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I drive from Oslo to Bergen over the mountains in Norway
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Oct 21, 2022
Drive with me as I travel from Oslo to Bergen in a VW Camper Van. This is a travel guide going along the National Road 7 in Norway, with stops at the major sights along the way. Also check out my website: https://www.norwaywithpal.com Thanks to: @tshansen for the drone footage (check out his channel for more videos from Norway) Petter Faye Wevle for lending me the Van Jørn Brandtæg with some of the music: https://www.instagram.com/jornbrandtz/ Chapters: 00:00 Intro 01:30 The Kistefos Museum 03:44 Hallingdalen Valley 05:19 Hallingdal Open Air Folk Museum 07:54 Waking up in Ål & an antique store 10:14 Into the mountains 11:19 Hardangervidda Mountain Plateau 13:45 Vøringsfossen waterfall 15:43 Måbødalen & Eidfjord 17:04 The Hardanger Suspension Bridge
View Video Transcript
0:00
Hi, Sal, I'm Paul from Norway, and in this episode I'm going to drive from Oslo to Bergen
0:12
The road from Oslo to Bergen stretches for about 465 kilometers from the east to the west
0:20
Along the way, I'll be stopping and exploring some of the best sites, such as the Chistefos Museum just outside Oslo
0:27
in an open near Folk Museum in Nesbyn. I'll be driving over the vast Hardungerwida mountain plateau
0:35
Past the stunning Wuringsfossen waterfall and along the idyllic Hardonger Fjord before arriving to the capital of the west Bergen
0:46
The van I'm driving is a Volkswagen camper van from 1986 and it'll be my mobile home for the next few days
0:55
First, I start driving out of Aslam. It doesn't take long before I'm out of the city, driving among forests and fields
1:07
heading northwest towards the town of Honeofos. I make a stop to fill up some diesel
1:14
Prices for fuel fluctuate a lot in Norway, and generally it costs more the further you get out of the bigger cities
1:21
Here I pay 14 kroner for one liter of diesel, which is on the cheap
1:25
side nowadays. Just before I arrived to Hewnafos I've decided to do a little detour
1:32
so I take a ride and head towards the Histefos Museum. I've been driving for about an
1:39
hour north of Oslo and it's a time to go in and check out the Histeafos Museum
1:45
Histeafos is one of Northern Europe's largest sculpture parks for contemporary art
1:52
There are more than 45 sculptures by significant contemporary artists. Several of the sculptures are made specifically for the museum and are inspired by the area here
2:05
the nature and the history. At Chesterfos you also find the remains of an old wood pulp mill which was in use up to the year
2:18
of 1955. And there is an industry museum where you can study the
2:22
turbines and how the wood pulp was produced for the European paper industry
2:28
This is actually Scandinavia's only intact wood pulp mill. The biggest attraction perhaps here at Chesterfos is called the Twist
2:38
And this is world-class architecture designed by the Danish architect Bjarke Ingalls
2:44
The twist is a sculpture in itself. It's also an art gallery and a spectacular view hovering over the Ransalva River
2:51
At the midway point it twists and crosses the river in a 60-meter span
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Inside there are art exhibitions and it's a real treat to see art in such an exciting environment
3:05
Even a trip down to the restrooms offers a fun experience with this guy standing and peeking in
3:11
I've just spent the whole day here at Chistefos Museum and I have to say that I'm very impressed
3:19
This museum has a lot of cool things to look at. So definitely a place to visit when you come to Norway
3:27
Heading over to my van here now, I'm going to sleep right on the parking lot here tonight
3:36
Then I'm going to drive on further towards Bergen tomorrow. The next day I turn back and drive past Honefos
3:47
And finally, I'm on the national road. where I will stay for a good portion of the trip
4:00
About an hour later, I make a stop by Lake Krueder, just northwest of Honefos
4:11
It's lunchtime and I'm having some hulse in lump and there are many different ways that you can take to Bergen
4:18
To get there, you can drive the E-16 and go through Flom and Voss
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You can go even further north and drive over the Sognen Mountain on National Road 55
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Or you can go further south on the road E-134. On this trip, I'm choosing to drive the National Road 7
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This is one of the fastest ways to get from Oslo to Bergen, and at the same time, it's also very scenic
4:44
The next part of the drive goes up Holding Darn, one of the major valleys of eastern Norway
4:51
And I follow the Hardanger River, same as the train, going from Oslo to Bergen
4:58
Hollingdarn is a region with a rich cultural heritage, and is especially known for the Hardanger Fela, the Hardanger Fidel
5:17
My next stop is at a museum in Nesbien Right now I at the Hallingdard Open Air Folk Museum I going to go and check out some of these old buildings
5:30
The Hallingdale Folk Museum was opened in 1890. In the museum you can find 30 historic buildings
5:37
And it's a great way to see how people lived in rural Norway back in the old days
5:43
An interesting part of the museum here is about the Svensan family
5:49
who emigrated from this area here back in 1862. And you can sort of go through their whole journey from when they left Norway
5:58
and until finally ended up settling in North Dakota. The story about the Svenson family tells the tale of many Norwegian immigrant families
6:08
back in the 1800s who went over to North America. Groh and Oles Svensson first went to Estherville in Iowa and got 10 children together
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After the 10th child, Groh passed away, and Ola resettled with the family in Hatton in North Dakota
6:24
The house that they lived in there was taken apart a few years back and shipped over to Norway
6:30
