Best of Southern Norway 🇳🇴 Fjords, Views _ Hidden Gems.mp4

In the intricate carvings of southern Norway's coast, mountains ascend from glassy water, skies shift from golden light to stormy gray in seconds, and every bend in the road reveals a view that takes your breath away. In this video, we're sharing our dramatic adventure from Bergen to Geiringerfjord, arguably the most iconic fjord in the world. We'll take you along winding mountain roads and shimmering lakes like Lake Løbetnet, framed by towering peaks that rise straight from the water's edge. We'll wander through the charming town of Strine, cruise Geiringerfjord not once, but twice, on its deep blue waters where waterfalls cascade down impossibly steep cliffs. Then, heading south, we'll visit one of Norway's most famous free panoramic lookouts perched high above the fjords, with views straight out of a painting. And finally, we'll end at a true hidden gem, a surreal vantage point that reminded us just how dramatic Norway's landscapes can be without anyone else present. But this isn't a highlight reel of summer sunshine and perfect weather. We traveled here in autumn during the shoulder season, and the rain followed us nearly the entire time, as this region is one of the wettest places in all of Europe. Yet, despite all this, the moody skies gave the fjords a raw, untamed feel, and the autumn colors were simply beautiful. So whether you're planning your own road trip, or just along for the adventure, let's begin our journey as we leave the city of Bergen towards the wild, natural sceneries of southern Norway. The rain continued to pour as we made our way north. About an hour and a half into the drive, we reached the town of E3-Åboda, where we hopped onto a car ferry to take us across the Sonjefjord waterway to the town of Lovik. Norway has an estimated 1,700 fjords, and the quickest way to get across is often by ferry, so expect to have this experience as part of your itinerary. You don't need to pre-book a time slot, just line up, and they'll automatically charge the fee to the rental car company, which you'll pay everything at the end. This ride was 55 NOK, so it was fairly reasonable. Good morning guys, we've been on the road for over two hours now. We left Bergen pretty early this morning, and it's been raining almost the entire time. Thankfully, as we're charging the car, we do see a lot of blue in the sky, but I kind of feel like it's going to change throughout the day. Some rain, some blue skies, and we also have a solid three more hours of driving until we get to our first area, which is right by the town of Strid. We could have cut down our driving time had we not left from Bergen. You could actually fly into the town of Ålesund and save yourself all this driving, but it didn't really work out with our schedule. So we're going to wait for the car to finish charging, and then three more hours to go. I think I'm going to take a nap, for sure Shortly after, we made a quick stop at Hudenfossen. It was just off the side of the road, and the falls were quite pretty and quiet, with the fall colors really adding to the scene. Continuing along the drive, the terrain began to change as we entered the fjords and staggering mountains. We drove through an insane valley, so we couldn't pass up a short break to take it all in. Of course, we wished for clear, sunny conditions, but there was something about the moody rain clouds that made the valley even more epic. We thought that the rain was going to clear up a little bit when we got to our destination, but it is so pouring out here. We got to Lake Lovetnet, which is this gorgeous turquoise lake right behind me. You can already tell how vibrant it is, even in the rain. So just imagine what it'd be like in the daylight. And it's so beautiful with the mountains everywhere. If you just keep going down over there, I think it looks... Jason's over there. I think it looks absolutely gorgeous because the mountains just kind of dip in these layers, creating this gorgeous valley at the end of it. I'm a little bit sad, but we're gonna enjoy it regardless. I don't know how long we'll spend out here because it is freezing, but we'll stay a little bit to see if the clouds will clear up, and then we'll hit up our next spot. Just west of Lake Lovetnet, you can find the stunning Invikfjorden waterway, and one of the best places to see this magnificent fjord is from the top of the Raksestra hike. We were looking forward to tackling this relatively easy hike, famous for seeing the grass roof houses, but with the pouring rain, we thought it'd be a miserable time if we embarked on the trek. However, as you're driving up the trailhead, you can find the Oppam viewpoint, which gives an equally stunning view without any hiking involved. When we first got here, the rain was quite heavy, but after waiting it out for a good 20 minutes, the skies started to clear. I am so happy that the rain kind of dissipated just a little bit. We were literally sitting in the car for like a good 