Ferry to Bergen

Since the middle-ages Bergen has been the centre of trade in Norway busy with ships arriving and departing in the harbour of Bergen with close contacts to continental Europe as well as UK and the rest of Norway. A good example is the coastal express line Hurtigruten, with daily departures from Bergen. The steep mountains rising when trying to cross Norway eastwards to Oslo made transportation by sea the only means of communications with the rest of the country until the 20th century when the new railway line "Bergensbanen" between Bergen and Oslo started to take over.

Bergen is still well connected by its sea routes:

Hurtigruten - The Norwegian Coastal Voyage
"The world's most beautiful sea voyage"

The Norwegian coastal steamer service Hurtigruten originates in Bergen, running north to Trondheim, Bodø, Tromsø and Kirkenes. The very first Hurtigruten took place in July 1893 when a steamship travelled from Trondheim, just south of the Arctic Circle, to Hammerfest at over 70 Deg North and just west of the North Cape. In the intervening years the service has expanded to include places to the south of Trondheim and to the East of Hammerfest.

Since 1936 the service from Bergen has been a daily event apart from the War years. Norway appears as a very small country in any atlas. It is however a surprisingly large country in length if not in breadth. An inhabitant in the very north township of Kirkenes, way beyond 66 Deg. 30 N and therefore beyond the Arctic Circle, will be further from his capital Oslo than would the Norwegian Ambassador in Rome. Read More

Hurtigruten Articles:

Introduction

Ships

Ports

History

Flaggruten

Passenger catamarans run from Bergen south to Haugesund and Stavanger, and north to Sognefjorden and Nordfjord. If you arrive by sea the city appears like an amphitheatre of buildings laid out on the mountainsides and look down upon a stage which is the harbour. It is these mountains which give Bergen its special setting, and it was around this harbour where the town's first buildings began to multiply. The sheltered harbour bustles with floating traffic, pleasure and commercial alike.

Address: C. Sundtsgate 36, 5004 BERGEN
Phone: 55 23 87 80 Telefax: 55 23 87 01

Fjordline

Car ferries connect to Hanstholm, and Hirtshals in Denmark, Lerwick, Scrabster, and Newcastle in the United Kingdom

Address: PB. 7250, 5020 BERGEN
Phone: 55 54 87 00 Telefax: 55 54 87 01

Ferries to Tórshavn on the Faroe Islands, and Seyðisfjörður on Iceland.

Tel. +298 345900 -
Fax. +298 345950 / +298 345951