Day 3: bergen
Still jet lagged but started the day bright and early! Had breakfast at the Clarion Hotel Bergen, which is a pretty great selection for breakfast buffet. Mix of fried eggs, scrambled, soft or hard boiled eggs but all fresh and not the stale kind you usually find in the U.S. Lots of other items to choose from as well, including croissants, various muffins and breads, ham, cheese, fruit, smoked fish, baked vegetables like mushroom and tomatoes, fish cakes, potatoes, etc.!
After breakfast, headed over to catch the Mt. Ulriken shuttle bus to catch the cable car up the mountain! This attraction is about 15 min. from the city center by bus, which leaves every half hour on the hour. For the return, it’s leaves from the cable car station every :15 or :45, from 9 am to 6:30 pm in June. No need to buy tickets in advance. It was easy to buy at the shuttle stop. There is a white tent near the corner of the restaurant Bjerk and close to Visitor Information Center with an attendant sitting outside where you can easily buy the ticket a few minutes before it’s supposed to leave.
The cable car opened in 2021 and takes visitors up to the top (higher than Floyen Furnicular). Today was a beautiful day and gorgeous views of the city and surroundings!
There’s also the options to take 1,333 steps from the bottom instead of riding the cable car. I saw a lot of locals do this. Many were also running or just going for multiple walks up and cable car down!
Once at the top there is a cafe and toilets. Great views and there’s an option to hike around the mountain. The map indicated there was an easy trail—I’d say this trail is easy for Norwegians but probably not people who are not avid hikers! There was a lot of gravel rocks and steep rocks steps to step down into the trails and if you’re on the shorter side, not sure of your footing, not wearing the best grip sneakers, these trails might not be for you. You can navigate as much or as little as you want though.
The easiest hike is supposed to be one hour one way to Turnerhykken. But I didn’t get very far as my sneakers don’t have the best grip and just walked maybe half a mile out to this little lake with a house in the back.
Despite the lack of a real hike here I still enjoyed my time up on Ulriken and recommend a visit. Just plan accordingly! I spent a few hours here to enjoy the views.
The rest of the day was spent having another delicious soup from the Daily Pot and managing jet lag! Dinner was at Fjellskal, which was a bit underwhelming but had great seats on the patio. It’s expensive and expected a little more quality wise. The mussels were also not as good as the place the night before. The salmon was good but not the best I’ve ever had or anything. Overall was ok but wouldn’t eat here again if I had the chance for the price!
