Bergen is Norway’s second-largest city and for better or worse a VERY popular cruise port. It’s a mixed blessing. While the cruise ships can bring plenty of money into the local economy, the flip side is the hordes coming off of the boats can quickly overwhelm the port area. It happens all over the world, and Bergen is no exception. And we weren’t even there at the height of the season.

We have cruised, and might do so again under the right circumstances — smaller ships, more obscure destinations being a prime criteria — but they do change the dynamics in an area so standard cruising isn’t at the top of our list.

Bergen otherwise is a very charming city. Fairly compact and after the usual early wrong turns, we found it to be walkable and reasonably easy to navigate.

Our hotel, the Opus XVI, was just steps from the port area. The room was large — a definite change from Aurland which was quirky to say the least — and also quiet and comfortable. It’s a property we would recommend, but like many older European hotels, you had best be ready and able to hoist your bags up and down a couple of steps on the way to your room.

We arrived around 3 pm on a Monday afternoon and departed at 4:30 pm the next day, so essentially a 24-hour visit. To us that was enough. You could use Bergen as a base for trips to fjords in the area, but having already experienced beautiful scenery on the way to Bergen (see prior post), we were content to walk about the city.

One of the port attractions is the fish market. There are stalls where you could purchase fresh or freshly cooked fish. It’s really not that large, but the stalls appeared to be doing a brisk business.

There are also multiple bars and restaurants ringing the harbor, but we found it odd that in many cases the outdoor seating areas faced away from the water, not towards it. While it is a heavily touristed area, it was refreshing that locals were also hanging out. It no doubt helped that we continued to enjoy beautiful sunny skies

Another attraction in the harbor area are the colorful old buildings that were home to traders during the era of the Hanseatic League, mostly Germans who came to Bergen and dominated the port trade for 500 years. The remaining buildings were mostly built in the early 1700s and now house a variety of shops.

It’s worth a visit to see and feel the creaky old buildings but we aren’t really shoppers so can’t attest to the quality of the goods now available. I’m sure the proprietors do well given the large number of people in the area. There are also several nice neighborhoods outside of the port area that can be reached on foot, so visitors should venture further to get away from the crowds.

Finally, there is also the Floibanen, a funicular that can take you to a height of 320 meters, or about 1,000 feet. We just walked part way up the hill as we’ve done those elsewhere. The city views were excellent just from our walk. (I doubt this one beats getting whisked to the top of Table Mountain in Cape Town, or even the skyway at Icy Straight Point in Alaska, which we did last year.)

Overall, one day in Bergen was plenty for us. As I write this we are on a coastal ferry heading north to Kalvag, which is a fishing village on a coastal island north of Bergen. It should be a different experience.