The house, which is created from solid oak logs, is standing here at the museum today
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And it gives you a glimpse into the life of a Norwegian family who left everything behind and started a new life in the US
6:47
I leave the museum and continue my drive up the Haldingdal Valley on National Road 7
6:54
At this point I have about 310 kilometers left to Bergen. Towards the end of the day, I make a stop at the Herad Church from 1934
7:27
I also make a stop at the Torpo Stave Church, and I'm impressed by the wood carvings on the main door
7:33
and the fact that the church was built back in the 1160s
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I end the day by driving to Ord, finding a nice spot for the van
7:44
and I jump in the water for a rather ice-coachers. cold evening swim
8:00
It's another beautiful day to wake up to you. Did I sleep well
8:05
I discovered just after I had parked the van that the train that goes between Oslo and Bergen
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it runs about 10 meters behind the van. So, woke up, couple of times but all in all I'm well rested on my other side here now I have the town of
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oar and today I'm going to start driving up onto the hardongervida mountain plateau
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I continue driving in this idyllic rural areas with as many farms covering the hillsides
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and sheep are grazing along the road I'm still on national road number seven and driving straight west towards
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Bergen. The Hollingdard Valley is known for its crafts, and I stopped by a local antique store
8:54
to see what he has to offer. Ruseemaring, or rose painting, as you can see here, is a decorative
9:01
folk painting, which was popular in Norway in the 1700s and well into the 1800s. It's inspired
9:08
by Baroque and Rococo art, and each region had their own styles. Often, you see it painted onto
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furniture and kitchen utensils. After this short stop I keep on driving along the Strana
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Fjord to my left, getting closer and closer to the mountains. I stopped by a couple more churches
9:58
This is the new church in Hord from 1924. And this is the old one, where the back part is a remain from the old stave church from the 1200s
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and the rest has been built throughout the centuries. From here I begin climbing up towards the mountains, passing by many cabins and farms and zigzagging my way through the back country of Norway
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I come up to a place here now which is called Haugasturl
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And this is where the railroad tracks, with the train that goes from Oslo to Bergen, sort of separates from the main road
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So the railroad tracks, they go a little bit further north towards Finse and Myrdal, where you can change the train and go down to Flam, for example
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while the main road, the National Road 7, continues over the Hardangevada mountain plateau towards Bergen
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After a short waffle stop in Haugustur, I finally enter Hardangervida. This area is one of the biggest mountain plateaus in northern Europe
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You find high mountains, glaciers in the far distance, waterfalls, fjords and vast plateaus
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It almost feels as if time is still. standing still up here
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And when no cars around, all you can hear is the wind blowing and the water running
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The National Road 7 stays open all year. In winter, the road conditions can change from hour to hour, and you can notice the wood
12:00
sticks next to the road, making it easier for the snowplow to remove the snow
12:07
I'm extremely lucky with the weather this day. blue skies and a great view of the surroundings
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There are many places where you can pull over and make a stop. One attraction is the stone monument next to the Ertarn Lake
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These cairns have been built by bypassers throughout the years. There's a long tradition in Norway of using cairns for marking the path in nature
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and especially in the old days they were of great importance showing safe passage over the mountain
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About halfway over the mountain, I stop at a small cafe for a late lunch
12:54
Up here they served traditional Norwegian food, and I order a plate of romegrut, sour cream
13:00
porridge, which is always served with cured meat, flatbread and red fruit juice
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One of my favorite Norwegian dishes. That was one incredible meal. There's something special about eating
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Rheme grotes, sour cream, porridge up in the mountains. A bit later in the day, I find a spot to park for the night
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In Norway, you're allowed to do so-called wild camping, meaning you can park on any public side road and stay there for the night
13:33
I find a beautiful spot next to a lake and with a nice view over the mountains
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I had a great sleep up in the mountains here and woke up to this beautiful landscape
13:54
Today I'm going to start driving down the mountain into the Moabudalen Valley
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But before that I'm going to visit what is probably one of the highlights of this trip
14:03
