For a city which isn’t much larger than Aberdeen or Southampton, Bergen is remarkably well-served by all forms of transport. This is partly, of course, due to its being the second city in a country larger than Great Britain and Ireland combined with a population which only reached five million last year. Small towns which probably wouldn’t even merit a train station back home have airports.
Bergen airport, known as Flesland, has flights to many international destinations including Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Dublin, Liverpool, London and Manchester in the UK and Ireland and also serves numerous destinations all over Europe. There are also several flights a day to Oslo where Gardermoen airport has flights all over the globe.
Flying is the easiest way to get around Norway, and both Norwegian (Norwegian.no) and Widerøe (widerøe.no) serve a great number of domestic destinations from Bergen at very competitive prices.
Flesland can be reached easily by road as it lies just to the south of the city and is also served by the Flybussen (flybussen.no) bus service which has several pick-up points in the city centre as well as at Oasen in the Fyllingsdalen suburb en-route to the airport. A return ticket is valid for thirty days and costs 100NOK from the city centre or 80NOK from Oasen/Fjøsanger.
For those who wish to see the country from the ground there are four daily trains run by the national rail network NSB (nsb.no) to Oslo, which leave from the very centrally situated train station four times per day including an overnight service. Journey times vary from 6hrs 29mins to 7 hrs 17mins.
Due to Norway’s geography the rail network isn’t as developed as most other countries but the roads are generally very well maintained and buses run from Bergen to other towns and cities all over the country and are usually less pricey than trains.
For those who desire more leisurely travel the famous Hurtigruten (hurtigruten.no) ferries leave from Bergen on their trip up the beautiful coastline all the way to Kirkenes in the far north. There is also a ferry which leaves Bergen for Hirtshals in Denmark (fjordline.com), which is a popular trip for Norwegians stocking up on duty-free goods and having a party on the overnight trip.