15 or 20 minutes waiting for this to clear up, but this is such a beautiful viewpoint. We're up at Oppai, I think that's what it's called, and you just have this crazy view of the valley, the mountains on the side, and best of all, because we are here during the fall season, you can see some of the colors, and you can see the cruise ship leaving right now. After that, we drove over to the town of Streen. Even though the rain was still coming in and out, the streets were very quiet and peaceful, so we enjoyed walking around for a bit. Although we didn't find there to be too much to do here, the town was a great place to grab some dinner, or in our case, some groceries, before heading to our Airbnb in a neighboring town. One incredible sight is the Streen River that flows from Lake Obstrijnsvatn through the town itself before reaching Enikfjorden. It snakes through grassy fields in luscious curves, and from the air, it was absolutely stunning to capture. Good morning guys, it is quite windy and very rainy today, and it seems like it's going to stay that way for the entire day unfortunately, but if you look right there behind me, you can see a little bit of sunrise colors, so we're kind of hopeful that things will work out today. We're going to drive along, we're going to try to find best views that we can. Now last night we stayed in the town of Olsnes, which is only about 30 minutes away from Streen, at this really cute guest house, and it is completely surrounded by these tall, stangling mountains. And because it's still quite early, this layer of fog and cloud is kind of covering them, making it look so cool and moody. Now we're going to relax out here for a little bit, we're going to make some breakfast, and then we'll hit the road. As predicted, the rain covered us the entire day. This was the day that we drove into Geirangerfjord, and the road across the mountain pass is supposed to have some of the most incredible views in the entire country, but to our dismay, we really couldn't enjoy it at all. The rain did however subside just a little bit when we reached the Jelladalen ravine, which was so stunning with the surrounding peaks and the grass-roofed houses sitting so perfectly in frame. Even through the wind and drizzle, we could tell just how beautiful this region is. So if you're here during more favorable weather, we encourage you to take your time along the drive. Some notable spots that we think you should definitely visit are first off, the detour up the Gamla Senak road to Langvatnet lake, then to Juvatnet lake, which is the highest point in the pass that you drive along before descending into the fjord. And finally, Flydalsjuvet viewpoint, where you'll get your first peak of Geiranger. Once we made it into town, we checked into our hotel, Hotel Geiranger, which sits right near the shores of the fjord. The room was quite cozy, but the view was definitely one we couldn't take our eyes off. Not too long ago, we checked into the Havila Hotel Geiranger, and we have a gorgeous view of the fjord, and we were looking up at the sky noticing that it wasn't too bad, so we decided spontaneously to go and do the fjord cruise. It's only an hour or so from now, so we're going to go see if there are tickets available. It's still pretty rainy, but we thought this would be a great time for us to actually see the fjords in the rain, an experience that we've actually dreamed of doing. Pretty much everyone will tell you that rainy weather is the ultimate stage to experience a fjord cruise, as opposed to a bright sunny sky. It gives the fjords a sense of eeriness, yet calm amidst the storm, wrapping the air in mist, and bringing the great canvas to life. Because of the rain, the waterfalls were on full blast, roaring down the sides of the mountains. It was pretty spectacular to see, although we could only manage a few moments on the deck at a time, given how freezing cold the wind and rain would make us. Having a good rain jacket or poncho, some waterproof pants, and gloves is definitely recommended. We remember doing a similar fjord cruise in New Zealand through the famous Milford Sound, for which we had the opposite, bright blue skies on a sunny afternoon. Drop a comment below for which weather experience you'd prefer on a fjord cruise, moody or sunny. So Jason checked the road conditions this morning, something that you should do when you're in Norway, as there are road closures almost all the time, especially in the seasons other than summer, and thankfully he did, because it turns out the only road out of here heading south is closed for the next three days, which is such a bummer, but so glad I checked, and he also found out an alternative, which is to take a cruise, a ferry cruise, to the town of Helleselt. It's kind of funny that we're doing this ferry ride, because they actually kind of call it a cruise tour, so I guess if you wanted to save some money, you could literally take the same ferry, don't go on the cruise that we did yesterday, because you still