and that is the Wuringsfossen waterfall. The Wurtingsfossen waterfall is easy accessible from the main road, and there is a parking lot just nearby
14:23
There are safe platforms to walk on and good viewpoints all around. From here, you see down the Mawbudalun valley, where I'll be driving later on, and the roaring sound is, of course, Wertingsfossen itself
14:38
I follow a path through the forest going down towards the river and a new bridge that I'm eager to check out
14:51
It's a quite spectacular experience to walk the 99 steps over the ridge with a roaring river running wild underneath
15:45
Next, I start driving down the steep and narrow Moebudalne Valley. The old road that went here was the first road connection between eastern and western Norway
15:56
The new road that I'm driving on now, opened in 1986. It's a quite curvy road with many tunnels, and it's a thrilling ride down to the bottom of
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the valley Well down in the valley I arrived to Upper Eidfjjjur where I heard that goats are able to climb up on a roof so I make a stop to check it out
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Goats on the roof? Check. A bit further on and I arrived to Eidfjord and drive by the old Eidfjjjr church and park the van down by the waterfront
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I always find it interesting in Norway when you come from inland. and you cross over a mountain, you come down on the other side, and you smell salt water
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And that's what I smell here, because this is a fjord, which stretches all the way to Bergen
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So I'm going to enjoy a little meal here now, and then I'm going to drive on. And in case you wondered, I had a good portion of Norwegian chutecacier, meat cakes in a brown gravy with potatoes and surrogord, sourcrowts
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I continue my drive west along the fjord, quickly approaching the impressive Hardungir bridge
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which goes across the Eid Fjorn branch off of the main Hardunger Fjord
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It replaced a ferry connection here and shortened the time driving between Oslo and Bergen
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With its 1,380 meters, the Hardunger Bridge is the longest suspension bridge in Norway
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Also, it's quite a spectacular sight. On each end of the bridge, there's a tunnel, and it's actually the line of the bridge, there's a tunnel, and it's actually the long
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longest tunnel-to-tunnel suspension bridge in the world. I park my van for the night at what we call for a Rasta place in Norwegian, a rest area
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with an info point about the region, a viewpoint of the Scherfsfosen, waterfall, and this one indicates that you're on a national tourist road
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You're actually allowed to spend one night at a Rastaplas, and their use a place
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usually equipped with restrooms. Also, with a view. Tomorrow I'm going to drive into Bergen. I have about an hour and a half lift
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but that's tomorrow, so I'll see you again there. Next day I start driving along the Hardanger Fjord
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This is the second longest fjord in Norway and stretches for 179 kilometers
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It's a scenic drive on a typical narrow Fjord road, with the Fjord on one side and the
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mountain on the other. There are several bridges and I pass by a small
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farms and communities along the way, which have been in this area for hundreds of years
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It's a wild and lush landscape, also known for its fruit production and some other Norwegian
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specialities. It's time to go and pick up some local supplies. At a small shop by the road
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I find some delicious hardonger apples. In fruit juice pressed that same day, there's
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Hardanger Lefse, and of course some real Norwegian goat cheese, brown cheese. Brown cheese
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I'm in heaven. Before driving into Bergen, I make one last stop at Steinsdahl's Fossen
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one of the most popular waterfalls in Norway. With its 50-meter drop, it's quite beautiful
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and you can walk behind the waterfall and enjoy the power of the roaring water without getting wet
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And my next stop and last stop will be Bergen. After having drive almost 464 kilometers, I'm on the outskirts of Bergen, meeting up with civilization, and Bergen is giving me its authentic weather experience
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So I made it into Bergen. You can see the Brighun behind me here
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I had a really good time driving from Oslo to here. I've spent about four days
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but this is a trip that you can do in one long day. But if you want to see some of the sites that I have seen
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I recommend you to split it up into at least two days. I hope you enjoyed this episode
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Maybe this is a road trip you would have liked to do yourself. leave a comment below and I'll see you soon again until then take care and all right
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