time for them. I find Bergen more enjoyable as a city to be in than as a place to rush through on the way to the fjords. Stay two nights and you'll understand why so many people end up wanting to come back. Bergen is well connected by flight from across Europe and by Fløm railway and ferry to the western fjords. Try to stay at least two nights. Number five. Fløm and Nærre fjord. The Fløm railway is one of the most dramatic train journeys in Europe. It drops 860 meters in under an hour through tunnels that spiral inside mountains, past waterfalls so close they spray the train windows, and out into a landscape so vertical it barely seems like it should exist. I've done it twice and I'd do it again immediately. Fløm sits at the end of Arlandsfjord in Beslund county, connected to Myrdal on the Bergen-Oslo railway, making it accessible from both cities. Nærre fjord, the narrowest fjord in the world with UNESCO status, is a 20-minute boat ride from Fløm. The walls close in to 250 meters across in places. Waterfalls coming straight off the cliffs into the water, eagles circling above the rim. On a kayak you're right at the surface of it, which is the right way to understand the scale. The area gets busy in summer. The best strategy is to arrive the evening before, stay overnight in Fløm, and get on the water early in the morning before the day trippers from the Bergen-Oslo train arrive. The fjord in the morning light with no boats around is something else entirely. If you do only one fjord, do Nærre fjord. And if you do Nærre fjord, take the kayak, not just the ferry. Staying overnight in Fløm is absolutely worth it. Number four, Tromsø. The first time I saw the northern lights, I was standing outside Tromsø at 2 in the morning in minus 15, after being driven out to a dark hillside by a guide, checking aurora forecasts every 15 minutes. And then they appeared and they moved. That's the thing nobody tells you. They don't sit there, they dance. They roll and fold and change color while you're watching. I completely forgot how cold I was. Tromsø sits on an island 350 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle in Tromsøg, Finnmark County, the largest city in northern Norway. For northern lights, Tromsø is the most reliable base in Europe. The season runs October to March, and the combination of latitude, accessible infrastructure, and local guiding expertise makes it easier to get a clear sky sighting here than almost anywhere else. The midnight sun in summer is the other side of that coin. The sun staying above the horizon for weeks, children playing outside at midnight, the whole rhythm of the day and night suspended. It's disorienting and strange, and completely worth experiencing at least once. The Arctic Cathedral across the bridge glows against the night sky when it's lit up. The dog sledding excursions outside the city are one of the best things you can do in Norway. Both are worth planning time for. Fly into Tromsø. It has direct connections from Oslo and several European cities. Stay three nights minimum to have a good chance at the northern lights and still see the city. Number three, Preikestolen. Preikestolen is a flat-topped cliff that sticks out over Lisefjord at 604 meters. There's no fence, no barrier. You walk to the edge and sit down with your legs dangling over nothing. The fjord below, mountains all around. I know that sounds terrifying, but you get there and it somehow just feels right. Like this is exactly where you're supposed to be standing. Preikestolen sits above Lisefjord in Rogaland County. Accessible from Stavanger on the western Norwegian coast, about four hours south of Bergen. The hike up takes about two hours each way and the trail is well maintained but genuinely steep in sections. It's worth every step. Leave early in the morning. The plateau fills up by midday in summer and the experience changes completely with 50 people on it. Here's something most visitors miss. Take the boat through Lisefjord before or after the hike. From the water, looking up at Preikestolen 600 meters above you, the scale barely seems real. You need both perspectives to understand what you're actually looking at. I've done a lot of viewpoints in Norway, but Preikestolen is the one I still think about. Do the hike early and book the fjord boat for the afternoon. Number two. Sognefjord. Sognefjord is 204 kilometers long and over a kilometer deep in places. The numbers don't really mean anything until you're standing on a ferry and the fjord just keeps continuing into the distance. You round a headland and there's more. Another headland, more fjord. The scale builds slowly and then suddenly it's enormous. Sognefjord stretches east from the western Norwegian coast across Vestalen county. The longest and deepest fjord in Norway, accessible from Bergen via ferry or train. Balestrand is the small village I keep recommending as a base. There is a wooden hotel on the waterfront, swans drifting across the fjord, almost nobody else around. The contrast with Bergen is dramatic and completely welcome. Mundal, the book town, is a village of perhaps 300 people on a Sognefjord arm where every available space in every building is crammed with secondhand books. It sounds charming and it is, but what makes it extraordinary is the setting. Fjord on one side, waterfalls dropping directly into the village on the other. The Jostedalsbreen glacier, the largest in mainland Europe, is accessible from several points along the fjord. Nygardsbreen is one of the most beautiful glacier tongues anywhere and you can walk right up to the ice. Do it while you can, it's receding noticeably year on year. I actually think the Sognefjord is more rewarding than the fjord for a longer visit. It has more variety, more places to explore, more depth to it. Allow three to four days. The ferry from Bergen to Balestrand takes about five hours or fly to Bergen and take the scenic route. Before we get to number one, a quick word about optimized travel. Planning a Norway trip is genuinely complex. The fjords are spread across a coastline hundreds of kilometers long. Transport connections vary massively by season and the difference between a good itinerary and a great one usually comes down to details people only discover after they've already booked. Our concierge team plans trips across Norway regularly. Head to optimizetravel.com or click the link in the description. And now, number one, Lofoten. I've tried to describe Lofoten to people and I've given up trying. You say arctic archipelago and red fishing huts and northern lights in the harbor and they nod politely. Then they go and they come back saying why didn't you tell me? And I want to say I did but you have to be there. Lofoten is an archipelago of islands extending into the Norwegian sea 100 kilometers north of the arctic circle in Norland county, reached by ferry from Buda or by plane from Oslo. Reina is the village at the western end of the island chain and it's the image that's in every Lofoten photograph. Red row brewer fishing huts on the water, the Lofoten wall rising behind, the whole thing reflected in the fjord when the weather cooperates. I arrived on an early morning in February. The sky was still dark, the lights from the huts reflected across the water. I sat there in the cold for an hour before I even went inside. The light here is unlike anywhere else I've been. Low angle arctic light that hits things sideways for most of the day, turning ordinary scenes into something close to painting. Artists have been coming to Lofoten for this light for more than a century. You understand why immediately. In winter, if the sky is clear, you see the northern lights from the harbor without going anywhere. In summer, the midnight sun keeps the sky light all night with cod hanging to dry on racks along the shoreline. Both are worth experiencing. My favorite version of Lofoten is a week in February in a row brewer on the water. No particular agenda, just the light and the cold and the feeling that the world has gotten very simple and very clear. Fly to Buda from Oslo and take the ferry or fly direct to Leknes or Slovær. Stay at least four nights though. Lofoten needs time to give you everything it has. These are the 10 best places to visit in Norway from the sun all the way to the arctic light of Lofoten. Norway is one of those destinations that doesn't ask anything of you except to show up and pay attention. If you're ready to start planning, head to optimizetravel.com. Our team is ready to help you build the perfect Norwegian itinerary. And let me know in the comments the northern lights in the winter or the midnight sun in summer. Which experience would you choose? Drop it below. We read every single one. If you found this useful, don't forget to subscribe. We cover the world's best destinations every week and we'd love to have you along.