get to see all the same views, and it gets you to a whole new town, a whole new area for you to explore, and hopefully today if the conditions work out, we'll get even better views in the fjord. Hopefully. The conditions were so much better this time. We still got the moody vibes in the fjord, but without any of the wind and rain, it was so calming as we drifted down the waterway with the water looking as reflective as glass. Given that it was on a car ferry, the ship was significantly bigger, making the ride smoother to begin with. Weather conditions aside, we enjoyed this cruise a lot more than the one we did the day before. Not only was the seating much more comfortable, but they had a lot of amenities like coffee and food stations, but let me walk you through a few more differences between the two. The tour we did the day prior was with Geiringer Fjord Service, and it cost 1220 NOK for the both of us. Since they take you on a sightseeing boat, it's smaller, allowing you to get closer to the waterfalls. It's also a round trip cruise going down and back up the fjord, finishing at the same dock. So if you wanted to continue your road trip journey north from Geiringer to places such as Trollstigen, then this would be your best option. The second cruise was with a company called Fjord Tours. This cost us 1100 NOK, which also included our vehicle. The ship and facilities are much better in our opinion, but this is a one-way journey. Consider this tour if Geiringer is the northernmost point of your itinerary, as making your way through the fjord to the town of Hellesild saves you an hour of driving back to Bergen. In hindsight, if we had known about the road closures, we would have only done the cruise with Fjord Tours. Heading to our final area in southern Norway, we decided to stay a night in the small town of Sandalsjød, because the weather forecast was showing much better conditions the next day. We stayed at a lovely Airbnb, to which we woke up to some incredible views. It was still quite cloudy, but that would change for the better as the day went on. We hit the road quite early, hopped onto another car ferry, and admired the stunning Moody Mountains for the entirety of a 20-minute ride. For once, it's actually not raining, which I'm so grateful for. We're here at Stegestein, which is above the town of Walloon, and it was a pretty hairy drive on a one-laner mountain pass, but Jason did fantastic getting us up here. Stegestein is essentially this wooden skywalk that feels like you're on the edge of the cliff, high above the fjords, and surrounded by mountains and valleys. It's so sick, but what's crazy is that it's completely free, which is so surprising. We really couldn't believe that Stegestein was a free attraction. Not only do you see the staggering Arlandsfjord to the right of the skywalk, and Arlandsvagentown below, but hidden behind the lookout is a stunning valley that for us was perfectly lit up by the sun rays. Even though we had so much rain throughout this trip, getting to see this landscape with the fall foliage was an experience we wouldn't trade for anything. Afterwards, we went over to the most famous town in this area, Flom. It was quite charming, with a river flowing through it, but the reason it's popular is because many people embark on the Flomsvana, a beautiful train ride that's highly regarded. While this would have been a fun adventure, we came here instead to check out a waterfall, Breketfossen. There's a small parking lot right by the trailhead where you can already spot the waterfall in view. It's a relatively easy hike at only one kilometer round trip, but it is a good workout with 180 meters in elevation gain. Thankfully, the stone stairs made for a smooth climb up and down, and the waterfall was worth the short trek. When we came back down, we noticed right by the parking lot there was a field full of the most adorable highland cows. We've always wanted to see them, especially in Iceland, but never did until now in Norway, which we did not expect. As we were ending our time and heading back to Bergen, we drove through a stunning valley in the direction of the village of Stalheim. It was unbelievable how steep the mountains were, and the streams of water rushing down them with the low clouds made us want to stop and take in the sight. This is also where we found a true hidden gem. In the village of Stalheim, you can drive up to the Stalheimskleve viewpoint, where we found the most incredible scene. Multiple hairpin turns of an abandoned road led deep into the valley floor, and the staggering mountains on either side rose high into the sky. Even though we had less than ideal weather and missed some really beautiful places that we wish we could have seen, we felt like we still got to experience one of the most incredible places, not just in Norway, but in the entire world. But with that said, the next time we visit, it's got to be in the summer to take in all the places that we missed with extra daylight and better weather.